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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
Key Examples in Jane Eyre
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Confinement:
Bertha Mason is one of the most iconic literary figures of a woman locked up by her family to contain her emotional outbursts. Jane, too, is locked up by her family in Chapter 2, foreshadowing that confinement of emotional women and family secrets will be a central plot point:
I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me. The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself, as the French would say: I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already rendered me liable to strange penalties, and, like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths.
[...]
They went, shutting the door, and locking it behind them.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Extinguished Candle :
In Chapter 10, Jane receives a response to her governess advertisement. The candle burns out as she is reading it, foreshadowing that Jane is about to be plunged into darkness by her life at Thornfield:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Here the socket of the candle dropped, and the wick went out.
Related Themes:
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Ambiguous Accusations:
In chapter 15, Jane hears mysterious noises and finds Mr. Rochester in bed with his sheets on fire. What Mr. Rochester says to her after she douses the flames foreshadows the existence of Bertha, his wife:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘In the name of all the elves in Christendom, is that Jane Eyre?’ he demanded. ‘What have you done with me, witch, sorceress? Who is in the room besides you? Have you plotted to drown me?’
Related Themes:
Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Lightning-Struck Tree:
Before the first time Jane is to marry Mr. Rochester, multiple incidents foreshadow that this wedding is not going to work out. In Chapter 25, Jane delivers a monologue to a chestnut tree that has been ominously struck by lightning:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"You did right to hold fast to each other," I said: as if the monster-splinters were living things, and could hear me. "I think, scathed as you look, and charred and scorched, there must be a little sense of life in you yet, rising out of that adhesion at the faithful, honest roots: you will never have green leaves more – never more see birds making nests and singing idylls in your boughs; the time of pleasure and love is over with you: but you are not desolate: each of you has a comrade to sympathise with him in his decay."
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Wedding Bell Blues:
In Chapter 25, the night before her scheduled wedding to Mr. Rochester, Jane has a series of bad dreams and a waking vision of a woman that foreshadow a bad outcome for the wedding. Mr. Rochester tries to convince Jane that the dreams don't mean anything, but Jane insists that it is not all in her head:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"But, sir, when I said so to myself on rising this morning, and when I looked round the room to gather courage and comfort from the cheerful aspect of each familiar object in full daylight, there – on the carpet – I saw what gave the distinct lie to my hypothesis – the veil, torn from top to bottom in two halves!"
Related Themes:
