Antithesis

From Freepedia

Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from anti = against and thesis = position) means a direct contrast or exact opposition to something. Hell is the antithesis of Heaven, chaos the antithesis of order.

In rhetoric, it is figure of speech involving the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences, within a parallel grammatical structure, as in the following:---"When there is need of silence, you speak, and when there is need of speech, you are dumb; when present, you wish to be absent, and when absent, you desire to be present; in peace you are for war, and in war you long for peace; in council you descant on bravery, and in the battle you tremble."

The familiar phrase “Man proposes, God disposes” is an example of antithesis, as is John Dryden's description in “The Hind and the Panther”: “Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell.”

Antithesis is sometimes double or alternate, as in the appeal of Augustus:--"Listen, young men, to an old man to whom old men were glad to listen when he was young."

In grammatical usage, antithesis is often expressed by means of an antonym, such as high - low, to shout - to whisper, lightness - heaviness, &c.; but the force of the antithesis is increased if the words on which the beat of the contrast falls are alliterative, or otherwise similar in sound, as--"The fairest but the falsest of her sex."

There is nothing that gives to expression greater point and vivacity than a judicious employment of this figure; but, on the other hand, there is nothing more tedious and trivial than a pseudo-antithetical style.

Among English writers who have made the most abundant use of antithesis are Pope, Young, Johnson, and Gibbon; and especially Lyly in his Euphues. It is, however, a much more common feature in French than in English; while in German, with some striking exceptions, it is conspicuous by its absence.

A simplistic description of dialectics is thesis, antithesis, synthesis.

The Antitheses is the name given by New Testament scholars to a section of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:21-47, in which Jesus is reported as taking six well known prescriptions of the Jewish Law, and calling on his followers to do more than the law requires. The best known is perhaps his teaching on retaliation in Matthew 5:38, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also" (Matthew 5:38-39, NRSV). The antithesis arises from the turn of phrase, repeated with minor variations in each of the six sayings, "You have heard that it was said... But I say to you...".

See also: alternative hypothesis

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.