

His speaker comes to the conclusion that no matter how alone he might feel in one moment, he never truly is.

In this thoughtful poem, Robert Frost explores loneliness and togetherness. It seems impossible at first, but when one digs into the quote, Caesar is making a powerful statement about bravery and fear. Instead, the latter will meet their death head-on and only once. Here, he’s comparing cowardice and dishonor to death, something that the brave and valiant won’t ever face. Here, Caesar asserts that cowards die many times before ether deaths, and it’s only the brave who experience death once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, The valiant never taste of death but once. The following lines are from Act II Scene 2 and provide readers with an example of a paradox:Ĭowards die many times before their deaths. The play focuses primarily on the latter, his conspiracy, and what kind of leader Caesar was. In this famous history play, Shakespeare tells the story of Julius Caesar’s murder by Brutus and the repercussions of that act. They’re willing to say it in order to make the other creatures feel heard, but they are going to maintain their rule.

If all “animals are equal,” then one can’t be “more equal.” What becomes clear on further analysis is that the pigs don’t really believe all animals are equal. Here, Orwell presents readers with a paradox. One of those rules is:Īll animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. They made rules and controlled all the other farm animals through fear. Before long, the pigs who saw themselves as superior to the working animals took over. But, Orwell took this narrative in a familiar direction, mimicking the events of the Russian Revolution. At first, the revolution seems like a step in the right direction, with all animals now entitled to freedom. In this famous satirical novel, Orwell presents the story of a farm on which the animals rebel and take over their lives from their human overlords. Below, readers can find a few often-used examples of paradoxes.Įxamples of Paradoxes in Literature Animal Farm by George Orwell While paradoxes might seem complicated at first, they are actually quite common. Instead, the reader is asked to dig deeper and try to uncover something more meaningful in the present contradiction or seeming impossibility. They do not present the information the reader needs on the surface. When an author creates a paradox on purpose, they’re trying to engage the reader on a deeper level. It can even provide readers with needed information to understand a story of a real-life situation. A paradox is something that seems impossible and contradictory at first but upon closer analysis makes sense.
