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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Volume 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Distinctions Betwixt:
In the opening chapter of Ivanhoe, Scott foreshadows the novel's central tension between Normans and Saxons. In so doing, he is preparing the reader for the many underlying conflicts of the novel’s social world. The narrator says:
This state of things I have thought it necessary to premise for the information of the general reader, who might be apt to forget, that, although no great historical events, such as war or insurrection, mark the existence of the Anglo-Saxons as a separate people subsequent to the reign of William the Second; yet the great national distinctions betwixt them and their conquerors [...] keep open the wounds which the Conquest had inflicted, and to maintain a line of separation betwixt the descendants of the victor Normans and the vanquished Saxons.
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Volume 1, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Richard and John:
This quotation from the novel’s first chapter employs foreshadowing and the rhetorical strategy of ethos, shaping the reader's perception of the characters and the political landscape of England. Through their portrayal of King Richard as a savior and Prince John as a usurper, the narrator establishes themselves as the moral authority on Richard’s benevolence and John’s bad intentions, and on the basis of that moral authority, tries to persuade the reader to agree:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The condition of the English nation was at this time sufficiently miserable. King Richard was absent a prisoner, and in the power of the perfidious and cruel Duke of Austria. Even the very place of his captivity was uncertain, and his fate but very imperfectly known to the generality of his subjects, who were, in the mean time, a prey to every species of subaltern oppression. Prince John [...] was using every species of influence with the Duke of Austria, to prolong the captivity of his brother Richard, to whom he stood indebted for so many favours.
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Volume 2, Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Sword of Damocles:
As Scott describes Dame Urfried guarding the imprisoned Rebecca in the tower at Torquilstone, he employs allusion and foreshadowing to emphasize the stakes of the perilous position she is in. Rebecca's training to bear fear and master her temper become crucial here, as the narrator tells the reader:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Like Damocles at his celebrated banquet, Rebecca perpetually beheld, amid that gorgeous display, the sword which was suspended over the heads of her people by a single hair.
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Volume 3, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Grand Master:
As he introduces the Grand Master of the Knights Templar Lucas de Beaumanoir in Volume 3, Scott employs visual imagery and foreshadowing to signal the man's inner qualities and set the stage for his actions later on:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The Grand Master was a man advanced in age, as was testified by his long grey beard, and the shaggy grey eyebrows over-hanging eyes, of which, however, years had been unable to quench the fire. A formidable warrior, his thin and severe features retained the soldier’s fierceness of expression; an ascetic bigot, they were no less marked by the emaciation of abstinence, and the spiritual pride of the self-satisfied devotee.
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