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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
Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Drawing Lots:
Mother Courage foreshadows the deaths of her own children by drawing their lots. The other characters believe that Mother Courage has the ability to tell fortunes. She offers to look into the Sergeant’s future to see if he will indeed reach the age of 70 while “above ground.” The Sergeant agrees, and Mother Courage demands his helmet (which is a symbol of military prowess). Mother Courage makes a bunch of slips, some blank and some with black crosses, and mixes them into the helmet. She claims that drawing the black crosses means death, while drawing the blank slips means life. All four fortunes she foretells—the Sergeant's, Eilif's, Swiss Cheese's, and Kattrin’s—end in death. It is unclear, by the logic of the play, whether Mother Courage can actually tell the future, whether all the characters received black crosses by random chance, or whether Mother Courage rigged the system somehow. Regardless of whether Mother Courage actually possesses fortune-telling abilities, though, the black slips foreshadow the deaths of those three characters.
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Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Eilif as Caesar:
In Scene 2, after Eilif butchered peasants and stole their cattle, the Swedish Commander makes an allusion when he tells him: “You have the markings of a Julius Caesar, why, you should be presented to the king!” Julius Caesar, before becoming the dictator of the Roman Empire, gained fame as a general for his victories in Gaul. The Roman senate awarded him honors for his martial prowess. By making this allusion in reference to Eilif, the Commander pays him a great compliment.
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Related Themes:
