Preview

Juxtaposition and Paradox

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
409 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Juxtaposition and Paradox
Juxtaposition and Paradox

Address the following in a multi-paragraph response:

In the beginning acts of Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses juxtaposition and paradox to set off contrasts between characters, ideas, and events. Detail the differences between juxtaposition and paradox. Also, relate how he uses juxtaposition to illuminate characters and paradox to compare and contrast thematic ideas and plot.

A paradox is when an author uses apparently contradictory statements to get at some underlying truth. Juxtaposition, on the other hand, refers to placing two contrasting elements in proximity to each other to achieve some literary effect. As a writer, Shakespeare used both of these literary device to contrast characters, ideas, and events in his stories. It is seen most in the play Macbeth with the porter and the stability of good and evil. The most prominent example of juxtaposition that Shakespeare uses is the porter in Macbeth's castle. The porter comes into the scene shortly after Duncan has been murdered. He then begins to make some intense jokes. For example he says “Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key” (II.iii.1). The porter is saying that if someone had the job of unlocking the gates of hell is would be a strenuous job. This is a reference to Macbeth and to his most current actions. One of the most common literary devices seen in Macbeth, are paradoxes. One of the first things in the play that Macbeth says is, ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’ (I.iii.38). By this Macbeth is commenting that the day has been both good and bad. This is contradicting itself in the fact that the day is either good or bad. Similarly the three witches say “fair is foul and foul is fair” (I.i.12). To them they believe what is ugly is beautiful and what is beautiful is ugly. The easiest way to understand this is to think of the idea of yin and yang. There is good in evil and evil in good yet they

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Juxtaposition is when one element is from one time period and another element is from another, in his image from “Dismaland” Banksy uses this technique to strengthen his argument that the media focuses on making a tragedy into a story…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Macbeth, was written around 1606 by the famous poet William Shakespeare. In the plot, Macbeth is told prophecies by three witches and he does everything in his power to make sure he becomes the king, as they proclaimed, including murder. In Macbeth, one theme presented is “fair is foul, and foul is fair,” meaning that things appearing to be good are sometimes bad, and things that at first seem bad can actually be good. There are many examples in the play to support this with regard to the supernatural, nature, and the play’s characters.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many motifs in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but one of the most important is the recurring disassociation of appearance and reality. The entire motif is introduced in the first scene when the witches say “Fair is foul and foul is fair” (1,i,12). This is then reiterated as important when Macbeth says, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” (1,iii, 39). Drawing parallels and comparing two polar opposites, such as foul and fair, sets the stage for the dissimilarity between appearance and reality. This motif changes as the characters change, however, and it moves from the main characters not knowing what to believe or trust, to the main characters using the variance to their own advantage and hiding their true motives, to finally causing the main characters to go insane. Throughout the entirety of Macbeth, what the characters have seen and what the readers know to be true have often times been contrasting. This divergence between appearance and reality grows and develops with the characters throughout the play.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juxtaposition is a tried and true example of how opposites attract, they are essential in making potentially good work extraordinary. To understand and grasp their glory, one must read in between the lines. In said extraordinary works lies Romeo and Juliet. To say that Romeo and Juliet is simply a love story about a forbidden love between two star-crossed lovers is at best an ill attempted summary and at worst an insult to Shakespeare’s work and the characters as well. This is a complex story ,with complex characters, about love, loss, and just about everything in between, it is a story about two lovers that will live on forever in their death This story would not be what it is without the complex characters that inhibit it such as Juliet, Romeo and Friar Laurence.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    6. One of the great paradoxes of this play is that Hamlet, the hero of one plot, is the villain of the other. This realization reflects directly the duality of human nature. What other characters does Shakespeare use to advance similar…

    • 1270 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Julius Ceasar

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Calphurnia used juxtaposition to place a dying man and his neighing horse side by side. A horse grows very accustomed to their master. They are able to know when their master is in pain, is happy, or is in serious trouble. They have great instincts that allow them to understand what is happening around them. By saying that the horse neighed while the dying man groaned, it implies that what she saw must be true because horses instincts rarely betray them. Also, the man must have been murdered since he is groaning; the groaning would have alarmed the horse even more and set off even more red flags in their brain to go crazy.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare is a very unusual play, the characters aren’t part of your expectations especially Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare made a clear opposite feature between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, which is a very challenging yet effective technique.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Corruption In Macbeth

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As creators of turmoil by nature, the witches catalyze changes in Macbeth that enable his transformation from a righteous military general into a committed megalomaniac. Furthermore, they inspire the awakening of Macbeth’s ambition and fool him by providing a false sense of security. This exploitation is expected from the dark and sinister creatures as they firmly believe that “fair is foul, and foul is fair.” The paradox and enigma behind this principle suggests that the witches feel disdain towards the laws of human nature, morality, and ethics. Their embodiment of pure evil allows the witches to find meaning and delight in the harshest of things while despising compassion. Furthermore, this belief shows that for them, there is a…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the surface, Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to compare two contrasting images of women. He uses juxtaposition in either every couplet or individual line. Shakespeare contrasts the qualities of the ideal woman and the qualities of the woman whom he fancies. He starts the poem by saying: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (1). The poem kicks off by completely degrading part of the Mistress’s appearance by saying she looks nothing like what would be an idea look. Shakespeare compares how her lips are not the desired ideal shade of red, like coral (2). When fair hair is considered attractive, he ridicules her for having hair that is thick “like wires” and black (4). The poem follows up with a comparison of how her breasts are not white as snow, but rather “dun” or of a grayish color (3). At this place, he compares her to what could be the purest white, only to degrade her. A person during this time period would be found more attractive, by how paler his or her skin was. This emphasizes why he compares her breasts to the symbolic color of snow white, often considered…

    • 1786 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As with all great literary works, more content is often present than first meets the eye. The Book of Mormon is no exception. One such way that the Book of Mormon proves its literary worth is through the use of paradox. In fact, the Book of Mormon uses paradox strategically to help the reader further ponder the meaning of the scriptures in his or her life, and thus discover statements of deeper doctrine.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth’s speech is overwhelmingly pessimistic and is spoken in a dark way. Lady Macbeth says, “Yet do I fear thy nature. / It is too full of the milk of human kindness . ,”(1.5.15-18). This quote represents a contrasts to what Macbeth is saying in his soliloquy because Lady Macbeth feels that Macbeth is too kind by nature to do what needs to be done in order to become king. This next quote is also a contrast of Macbeth’s speech, which Malcolm says, "Nothing in his life / Became him like the leaving of it,"(1.4.6-8). Malcolm’s quote contrasts from Macbeth’s speech because he had did a lot of bad things in his lifetime, but he acted like a good man as he was dying rather than Macbeth’s life being meaningless. Also, a comparable line to Macbeth’s speech is, "Fair is foul and foul is fair . . ,"(1.1.11.). This is spoken by the witches in Act one, that signifies that there is no significance of good and bad things and is related to the soliloquy because it is signifying nothing. Another comparable line is said by Macbeth, "The time has been/ That, when the brains were out, the man would die, / And there an end,"(3.4.82-84).Macbeth is saying that the mans time is up and it is now time for him to die, which is similar to his speech because he expresses darkness and death. In conclusion, throughout the play of Macbeth, there are both contrasts and comparable lines of Macbeth’s speech that represent some sort of darkness or…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because of his dark and evil desires evil in Macbeth takes shape.This happened when Macbeth listens to the witches prophecies. “Fair is foul, and foul and fair” (The entire play revolves around this chant)"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" is perhaps one of the most heavily impacted lines in Macbeth. it is used to foreshadow the fact that characters in the play who seem to be good and nice (Macbeth) may actually be tainted or evil. Because he listened to the witches prophecy he had a new dark ambition.Lady Macbeth, his wife, then pushes the ambition. After the murdering of Duncan, Macbeth has gained enough ambition, willing to kill anyone (men, women, and children) who he thinks might steal his seat on Scotland's throne. Macbeth puts his own evil desires before the good of his country, and, in the end, is tragedy destroyed by his own…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secondly, Shakespeare used oxymorons. An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms and therefore seems impossible. An example of one that is used in Act 2, scene 2 is when Lady…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dramatic techniques are used throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth to explore Macbeth’s relationship with the women in the play. The drama techniques are used as tools by Shakespeare to manipulate the plot and characters, to express fundamental concepts and themes and dictate the actions of the characters. They also create suspense and keep the audience aware throughout the play of the relationship between Macbeth and his wife as well as his interactions with the Weird Sisters through techniques of foreshadowing and dramatic irony. They particularly highlight the change in Macbeth’s character from the hero he is first perceived as, to the perverted, oppressive and disillusioned tyrant he becomes.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Zenos PAradox

    • 3055 Words
    • 13 Pages

    The first asserts the non-existence of motion on the ground that that which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. (Aristotle Physics, 239b11)…

    • 3055 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays