Paradox

Paradox

Definition:

A statement whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought; it attracts the reader’s or the listener’s attention and gives emphasis. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas. A paradox is often used to make a reader think over an idea in an innovative way.

Macbeth Example:

“Fair is Foul, and Foul is fair.” -The Witches, Act 1, scene 1

Function:

The three witches foreshadow what will happen in the future; in other words, they predict the evil that will corrupt Macbeth’s judgement. All that is good is turning to bad and all bad delights them. This statement contradicts itself because fair is the opposite of foul. This introduces the theme of equivocation because it conceals the truth of what Macbeth is going to do in order to become king.

Other Examples:

“I must be cruel to be kind.” - Hamlet, Act 3, scene 4

Function:

Hamlet is talking about his mother, and how he intends to kill Claudius to avenge his father’s death. This act of Hamlet will be a tragedy for his mother, who is married to Claudius. Hamlet does not want his mother to be the beloved of his father’s murderer any longer, and so he thinks that the murder will be good for his mother.

Non-original Mnemonic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWwnOmrya94

Original: To become clean, one must get dirty.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief

Definition

Comic relief is an amusing scene, incident, or speech introduced into serious or tragic elements, as in a play, in order to provide temporary relief from tension, or to intensify the dramatic action.

Example- from Macbeth

Act Two, scenes 3-4

A porter stumbles through the hallway to answer knocking, grumbling about the noise and mocking whoever is at the door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell and asks “Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?”. Macduff and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter’s slow response to his knock. The porter continues to say that he was up late and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination.

Function

After the bloody imagery and dark tones of the previous two scenes, the porter’s comedy comes as a refreshing sense of relief. His good-natured joking with Macduff breaks up the tension of the play and creates a break in the dramatic murder scene.

Another Example-Romeo and Juliet

Nurse

“Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. My back o’ t’ other side,-- O, my back, my back! Beshrew your heart for sending me about, to catch my death with jaunting up and down!” (lines 51-55).

Nurse's unexpected reply serves to draw tension away from Romeo’s reply and onto the interaction between Juliet and her caretaker. The Nurse highlights how tired she feels, which lightens the mood on stage.

Non-original mnemonic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OChs3oQoijY

Original mnemonic

To relieve someone from feeling sad, one would use comical jokes to make them laugh.

Synesthesia

DEFINITION
The production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body

EXAMPLE FROM MACBETH

“I have almost forgot the taste of fears…”

-Macbeth, Act V Scene V

FUNCTION

In this example, Macbeth has just discovered that Lady Macbeth is dead. Shakespeare describes Macbeth’s fear as both something that can be felt and something that can be tasted because it is so strong. This adds a deeper meaning and feeling to what Macbeth is experiencing. Writers generally employ synesthesia to add an element of appeal and creativity. Synesthesia makes ideas stand out more sharply by creating multiple levels of meaning, which allows readers’ minds to become more engaged in the story and give them a more sensory experience.  

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

“With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,

Between the light and me;

And then the windows failed, and then

could not see to see.”
-Emily Dickinson, Dying

NON-ORIGINAL MNEMONIC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7sto6sOWL8

ORIGINAL MNEMONIC
Sound of hope Your heated words Noises of thought
Eyes filled with cold fear
Smell the colors
Taste the music
Hear the warmth
Echoes of feeling
Sound of purple
Iciness of her smile
Anger of the cold

Portmanteau

Portmanteau

Definition:

A word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms (as smog from smoke and fog)

Example from The Tempest by William Shakespeare

“Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject to no sight but thine and mine, invisible to every eyeball else.”

eye+ball=eyeball.

Function:

In this example from Shakespeare's The Tempest, he creates the portmanteau "eyeball" to give a further description of what he requests of the character. The extended description of adding the shape of the eye and combining the to words into a portmanteau is an artistic and stylistic choice to emphasize the standards Prospero gives.

Example from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

     Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

     He chortled in his joy."                                    

Chortle = chuckle + snort

Non-original Mnemonic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4rhDTmNV_U

Original Mnemonic

Portmanteau

Port of Man Toe can be combined to portmanteau, a combination of the three words. Portmanteaus serve as a combination of words.