The Iliad: Foreshadowing 3 key examples

The plan to have Patroclus fight on behalf of Achilles is already initiated in Book 11, when Nestor suggests that Patroclus join the battle wearing Achilles's armor. Nestor hopes that the Trojans will take Patroclus for Achilles, hold off from attack, and give Achaea's "exhausted" forces a "second wind." The plan results in an ironic outcome. While it has the intended effect of turning the tide of the war in favor of the Achaeans, it's not for the reason Nestor or anyone else has in mind. When Achilles later decides to rejoin the war in order to avenge Patroclus's death, Patroclus's participation in the becomes marked by situational irony.

At the beginning of Book 16, Patroclus returns to Achilles and begs to let him fight on his behalf. After quoting Patroclus's speech, Homer comments that the character is "condemned to beg for his own death and brutal doom." By foreshadowing Patroclus's death in such straightforward terms, Homer creates dramatic irony. This irony is strengthened when Achilles reaffirms that he won't relax his anger until "the cries and carnage" reaches his own ships. The reader begins to expect that the cries and carnage will reach Achilles's ships when Patroclus dies. Again and again, he instructs Patroclus to "come back" before he reaches Troy—again and again, Homer reinforces the reader's expectation that he won't return alive. 

Not only is there dramatic irony between the reader and characters, but also between the characters themselves. As in many other instances, the immortals know more than the mortals—after all, the immortals play an important role in determining the mortals' fates. The lead-up to Patroclus's death is a good example of this. Later in Book 16, when Achilles prays to Zeus to fill Patroclus's heart with courage and let him come back unharmed, Homer shares that Zeus grants the first prayer, but denies the second one. Achilles knows what will bring him back into war, and that his return to war will result in his own death, but he's in the dark about Patroclus's role in all of it. In a way, the mortals are constant subjects of dramatic irony. Even when they know a piece of their fate, they never have access to Zeus's full picture.

In the very beginning of the poem, the narrator tells the reader that Achilles's rage will "cost the Achaeans countless losses." Already before Book 1 is over, the narrator gives an idea of why Achilles's rage will have fatal consequences on such a grand scale. After Achilles asks his mother Thetis to persuade Zeus to "help the Trojan cause" in order to show Agamemnon "how mad he was to disgrace Achilles," Zeus bows his head in assent to Thetis. With this, the reader knows that the coming events will—at least for a certain period—be advantageous to the Trojans.

However, the narrator leaves no doubt about the ultimate outcome of the war. Before the Achaeans go to Troy, they receive an omen telling them that they will "fight in Troy" for nine years and then "in the tenth" will "take her broad streets." From time to time, the leaders of the Achaeans remind each other and the fighters—not to mention the reader—that the war will end with their victory and return home. In some instances, this knowledge drives them to keep fighting, since the narrative opens in the war's final year. In Book 4, for example, Agamemnon tells his friends and fellow fighters the following: "Yes, for in my heart and soul I know this well: the day will come when sacred Troy must die, Priam must die and all his people with him."

The Trojans are also aware of this fate. Hector, for example, knows that he will eventually be defeated by the Achaeans. His will to keep fighting and keep defending his people despite this awareness becomes one of the poem's more stirring motifs. Similarly, Achilles has long known that he will have to choose between winning glory on the battlefield (and never returning home) or living a long life (without glory). The reader has many reasons to suspect that he will choose the former. In Book 1, Thetis expresses sorrow that her son is "doomed to a short life."

Over the course of the poem, the narrator progressively adds to his initial foreshadowing. Eventually, the reader learns that Achilles will return to the fighting until his friend Patroclus dies. The reader also knows that Hector will keep fighting until he's defeated by Achilles. Thus, the reader gradually comes to see that the poem is moving towards a duel between Achilles and Hector.

At the same time, it's worth noting that Homer casts some doubt on his own foreshadowing. By involving the immortals in the war, he suggests that the predicted outcome isn't a completely foregone conclusion. There's always a chance that Zeus will change his mind. Nevertheless, the main suspense of the poem revolves less around whether Troy will fall and more around how this inevitable outcome will be reached.

Through Odysseus's flashback, Homer provides the reader with essential context and foreshadows later events. It becomes clear that the Achaeans have persisted with their siege of Troy in large part because of this omen. Since the narrative opens in the war's ninth year, the reader grows certain that the next few books will contain major developments. In the flashback, Homer also establishes the importance of bird signs—a motif that will resurface later in the story.

The reader recalls Calchas's omen in Book 12, when "a fatal bird-sign" flashes before the Trojans: this time an eagle clutching a serpent. When the serpent bites the eagle, the eagle drops the serpent to the earth and "[veers] off along the gusting wind." Like Odysseus in his flashback, the Trojans are immediately certain that this is "a sign from storming Zeus." While Achaeans interpreted their bird sign as a favorable omen, this bird sign makes the Trojans shudder. This time Polydamas serves as interpreter: 

All will end as the omen says, I do believe, 
if the bird-sign really came to us, the Trojans, 
just as our fighters tried to cross the trench. 
That eagle flying high on the left across our front, 
clutching this bloody serpent in both its talons, 
still alive—but he let the monster drop at once, 
before he could sweep it back to his own home ... 
he never fed his nestlings in the end. Nor will we.

Cite this Quote

This scene offers insight into the elusive ways in which the immortals communicate with mortals.  While the fighters know that the outcome of the war is in the hands of Zeus, they have to rely on vague signs to glean how they're doing. Not everyone bows down to the omens and the conception of fate that underlie them, however. Hector refuses to let the bird sign make him complacent. Even if he's long since accepted that the war will bring the fall of Troy and his own death, he rejects Polydamas's sentence: "Bird-signs! Fight for your country—that is the best, the only omen!"

Through Odysseus's flashback, Homer provides the reader with essential context and foreshadows later events. It becomes clear that the Achaeans have persisted with their siege of Troy in large part because of this omen. Since the narrative opens in the war's ninth year, the reader grows certain that the next few books will contain major developments. In the flashback, Homer also establishes the importance of bird signs—a motif that will resurface later in the story.

The reader recalls Calchas's omen in Book 12, when "a fatal bird-sign" flashes before the Trojans: this time an eagle clutching a serpent. When the serpent bites the eagle, the eagle drops the serpent to the earth and "[veers] off along the gusting wind." Like Odysseus in his flashback, the Trojans are immediately certain that this is "a sign from storming Zeus." While Achaeans interpreted their bird sign as a favorable omen, this bird sign makes the Trojans shudder. This time Polydamas serves as interpreter: 

All will end as the omen says, I do believe, 
if the bird-sign really came to us, the Trojans, 
just as our fighters tried to cross the trench. 
That eagle flying high on the left across our front, 
clutching this bloody serpent in both its talons, 
still alive—but he let the monster drop at once, 
before he could sweep it back to his own home ... 
he never fed his nestlings in the end. Nor will we.

Cite this Quote

This scene offers insight into the elusive ways in which the immortals communicate with mortals.  While the fighters know that the outcome of the war is in the hands of Zeus, they have to rely on vague signs to glean how they're doing. Not everyone bows down to the omens and the conception of fate that underlie them, however. Hector refuses to let the bird sign make him complacent. Even if he's long since accepted that the war will bring the fall of Troy and his own death, he rejects Polydamas's sentence: "Bird-signs! Fight for your country—that is the best, the only omen!"