A antithesisis a figure of speech which occurs when there is a contrast of words or phrases that express opposing ideas, but do not exclude each other, but rather reinforce each other. She often uses classic dualities, such as day and night, love and hate, good and evil, etc.
Read too: Euphemism — the figure of speech used to soften and soften an expression
Summary about antithesis
- Antithesis is a figure of speech that uses opposite words or phrases.
- Specifically, she is a figure of thought.
- Often uses dualities, such as love and hate.
- It is often confused with paradox, but, in paradox, ideas are not only opposite but also contradictory.
What is antithesis?
The antithesis is a figure of speech that occurs when there is a contrast between words or phrases that express opposing ideas, but do not exclude each other, but rather reinforce each other. She often uses classic dualities in literature, such as birth and death, day and night, light and dark, love and hate, good and evil, etc. The antithesis is part of the group of figures of thought, as its use manipulates the ideas expressed in a text.
Examples of antithesis in sentences
- Example 1:
“Friends and enemies are often in interchangeable positions. Some want us bad, and they do us good. Others wish us good, and bring us evil.” (Rui Barbosa)|1|
In the excerpt, the antithesis between friends and enemies is explored to reinforce the idea that, in the end, we only know who wants good or bad by their attitudes.
- Example 2:
“Greater love no stranger exists
that mine — which does not calm the thing loved
and when she feels happy, she becomes sad,
and, if he sees her happy, he laughs…”
(Vinicius de Moraes)|2|
In the poem “Sonnet of Greater Love”, the lyricist uses the antithesis between love and its strangeness to explain the sensations of sadness and joy defined by the emotional state of his beloved.
- Example 3:
“I spent thirty days going from Rocio Grande to Marcela's heart, no longer riding the steed of blind desire, but the donkey of patience, at once cunning and stubborn.” (Machado de Assis)|3|
In this excerpt from the novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, the narrator shows the change in his motivation. Before, he was guided by “blind desire” and now, in an antithetical way, he is guided by the “ass of patience”.
Differences between antithesis and paradox
Antithesis and paradox deal with oppositions, but in different ways. Both antithesis and paradox are figures of speech from the group of figures of thought, as they manipulate the ideas that are expressed. Antithesis occurs when words or phrases express opposing ideas, but which do not exclude each other, so that, even if they are linked to opposing elements, they make sense together. On the other hand, the paradox occurs when ideas are more than opposite, they are totally contradictory. Below, we have examples of these two figures.
- Example 1:
“Love is a fire that burns without being seen,
it is a wound that hurts and cannot be felt;
is a discontented contentment,
It's pain that disappears without hurting.
It is not wanting more than wanting;
It's a lonely walk among us;
it is never being content with being content;
It's a care that benefits from losing yourself.
It is a desire to be imprisoned by will;
it is to serve those who win, the victor;
Have someone kill us, loyalty.
But how can cause your favor
in human hearts friendship,
If so contrary to itself is the same love?"
In the sonnet “Love is a fire that burns without being seen”|4|, by Luís Vaz de Camões, we have a classic example of paradox. Love is defined through paradoxes, such as the contradictions “a fire that burns without being seen” or a “wound that hurts and cannot be felt”.
- Example 2:
“I want the morning star
Where is the morning star?
My friends my enemies
Look for the morning star
(...)
Three days and three nights
I was a murderer and a suicide
Thief, scoundrel, forger
(...)”
In this excerpt from the poem “The morning star”|5|, by Manuel Bandeira, we can see the two figures in action. When the lyrical self asks for help to find his beloved “morning star,” he calls on both friends and enemies. This represents an antithesis, since the terms are opposites, but their combination reinforces the same idea that everyone should be called. However, when the voice of the poem describes himself as “murderous and suicidal”, a paradox occurs, as the ideas are contradictory.
Other figures of speech
Figures of speech are forms of expression in a text that can generate different effects. They are divided into word/semantic, syntax, thought and sound figures. And they go beyond the original and denotative meaning of the speech.
Some examples of figures of speech are:
- Catacresis (when there is no more specific term and there is adaptation): garlic clove, roof of the mouth, foot of the page, etc.
- Metonymy (exchanging one term for another): ask for her hand in marriage (ask the person), wash with Bombril (wash with steel wool), drink a glass of water (drink the water from inside the glass) etc.
- Personification (giving human traits to inanimate elements): It feels like the window is smiling, the computer is playing with me, the clouds look sad, etc.
See too: Anaphora — the figure of speech used to recap something already said
Solved exercises on antithesis
Question 1
The alternative that contains an antithesis is:
A) I scared my mother to death.
B) I boarded at 7 o'clock.
C) In São Paulo, even winter is warm.
D) He has an ego the size of the world.
E) As a singer, she is a great doctor.
Resolution:
Alternative C
There is antithesis in the opposition between winter and warm temperatures.
Question 2
(Vunesp) In the excerpt: “…they find a way to change the minimum to continue sending the maximum”, the figure of speech present is called:
A) metaphor
B) hyperbole
C) hyperbate
D) anaphora
E) antithesis
Resolution:
Alternative E
The antithesis occurs in the opposition between the terms “minimum” and “maximum”.
Question 3
(Mackenzie) In the verses below, a figure arises thanks to the conflict of two antagonistic visions:
I leave the hotel with four eyes,
Two of the present,
Two from the past.
This figure of speech is called:
A) metonymy
B) catachresis
C) hyperbole
D) antithesis
E) hyperbate
Resolution:
Alternative D
The antithesis can be observed in the opposition between “Two of gift” and “Two of past”.
Grades
|1| In: ROCHA LIMA. Normative grammar of the Portuguese language. Rio De Janeiro: José Olympio Editora, 2017.
|2| In: GOMES, M. M. Literary discourse analysis: dialogism, polyphony and antithesis in the formation of female figures in “Grande sertão: veredas” by Guimarães Rosa. 2008. 65 f. Dissertation (Master of Arts) – Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, 2008.
|3| In: FIORIN, J. L. Figures of thought: the enunciator's strategy to persuade the enunciatee. ALFA: Linguistics Magazine, São Paulo, v. 32, 2001. Available in: https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/alfa/article/view/3798.
|4| In: FIORIN, J. L. Figures of thought: the enunciator's strategy to persuade the enunciatee. ALFA: Revista de Linguística, São Paulo, v. 32, 2001. Available in: https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/alfa/article/view/3798.
|5| BANDEIRA, M. Morning Star. São Paulo: Global Editora, 2019.
Sources
BANDEIRA, M. Morning Star. São Paulo: Global Editora, 2019.
FIORIN, J. L. Figures of thought: the enunciator's strategy to persuade the enunciatee. ALFA: Linguistics Magazine, São Paulo, v. 32, 2001. Available in: https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/alfa/article/view/3798.
GOMES, M. M. Literary discourse analysis: dialogism, polyphony and antithesis in the formation of female figures in “Grande sertão: veredas” by Guimarães Rosa. 2008. 65 f. Dissertation (Master of Arts) – Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, 2008.
ROCHA LIMA. Normative grammar of the Portuguese language. Rio De Janeiro: José Olympio Editora, 2017.
