Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition Definition
Juxtaposition is a literary approach in which two or extra ideas, places, characters, and their moves are located side through side in a narrative or a poem, for the reason of growing comparisons and contrasts.

In literature, juxtaposition is a beneficial device for writers to portray their characters in first rate detail, to create suspense, and to gain a rhetorical effect. It is a human first-rate to realise one component without difficulty through comparing it to another. Therefore, a author can make readers sense “goodness” in a particular person through placing him or her side-by way of-side with a person this is predominantly “evil.” Consequently, goodness in one man or woman is highlighted with the aid of evil inside the other individual. Juxtaposition in this example is useful within the development of characters.

Examples of Juxtaposition in Literature
Example #1: Paradise Lost (By John Milton)
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is one of the narrative poems that may be used for instance of juxtaposition. This well-crafted literary piece is definitely based on the juxtaposition of characters: God and Satan. Frequently within the poem, the bad qualities of Satan and the best qualities of God are located facet-by-aspect, and the evaluation made brings to the floor the assessment between the 2 characters. The juxtaposition on this poem allows us to attain the belief that Satan deserved his expulsion from the paradise because of his unwillingness to put up to God’s will.

Example #2: A Tale of Two Cities (By Charles Dickens)
Charles Dickens makes use of the method of juxtaposition inside the establishing line of his novel A Tale of Two Cities:

“It become the satisfactory of times, it become the worst of times, it changed into the age of wisdom, it became the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it become the epoch of incredulity, it changed into the season of Light, it changed into the season of Darkness, it changed into the spring of hope, it become the wintry weather of despair, we had the whole lot before us, we had nothing earlier than us, we had been all going direct to Heaven, we have been all going direct the other way …”

In order to give us an concept of the factors answerable for the French Revolution, Dickens uses juxtaposition at some point of the novel. Here, the haves and have-nots are put side-through-aspect to highlight the presence of extreme disparity and discord within the then-French society, which in the long run paved the way for the revolution. By analyzing the given juxtaposition, readers can vividly imagine the calamitous atmosphere before the revolution, and understand its need at that time.

Example #3: Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night (By Dylan Thomas)
We can see juxtaposition examples in poems, too.

“Grave men, close to death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes may want to blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the demise of the light.
And you, my father, there at the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now along with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do no longer go mild into that top night.
Rage, rage towards the demise of the mild.”

In Dylan Thomas’ poem Do now not Go Gentle into that Good Night, the speaker is calling his father now not to provide up, like regular dying men, but to combat in opposition to it to survive. The juxtaposition is in the action of conflict for life, to do away with death with the aid of now not merely lying down to anticipate death.

Example #4: Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)
Juxtaposition is a literary tool that William Shakespeare makes use of most normally in his play Romeo and Juliet. We note the juxtaposition of mild and darkness repeatedly. Consider an example from Act I, Scene V:

“O, she doth educate the torches to burn vibrant!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a wealthy jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;”

Here, the radiant face of Juliet is juxtaposed with a black African’s dark skin. Romeo admires Juliet with the aid of pronouncing that her face appears brighter than brightly lit torches in the hall. He says that, at night, her face glows like a vibrant jewel that shines towards the dark skin of an African.

Function of Juxtaposition
Writers employ the literary method of juxtaposition on the way to marvel their readers and evoke their interest, with the aid of way of growing a contrast between two distinct things by putting them side by facet. The evaluation drawn provides vividness to a given image, controls the pacing of the poem or a story, and provides a logical connection between indistinct concepts.

Jargon Kenning