Literary notes about Contrariwise (AI summary)
The term "contrariwise" is frequently deployed by authors as a formal transitional adverb that signals an opposition or reversal in thought. In philosophical works, for instance, it is used to contrast moral or rational qualities—such as in texts by Spinoza where one idea is measured against its negation [1], [2], [3]—while in narrative literature it introduces a twist in perspective, as when Lewis Carroll employs it to disrupt conventional expectations [4], [5]. Its calculated placement not only enhances the rhythm and balance of an argument or description but also deepens the reader’s engagement by preparing them for the forthcoming opposing idea or outcome, a technique that resonates across genres from medieval romances to modern essays [6], [7].
- Thus, we bestow approval on one who has benefited anything resembling ourselves, and, contrariwise, are indignant with him who has done it an injury.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - Pleasure in itself is not bad but good: contrariwise, pain in itself is bad.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - Contrariwise, disparagement may be defined as hatred, in so far as it induces a man to think too meanly of a hated object.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - ‘Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t.
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - ‘Next Boy!’ said Alice, passing on to Tweedledee, though she felt quite certain he would only shout out ‘Contrariwise!’
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - And contrariwise, there are those who believe none thereof, save after they find themselves fallen into the peril foreshown.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - But, unluckily for her ladyship, its effect had been exactly contrariwise.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
