Paradox | Definition & Examples
- Melchior Antoine
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
A paradox can be defined as a literary device that describes a statement, event, or situation that is conflicting or contradictory at first glance, but which upon further investigation makes logical sense. In Western literature, paradoxes are typically associated with unrequited or impossible love.
Here is a good example of a paradox based on unrequited love by Bartholomew Griffin, “Sonnet LXII, Fidessa, More Chaste Than Kinde” (1596):
Most true that I must fair Fidessa love.
Most true that I fair Fidessa cannot love.
Most true that I do feel the pains of love.
Most true that I am captive unto love.
Most true that I deluded am with love.
Most true that I do find the sleights of love.
Most true that nothing can procure her love.
Most true that I must perish in my love.
Most true that She contemns the God of love.
Most true that he is snarèd with her love.
Most true that She would have me cease to love.
Most true that She herself alone is Love.
Most true that though She hated, I would love!
Most true that dearest life shall end with love.
Here the author is describing being in love with someone who doesn’t love him back. He is describing what is often referred to as a “sweet agony.” “Sweet agony” itself isn’t a paradox but instead can be described as an oxymoron.
An oxymoron describes two seemingly contradictory words or phrases being used alongside each other to express an idea. A phrase like “sweet sorrow” also describes the emotions one associates with unrequited love.
These conflicting emotions are the “paradox.” Love is often associated with being happy and content. However, when it is not returned it leads to nothing but sorrow and heartache.
This is why in the poem stanza I selected, the author has pairs of sentences, each of which contradict each other. For example, let’s look at the first two lines:
Most true that I must fair Fidessa love.
Most true that I fair Fidessa cannot love.
The author is in love with Fidessa; however, he cannot enjoy that love likely because Fidessa does not love him back. This constitutes a paradox for the persona in the poem.
In this article, we provide more examples of paradoxes. In doing so, we include examples from the Trinidadian Calypso singer Lord Kitchener, the famous Andrew Marvell poem, “The Definition of Love” (1681), and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Examples of paradox
A good, and rather fun, example of a paradox is from Lord Kitchener’s 1992 calypso song “Bee’s Melody.” It’s a song that tells the anecdote of a musician encountering a beehive that attacks him.
He wishes to run but enjoys the melodious sound of the stinging bees so much, he remains. Here is the video and a few stanzas from the song:
1. Lord Kitchener, “Bees Melody” (1992):
Climbing up a mountain, high above the sea
I find myself approaching a hive of killer bee
Climbing up a mountain, high above the sea
I find myself disturbing a hive of killer bee
They bite me on mih chin, bite me on mih hand
The noise that they making, it sound like steelband
Because of mih love for music, I refused to run
But the bees were not sympathetic, they sting me for fun.
[Vvung vvung, killer bee bite me!
Dem killer bee sting me! Dem killer bee dread!]
[Vvung vvung] oh gorm [killer bee jook me!] [oh-oh]
[Dem killer bee jook me] ah-ah [all over mih head!]
Well, ah feeling the pain but ah getting a vibe in mih brain
Mammayo, ah start to dance, ah start to prance,
Because the buzzing of the bee form this beautiful melody -
[Oooh oooh oooh oooh...]
[Vvuh-vvung vvuh-vvung.....]
You see [the bees' melody!]
Stand up in the bushes, leaning on a tree,
Watching all the bruises the bees put on me,
I say "This is tragic! Is it wrong or right,
For the sake of music, to take all this bite?"
Well, this was my problem, should I stay or go?
Something tell me, leave them, Something tell me, no
Well, I finally decided I'm going to remain
The bees must be say I stupid, they lash me again.
The paradox here has two interpretations. You can interpret it as a cute and funny little anecdote of a silly man who loves the sound of bees more than he loves preserving his own skin. However, it also has a deeper and more universal interpretation.
It can be summed up in the two lines:
Because of mih love for music, I refused to run
But the bees were not sympathetic, they sting me for fun.
This describes the classic paradox of the musician or the artist who loves his profession but who gets little reward from it or even worse suffers for it. We all know about the stereotype of the “starving artist,” who despite being talented still can’t make a living because their art isn’t appreciated.
The song then can be interpreted as a metaphor to represent the dilemma or paradox behind the psychology of the artist who has no financial or practical gain from their art but who continues pursuing such art anyway.
In the introduction of the article, we mentioned how unrequited or doomed love is often the basis of paradoxes in literature. A famous example of this is Andrew Marvell’s famous poem, “The Definition of Love” (published in 1681).
Here are a few excerpts from the poem:
2. Marvel, “The Definition of Love”:
For Fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close;
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrannic pow’r depose.
. . .
As lines, so loves oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet;
But ours so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.
Therefore the love which us doth bind,
But Fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.
Marvell here is making reference to a love that has been doomed by fate. This is why he describes fate as having “jealous eyes.” The poet describes their love as being parallel lines as opposed to “oblique [slanting] loves.” Lines that slant can meet. However, parallel lines “though infinite can never meet.”
Such a love is finally described as “the conjunction of the mind / and opposition of the stars.” In other words, it is love that has been doomed by fate. The paradox lies in the fact that the couple will continue loving each other in perpetuity without ever being together.
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3. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World:
Our third example is from Chesterton’s What’s Wrong with the World (published in 1910). Here’s an excerpt:
. . . in everything worth having, even in every pleasure, there is a point of pain or tedium that must be survived, so that the pleasure may revive and endure. The joy of battle comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the sea–bather comes after the icy shock of the sea bath; and the success of the marriage comes after the failure of the honeymoon.
Chesterton is making and proving the thesis that everything valuable or has he puts it “everything worth having” necessitates tolerating a certain level of tedium. This presents a certain paradox. We can see that in the examples that he gives.
For example, having joy in battle after accepting the possibility of death seems contradictory. However, when one considers that battle and the threat of death for some soldiers creates a kind of thrill, one can imagine a seasoned soldier eventually learning to enjoy warfare after the initial fear.
4. Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2:
The fourth example is from Romeo and Juliet. Here Juliet is saying goodbye to Romeo:
Romeo: I would I were thy bird.
Juliet:
Sweet, so would I,
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Juliet is responding to the idea of Romeo wanting to be her bird on a leash of golden thread, which she won't ever let go. But a bird being doted on without ever being granted freedom would likely die. This is what Juliet means when she says "I should kill thee with much cherishing." This is the first paradox in the passage. Cherishing something you love too much may end up harming that very thing.
The second paradox is related to the phrase "Parting is such sweet sorrow." This is a reference to the sweet melancholy of saying goodbye to a loved one. This passage suggests that the love between Romeo and Juliet is laced with infatuation and a kind of sickly sweetness.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, May 25). Paradox | Definition & Examples. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/paradox-definition-examples |
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