Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary: Foreshadowing 1 key example

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 3, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Arsenic:

One of the realist elements of Madame Bovary is the logic of its plot, as it consistently foreshadows future events by introducing the catalyst of these events earlier in the novel. One example is the arsenic that Emma uses to commit suicide, which is introduced in Part 3, Chapter 2, where Homais yells at Justin while Emma is visiting: 

– In a minute! Do you realize the risk you were taking?… Didn’t you notice anything, on the left, on the third shelf? Speak up, reply, produce some sound!

– I d-d-don’t know, stammered the young boy.

– Oh, you don’t know! Well I do know! You saw a bottle, a blue one, sealed up with yellow wax, containing a white powder, one with Danger on it in my writing, do you know what was in it? Arsenic!...You could have poisoned every one of us!