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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
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Twinkling Arno:
In the third chapter, Lucy's view of Florence from the Pension once again assumes a central role in her character development and the novel's plot. Forster offers the reader vivid imagery of the Arno, this time in the evening:
Evening approached while they chatted; the air became brighter; the colours on the trees and hills were purified, and the Arno lost its muddy solidity and began to twinkle. There were a few streaks of bluish-green among the clouds, a few patches of watery light upon the earth, and then the dripping facade of San Miniato shone brilliantly in the declining sun.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—View Sloping Into Kiss:
At the end of the sixth chapter, Lucy walks through a wooded area with the Italian driver in search of Mr. Eager and Mr. Beebe, whom she has described as good men in Italian. The driver has misunderstood her, however, and is taking her to George. The moment in which Lucy stumbles onto the terrace results in an explosion of imagery, as the view opens up in front of her eyes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+From her feet the ground sloped sharply into the view, and violets ran down in rivulets and streams and cataracts, irrigating the hillside with blue, eddying round the tree stems, collecting into pools in the hollows, covering the grass with spots of azure foam. But never again were they in such profusion; this terrace was the well-head, the primal source whence beauty gushed out to water the earth.
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Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Cecil and Intermarriage:
In the tenth chapter, Lucy finds out that Cecil has thwarted her plan to install the Miss Alans at the villa Sir Harry Otway has been struggling to find tenants for—replacing the spinster sisters with none other than the Emersons. Several layers of irony, as well as foreshadowing, ensue in the conversation between Lucy and Cecil after she reproaches him on his obstruction of her plan. Not realizing that something is going on between Lucy and George, Cecil speaks the following line:
Unlock with LitCharts A+'No, Lucy, the classes ought to mix, and before long you’ll agree with me. There ought to be intermarriage — all sorts of things. I believe in democracy —’
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Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Talking Clothes:
When Freddy, George, and Mr. Beebe go to the Sacred Lake in the novel's twelfth chapter, all three take their clothes off to bathe and play in the water. Personifying the clothes that lie on the bank, the narrator juxtaposes their uninhibitedness with the encumbering societal expectations that characters wrestle with throughout the novel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And all the time three little bundles lay discreetly on the sward, proclaiming: ‘No. We are what matters. Without us shall no enterprise begin. To us shall all flesh turn in the end.'
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Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Lucy's Lies:
Toward the end of the novel, the titles of three chapters in a row follow an anaphoric construction. Chapter 16 is called "Lying to George," Chapter 17 is called "Lying to Cecil," and Chapter 18 is called "Lying to Lying to Mr Beebe, Mrs Honeychurch, Freddy and the Servants." This repetition foreshadow later events and creates some dramatic irony.
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