Books
But Shakespeare one gets acquainted with without knowing how. It is a part of an Englishman’s constitution.
— Jane Austen · Mansfield Park
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Familiarity with Shakespeare is described as something acquired without remembering the process. Calling it part of an Englishman's constitution turns literary knowledge into an almost bodily inheritance. The remark presents a shared culture as so pervasive that encountering it seems unavoidable rather than deliberate.
Context reviewed