Literary notes about Contrast (AI summary)
In literature, contrast is a versatile device that authors use to underscore differences between ideas, characters, or settings, thereby deepening thematic complexity and engaging the reader’s attention. For instance, contrast can serve to delineate conflicting doctrines or perspectives, as when a religious teaching sharply opposes another ([1]), or when a character’s vibrant appearance is set against a demure exterior to reveal layers of personality ([2]). It is equally effective in emphasizing shifts in tone or mood, such as the transformation from reticence to excitement ([3]) or the subtle interplay between light and shadow that transforms a scene ([4]). In each instance, the use of contrast not only heightens visual and conceptual disparity but also invites reflections on the broader implications of such oppositions within the narrative.
- To this doctrine the teaching of the Pharisees stands in direct contrast;
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot - She must be a woman of complicated character, and there was something dramatic in the contrast of that with her demure appearance.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham - In contrast to his former reticent taciturnity Prince Andrew now seemed excited.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - Outside the day was bright—by contrast with the brown shadows of the dismal house in which I found myself, dazzlingly bright.
— from The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance by H. G. Wells
