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The following are well-crafted Bathos examples.

Example #1

The Mary Tyler Moore Show had an episode that involved the death of the clown Chuckles, who was killed very brutally by a stampeding elephant. Everyone on the station keeps making jokes about it that Mary does not approve of. Later on, when she attends the funeral, she starts laughing hysterically while the rest of the people stare at her exasperated.

Absurd styles of humor can use this method. Such is the television series Police Squad, which uses Bathos very often. Excerpts from The Naked Gun show numerous points where a serious scenario is built up only to knock it down subsequently with Frank Drebin’s silly comments. For example:

“FRANK: A good cop – pointlessly cut down by some spineless hoodlums.

ED: That’s no way for a man to die.

FRANK: No… you’re right, Ed. A parachute not opening… that’s a way to die, getting caught in the gears of a combine… having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that’s the way I want to go!

WILMA NORDBERG: Oh… Frank. This is terrible!

ED: Don’t you worry, Wilma. Your husband is going to be alright. Don’t you worry about anything! Just think positive. Never let a doubt enter your mind.

FRANK: He’s right, Wilma. But I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards. (The Naked Gun, 1988)

Example #2

Jane Austen is among the few serious writers who used this tool. It helped her give a sense of merriness to her novel Northanger Abbey. In this novel, Austen highlights the ingenuous and imaginative nature of the leading character Catherine Morland. She uses Catherine’s increasingly active imagination to work like Bathos in order to parody the plot used in Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic novels and the likes of her.

In Radcliff’s The Romance of the Forest, a character finds a human skeleton in the chest. In Northanger Abbey, Austen uses a mysterious chest in her story as a prop to build on and successfully satirize the extremes of the Gothic fiction of eighteenth century.

Catherine became skeptical when she saw the enormous chest in her room during her stay at the Abbey. Certain questions arose in her mind about that chest and about what it held and why it was placed in her room. Catherine, who seemed to be very naïve, went on investigating the chest. You can see that the novel at this particular point adopts a very gothic tone. It starts using short clauses that consist of many inauspicious words, for instance ‘trembling hands’, ‘alarming violence’ and ‘fearful curiosity’. The selection of words at this point aids in building up the suspense in the readers’ and audience’s heads only to discover consequently that the chest holds only a folded bed sheet.

Example #3

The British radio series I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again also provides us with many Bathos examples. John Cleese and Jo Kendall appeared in the roles of a couple whose relationship is on the brink of failure.

MARY: John – once we had something that was pure, and wonderful, and good. What’s happened to it?



JOHN: You spent it all.

When Mary says “something pure and wonderful”, she is actually referring to the deep, sacred, noble form of love. However, the description is vague enough for John to manipulate.

Functions of Bathos

Bathos is a device, which if used skillfully, can really build up a nice comic scene. Bathos brings a certain degree of wit to a scene by highlighting the contrast in tone. Initially, it is used to create a serious and powerful dramatic situation. This might be slightly hard to create for comedy writers. Thus, comedy writers must be very careful when they insert jokes here and there in the middle of a serious scene. There is a great danger that their jokes will break the tempo of a serious scene in a prose.

Paradox in Literature

Have a better idea of what a paradox is now? Let's continue on to some larger examples of paradox that appear in works of literature. In doing so, examining their purpose will become an important part of the process.

In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the words "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" are part of the cardinal rules. Clearly this statement does not make logical sense. However, the point of a paradox is to point out a truth, even if the statements contradict each other.

Orwell is trying to make some sort of political statement here. Perhaps it is that the government claims that everyone is equal when that is clearly false, or perhaps it is that individuals have skewed perceptions of what it means to be equal. The interpretation is up to the reader to decide.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character states "I must be cruel to be kind." On the surface, once again, this statement does not seem to make much sense. Can an individual convey kindness through evil?

However, Hamlet is speaking about his mother, and how he plans to ultimately slay Claudius in order to avenge his father's death. His mother is now married to Claudius, so of course this will be a tragedy for her. However, he does not want his mother to be the lover of his father's murderer (unbeknownst to her) any longer, and so he believes the murder will be for her own good.

Purpose of Paradox

After examining the examples from works of literature, one will see that a paradox is not just a witty or amusing statement. Paradoxes have serious implications in the world of literature, because they make statements that often sum up the the main ideas of the work.

What is the purpose of using such a statement then, instead of just forthrightly stating the work's intent?

One reason is that to do so would be boring. It is much more interesting for a reader to carve out the meaning, than to have it fed to them on a silver platter.

Furthermore, summing up the totality of the work in one statement is more memorable. "I must be cruel to be kind" is a famous statement that has transcended history, whether or not people know where the words originally came from.


Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-paradox.html#ddrdfkxMTYs8yUQV.99


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1338


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