Celebrate Creativity

Opposites Attract: Antithesis


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GEORGE:
All right, for the listener who doesn’t want a grammar lecture: antithesis is when you place two opposing ideas side by side—often in a balanced structure—so the contrast hits hard.
Like: light and darkness, love and hate, life and death.
Well let me see let's say give me a famous example one that listeners will recognize   
SHAKESPEARE:
Aye. Two wrestlers in one ring. The mind loves a contest.

GEORGE:
Now—here’s my big question. Why does antithesis feel so Shakespearean? It’s everywhere.

SHAKESPEARE:
Because men are everywhere divided.
We want, and we fear.
We swear, and we doubt.
We praise, and we wound.
Antithesis is not merely a device—’tis a mirror.

GEORGE:
So it’s not decoration. It’s psychology.

SHAKESPEARE:
Now you speak sense.

GEORGE:
Okay, give me a famous example—one that listeners will recognize even if they’ve only survived Shakespeare in high school.

SHAKESPEARE:
Then we go to Verona, where passion runs faster than wisdom.


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Celebrate CreativityBy George Bartley

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