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Dramatic Irony
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
Book 2
Explanation and Analysis—Two Eagles:
The Odyssey heavily foreshadows the return of Odysseus to Ithaca and his slaying of the suitors. In one instance, two eagles appear in Ithaca moments after Telemachus threatens the suitors, violently tearing each other apart in the sky in a shocking and bloody spectacle:
All were dumbstruck, watching the eagles trail from sight,
people brooding, deeply, what might come to pass . . .
Until the old warrior Halitherses,
Mastor’s son, broke the silence for them —
the one who outperformed all men of his time
at reading bird-signs [...]
“Hear me, men of Ithaca! Hear what I have to say,
though my revelations strike the suitors first of all —
a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads.
Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer —
now, right now, he’s somewhere near, I tell you [...]
The crowd of suitors and other residents of Ithaca stares "dumbstruck" at the ominous sight, "brooding, deeply, what might come to pass." The assembled crowd, then, understands that the sudden appearance of the eagles foreshadows later violence. Halitherses, who is adept at "reading bird-signs," makes the prophetic nature of the incident clear, predicting that "great disaster is rolling like a breaker" towards the suitors and further prophesying the return of Odysseus. Throughout the poem, the gods frequently send signs that foreshadow the violent deaths of the suitors, though the suitors seem unable to change course and save themselves, whether due to their own stubborn natures or the binding force of divine will.
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