Decorum/Verisimilitude

“Decorum” refers to the norm of propriety in a literary work, and maybe understood in various possible, often overlapping ways. Decorum requires, first, the author to adopt a style and tone appropriate to the work'sgenreand subject matter, and to represent the speech and actions of individual characters in a manner appropriate to their respective stations in life. Just as, for instance, a tragic work requires a serious tone and style, so must a king speak with the grandness of a king, and a peasant act with the simple rusticity of a peasant (seedialect). Second, decorum refers more generally to the appropriateness of the literary work for reception by the public. Historically, decorum required that nothing should appear in a literary work that would offend against the given culture's prevailing moral and social norms.