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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
Letter 31
Explanation and Analysis—Worst Yet to Come:
In Letter 31, right after Pamela tells her parents that she is on her way to their house, the Editor breaks in to foreshadow the events Pamela will detail in her Journal. This foreshadowing leans heavily on dramatic irony:
Here it is necessary to observe, that the fair Pamela’s Tryals were not yet over; but the worst of all were to come, at a Time when she thought them all at an End, and that she was returning to her Father[...]
Related Themes:
Letter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Lofty Elms and Pines:
In Letter 32, Pamela describes her journey "home," which instead turns out to be her journey to Mr. B.'s Lincolnshire estate, where he intends to hold her captive. Pamela uses ominous imagery to describe what the estate looks like; this imagery foreshadows the terrible things that will come to pass in the mansion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+About Eight at Night, we enter’d the Court-yard of this handsome, large, old, and lonely Mansion, that looks made for Solitude and Mischief, as I thought, by its Appearance, with all its brown nodding Horrors of lofty Elms and Pines about it; And here, said I to myself, I fear, is to be the Scene of my Ruin, unless God protect me, who is all-sufficient!
Related Themes:
The Journal (continued)
Explanation and Analysis—Fools He Has Ruin'd:
In the Journal (continued), Pamela meets Lady Davers. Lady Davers dismisses Pamela as just another of "the Fools [Mr. B.] has ruin'd," foreshadowing the introduction of Sally Godfrey and Miss Goodwin:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But when, as I fear, you have suffer’d yourself to be prevail’d upon, and have lost your Innocence, and added another to the Number of the Fools he has ruin’d, (This shock’d me a little!) I cannot help shewing my Displeasure to you.
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