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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
Part 1, Chapter 1
Part 1, Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Anna's Demise:
When Anna arrives at the Moscow train station, she meets Vronsky for the first time and reunites with her brother Stepan Arkadyich. The three of them witness a watchman getting run over by a train, which foreshadows Anna's death:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Evidently something extraordinary had happened. People who had left the train were running back.
‘What? ... What? ... Where? ... Threw himself! ... run over! ...’ could be heard among those passing by. […]
A watchman, either drunk or too bundled up because of the freezing cold, had not heard a train being shunted and had been run over. […]
Oblonsky and Vronsky had both seen the mangled corpse. Oblonsky was obviously suffering. He winced and seemed ready to cry. ‘Ah, how terrible! Ah, Anna, if you’d seen it! Ah, how terrible!’ he kept saying. […]
Mme Karenina got into the carriage, and Stepan Arkadyich saw with surprise that her lips were trembling and she could hardly keep back her tears. ‘What is it, Anna?’ he asked, when they had driven several hundred yards. ‘A bad omen,’ she said.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—The Murderer:
After Anna and Vronsky have sexual relations for the first time—assumed through the uses of ellipses—Vronsky feels a unique sense of dismay at the immutability of his actions. With a metaphor, the narrative describes Vronsky's perception of the situation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And he felt what a murderer must feel when he looks at the body he has deprived of life. This body deprived of life was their love, the first period of their love. There was something horrible and loathsome in his recollections of what had been paid for with this terrible price of shame. Shame at her spiritual nakedness weighed on her and communicated itself to him. But, despite all the murderer’s horror before the murdered body, he had to cut this body into pieces and hide it, he had to make use of what the murderer had gained by his murder.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Anna and Frou Frou:
When Vronsky mishandles his horse during the steeplechase, he falls off, but he doesn't get hurt. However, his horse, Frou-Frou, breaks her back, creating a moment of foreshadowing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Before him, gasping heavily, lay Frou-Frou, her head turned to him, looking at him with her lovely eye. Still not understanding what had happened, Vronsky pulled the horse by the reins. She again thrashed all over like a fish, creaking the wings of the saddle, freed her front legs, but, unable to lift her hindquarters, immediately staggered and fell on her side again.
The horse had broken her back and they decided to shoot her. Vronsky was unable to answer questions, unable to talk to anyone. […] For the first time in his life he had experienced a heavy misfortune, a misfortune that was irremediable and for which he himself was to blame.
Related Themes:
