antithesis - In fiction

In The Netherlands, a term used by the Protestant Abraham Kuyper to describe the relationship between the confessional (Catholic and Orthodox Protestant) parties and those not based on Christian principles (and therefore pagan!). The main confessional parties before World War 2 were the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP), the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), and the Christian Historical Union (CHU). After the war attempts were made to break through this relationship, replacing it with some form of left–right, liberal–conservative antithesis, but without success.

Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from ἀντί against + θέσις position) means a direct contrast or exact opposition to something.

In rhetoric, it is a 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;

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.;

Among English writers who have made the most abundant use of antithesis are Pope, Young, Johnson, and Gibbon;

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

The Antithesis of the Law is the name given by New Testament scholars to a section of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:17–48, 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.

Antithesis was the name given by Marcion to a document in which he contrasted the Old Testament with the New Testament.

See also: alternative hypothesis

In fiction

In fictional description, an antithesis can be used to describe a character who presents the exact opposite as to personality type, moral outlook, etc.

Examples

Audio illustrations of antithesis