"Merry" and "tragical"? "Tedious" and "brief"?
That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow!
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1. Theseus reads a list of plays that the amateur players are ready to perform. Last on the list and the one he chooses is the love story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Theseus’ obvious puzzlement and amusement are foreshadowing of how ridiculous and foolish the play will be. He employs a series of oxymorons and metaphors to describe its contradictions.