Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded. You can save money by spending it. You shouldn't go in the water until you know how to swim. I'm nobody. "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.“ - George Bernard Shaw If you didn't get this message, call me. Be cruel to be kind The beginning of the end Wise fool Deep down, you're really shallow. Bittersweet "I can resist anything but temptation."-Oscar Wilde Je ne parle pas Français. - Bart Simpson I'm a compulsive liar- am I lying when I say that? At the most basic level, a paradox is a statement that is self contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but cannot both be true at the same time.

a figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself Paradox a figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself Paradoxes have serious implications in the world of literature because they make statements that often sum up the main ideas of the work. What is the purpose of using such a statement then, instead of just forthrightly stating the work's intent? One reason is that to do so would be boring. It is much more interesting for a reader to carve out the meaning, than to have it fed to them on a silver platter. Let’s look at some examples.

What does Romeo’s use of oxymora and paradox show about his character? 1.1 (oxymoron, paradox) O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything of nothing first create! O heavy lightness, serious vanity! Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this… Something that can take many forms, be anything, but be created out of nothing. He thinks about her in such a jumbled way that it is more frustrating than enjoyable! He feels love, but is not in love with being in love. Why, such is love's transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet. Farewell, my coz. (Benvolio is understanding and grieves for Romeo’s unhappiness.) Continue reading to find more paradoxes in the next 11 lines. Romeo adds more paradoxes, saying that love is smoke made of sighs, and when the sighs clear away, it is a fire in lover’s eyes, a stormy sea of tears, a sane insanity, bitter poison, sweet medicine. What does Romeo’s use of oxymora and paradox show about his character? These show his state of confusion over his unrequited love for Rosaline. He has conflicting ideas about love; it is all opposites, which shows his perplexed emotion. The Elizabethan audience would have realized that his state of confusion parallels his speech.

2. 2 Parting is such sweet sorrow 2.2 Parting is such sweet sorrow. Struggling between her love for Romeo, and the criticizing him for killing Tybalt, Juliet whips out these few lines with a whopping six oxymora and three paradoxes: O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! A damned saint, an honourable villain! O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound? O! that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace. Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! A damned saint, an honourable villain! O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound? O! that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace.

2. 2 Parting is such sweet sorrow 2.2 Parting is such sweet sorrow. Struggling between her love for Romeo, and the criticizing him for killing Tybalt, Juliet whips out these few lines with a whopping six oxymora and three paradoxes: O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! A damned saint, an honourable villain! O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound? O! that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace.