Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing or guessing ahead is a literary device by which an author hints what is to come.^[1] It is used to avoid disappointment, and sometimes used to arouse readers.^[2][3]

In this Arthur Rackham illustration, the Rhinemaidens warn Siegfried of a curse, foreshadowing the disasters of Götterdämmerung.

Example

• Foreshadowing is used in the works of John Steinbeck. In Of Mice and Men, Lennie accidentally kills a mouse, a puppy dog and finally Curley's Wife. This foreshadows his own death. When Carlson kills Candy's Dog, Candy told George, "I ought to of shot that dog myself" making George later chose to kill Lennie himself to save him from dying by the hands of a stranger. Doing it the way that Carlson did it was for the best because, "He won't even feel it." ^[4]