The Foreshadow Essay

Submitted By romness13
Words: 820
Pages: 4
Open Document
The Foreshadow

Jane Romness
Gardner 1
May 11, 2015 Throughout years of education in writing, English teachers teach their students to attempt to capture their reader’s attention with the first paragraph or even the first sentence. If the reader’s attention is not captured, then the reader would not have an interest in reading the book. Shakespeare helps demonstrate this by trying to hook the reader in the prologue he wrote in Romeo and Juliet that is only fourteen lines long. This passage is very important to the play because of Shakespeare’s attempt to embrace not only the reader of his play, but the attending audience at performances. His unique way of foreshadowing the play in this superb introduction sets the perfect stage for engagement. The first prologue of the drama determines the plot and what is going to happen in the play. This helps the reader and audience watching the play understand key information about the plot. The production of Romeo and Juliet takes place in the city of Verona, Italy and is approximately two hours long. In Verona, there are two households who have an on-going rivalry. Specifically, the Montagues and the Capulets have had a tumultuous history. Despite centuries of fighting, their children, Romeo and Juliet fall in love. As lovers, not only are they dangerous to themselves, but they also cause doom to others. Their unfortunate suicides cause the end of their parent’s feud. Of course, a destiny welcomed by no one, especially parents. Shakespeare’s unique prologue is so explicit it basically tells the reader what is going to happen at the end of the book. It’s as if the reader is reading the last paragraph of a book. It ruins the excitement but it seemed to work for Shakespeare, as now Romeo and Juliet is world famous.

Characters such as the chorus, the families of the Montague’s and Capulet’s and the star-crossed lovers develop throughout the prologue. First, it demonstrates the role of the chorus. The responsibility of the chorus is not to talk to the characters in the play, but to set the scene of the production. They talk directly to the audience explaining what is going to happen in the play. The chorus is an example of Shakespeare incorporating aspects of Greek drama. Next, the Prologue introduces the two households of the same high class that have a rivalry. The conflict is so extreme that it even involves killing of the other residents. The audience also discovers a youth from each household falls in love with each other. Their love is forbidden and fate mainly influences their future. This foreshadowing, as an introduction of the characters and their legacy, sets the stage for one of the most famous love stories ever.

The theme of fate and figurative language can be solicited from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. The audience knows that the story will end in tragedy due to fate from the beginning. The lover’s lives will end because of unluckiness. Showing that fate will determine their destinies, the chorus tells us these "star-crossed lover’s” relationship are “death-marked." Another strategy Shakespeare uses to maintain the
Show More

Related Documents: The Foreshadow Essay

Foreshadowing In Laura's Foreshadow

important the glass figurines were to her. Then Jim convinced Laura to dance with him but sadly during this dance Jim hits the table and knocks off the glass unicorn figurine. He failed to listen to her requests of being careful and this is just one big foreshadow of him mistreating Laura. He soon breaks her heart by kissing her then announcing the fact that he is engaged to me…

Words 97 - Pages 1

Friar Lawrence Foreshadow Quotes

Friar Lawrence’s quote in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare reveals character and foreshadows the play’s probable catastrophic end. First and foremost, Friar Lawrence is noticing the possible occurrence of an unhappy conclusion between Romeo and Juliet in the future.“They stumble that run fast.”(Shakespeare 2.3.101) this line refers to Romeo's excitement and haste to marry Juliet by reason of his strong love blinding him. Friar Lawrence is warning Romeo, as he is recognizing…

Words 283 - Pages 2

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Foreshadow Analysis

A Good Man Is Hard To Find , Foreshadow In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'connor, there is a unexpected violence at the end of the story. The author gives multiple signs of foreshadowing that hints the ending of the story.There are two ways she uses this technique. The story started with the grandmother not wanting to go to Florida for vacation , but instead to Tennessee with the family.The grandmother wore her best outfit for the trip.”A navy blue straw sailor hat…a purple spray…

Words 227 - Pages 1

Internet: Human and Foreshadow Crake Essay

game over forever” (Atwood 223). This theory, related by Crake in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, is first introduced while two of the main characters, Jimmy and Crake, are both in college. Although there are earlier instances in the novel that foreshadow Crake’s obsession, Crake’s college years give readers the insight of the beginning of his idea of creating a utopian environment. Intent on destroying all of human life, Crake created a primitively-designed new species, affectionately named the…

Words 2371 - Pages 10

The Use Of Foreshadow In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the Story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck he tries to prove that “Man has a plan, God laughs”. He displays this by hinting that an event will happen through a situation in the beginning of the story. T) In the story John Steinbeck shows foreshadow by making a situation happen in the beginning of the storying hinting that something will happen at the end. In the first Chapter He writes, “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water...”C: This displays how Large and huge Lennie actually is, instead…

Words 380 - Pages 2

Foreshadowing In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

money at the pub foreshadows Pip receiving money from a benefactor. Since the man was stirring his cup with the file he gave to Magwitch, the convict, Pip knew the…

Words 479 - Pages 2

Examples Of Foreshadowing In Romeo And Juliet

relationship. They’d rather die than be apart so they kill themselves. Shakespeare uses three pivotal moments to foreshadow remarkably tragic events: the balcony scene, Mercutio’s death, and before Romeo travels to Mantua. A love so strong that they’d rather die than be apart. During the famous balcony scene Romeo says that he’d couldn’t dare to live without Juliet. In Act 2, Scene 2 Romeo foreshadows death when he says“My life were better ended by their hate/Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love…

Words 596 - Pages 3

Examples Of Figurative Language In The Veldt

In the story, “The veldt” the author uses imagery, diction, and figurative language throughout the story to foreshadow the ending of “The Veldt” In summary, “The Veldt” is a story a family in a futuristic house with two very spoiled children. In the end, the children let their parents die because the children lock their parents in a “nursery” with lions. The story uses diction to foreshadow the ending from different choices of words and dialogue. This is shown from the quote, “Or it can’t respond…

Words 413 - Pages 2

How Does Dahl Use Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

In "Lamb to the Slaughter," "The Landlady," and "Poison," Dahl uses irony and foreshadow to warn his readers of the contrast between reality and the appearance of things. In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Dahl uses irony to warn his readers. The protagonist, Mary Maloney, appears to be harmless: “She took his coat and hung it up. Then she made the drinks, a strong one for him and a weak one for herself; and soon she was back again in her chair with the sewing…” (Dahl 1). Soon after, she learns her spouse…

Words 870 - Pages 4

Examples Of Foreshadowing In A Tale Of Two Cities

poor. The poor had hatred for the rich and the rich had hatred for the poor. The unbalance between the upper and lower classes, which lead to a lot friction and even violence, can be seen throughout the novel. The first example is when Dickens foreshadows the bloody conflict to come when a wine cask breaks in the street and poor people of all ages come to drink the runoff in the gutter. As the poor villagers tried to take a drink, they found the street and even their clothes were stained red from…

Words 468 - Pages 2