Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a
The writer may implement foreshadowing in many different ways such as character dialogues, plot events, and changes in setting. Even the title of a work or a chapter can act as a clue that suggests what is going to happen. Foreshadowing in fiction creates an atmosphere of suspense in a story so that the readers are interested and want to know more.
The literary device is generally used to build anticipation in the minds of readers about what might happen next to add dramatic tension to a story. Moreover, foreshadowing can make extraordinary and bizarre events appear credible, and some events are predicted so that the audience feel that it
Hints may be about future events, character revelations, and plot twists to create mood, convey theme, and build suspense, usually to hint the good events that will likely cross paths or happen to the main character later on.[4]
Plot can be delayed by situations or events to give the impression that something momentous will occur to build anticipation and emphasize importance to them, which gives the audience a series of questions, particularly after
The literary device is frequently adapted for use by
Methods
Foreshadowing can be accomplished by the use of story-driven or fictional events which can bring original dialogue, emotional investment in the plot, such as for the main character, unknown and present characters.
A flashback is the interruption of a sequential narrative plot to present important events that have happened in the past to present plot points that are difficult to bring into the narrative, such as character traits, events, or themes which may drive the current narrative or to be revealed.
Flashforwards move the plot forward in time where formerly revealed or new character traits, events or themes are brought into the story. They might embellish past or current plot points.[5][6]
Anton Chekhov once famously said, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." Anton has also said in a letter, "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it."
This is called Chekhov's gun, a principle where an object or character is shown numerous times, referring to that same object will be used that’s important to the narrative. A red herring may also be played here.[7]
Related concepts
Foreshadowing is often confused with other literary devices.
A
A flashforward is a scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television, or other media.[8][9] Foreshadowing is sometimes employed through characters' explicitly predicting the future.[10] Flashforwards have scenes shown out of chronological order in a nonlinear narrative, with chronology in an anachronist order, such as to make the reader or the audience think about the climax or reveals.
Chekhov's gun dictates that everything superfluous must be deleted. In relation to foreshadowing, the literary critic Gary Morson describes its opposite, sideshadowing.[11] Found notably in the epic novels of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, sideshadowing is the practice of including scenes that turn out to have no relevance to the plot. That, according to Morson, increases the verisimilitude of the fiction because the audience knows that in real life, unlike in novels, most events are in fact inconsequential. The "sense of structurelessness" invites the audience to "interpret and question the events that actually do come to pass."[12]
References
- JSTOR 1773187.
- ^ "What is Foreshadowing? || Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms". College of Liberal Arts. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
- ^ "Foreshadowing". Literarydevices.net. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ "Foreshadowing". www.literarytechniques.org. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ISSN 0009-837X.
- ^ "Glossary of the Gothic: Foreshadowing | Glossary of the Gothic | Marquette University". epublications.marquette.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
- ^ https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/chekhovs-gun-and-the-power-of-foreshadowing#:~:text=%22Chekhov's%20gun%22%20is%20one%20of,one%20it%20should%20be%20fired. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
- ISBN 978-3-540-89424-7.
- ^ flash-forward - definition of flash-forward by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia
- ISBN 0-87116-195-8
- S2CID 145159406.
- ^ Calixto, Joshua (3 August 2015). "LET'S TALK ABOUT ROSA VAR ATTRE, THE IMPOSSIBLE ROMANCE OF THE WITCHER 3". Kill Screen. Retrieved 3 August 2015.