antithesis

Contrast or opposition between two things. In abstract ideas, an antithesis is a direct opposite, for example, heaven is the antithesis of hell. In a sentence, two contrasting ideas can be said to be balanced by antithesis, usually in the same sentence. For example: ‘People with young children often long for peace and quiet; people with peace and quiet often long for children.’

In literature, antithesis can be employed as a device, particularly regarding characters in a text. Contrasting characters may be paired (for example Laurel and Hardy, Jan Ridd and Lorna Doone), or characters may be placed in antithetical situations (in Dickens, for example, the workhouse boy Oliver is in fact a middle-class child by birth, and the orphaned Pip becomes a middle class member as a result of a criminal's generosity). In these contexts, the device is widely used for satire or social criticism.