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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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Robinson's Fate:
The exposition of Robinson Crusoe is replete with foreshadowing of the narrator's fate. It is obvious that something very bad will happen to Robinson, and that it will come as a result of his own decisions. These hints create a buildup that makes the reader apprehensive for all the misfortune to come.
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Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Robinson's Fate:
The exposition of Robinson Crusoe is replete with foreshadowing of the narrator's fate. It is obvious that something very bad will happen to Robinson, and that it will come as a result of his own decisions. These hints create a buildup that makes the reader apprehensive for all the misfortune to come.
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Explanation and Analysis—Jonah's Storm:
In Chapter 2, Robinson sets off on a voyage and experiences his two first storms as a sailor. The first storm seems to make an impression on no one but Robinson himself, and the other sailors mock his naiveté when he reveals that it frightened him. The second storm, however, frightens everyone on board; even the weathered Shipmaster prays to God for assistance, certain that they "shall be all lost, [...] all undone."
When they make it back to shore instead of foundering, the Shipmaster finds out that Robinson had considered this voyage as a trial. This discovery enrages the Shipmaster, who tells Robinson to go back home and prophecies that he will face great calamities if he continues on his seafaring adventure. Alluding to Jonah, he suggests that their near-death experience was Robinson's fault.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Young man, [...] you ought never to go to sea any more, you ought to take this as a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man [...] as you made this voyage for a trial, you see what a taste Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist; perhaps this is all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the Ship of Tarshish.
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Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Desolate Island:
In Chapter 4, during his brief stint as a sugar planter in Brazil, Robinson begins to itch for adventure again. After being taken as a slave in Sallee, he has already had a taste of how horribly a life at sea can go for him. Nonetheless, he longs for a more exciting life. He also feels dissatisfied because he appears to be reaching exactly the middle station that his father had wanted for him—and so he feels like he might as well be living comfortably in England than in a foreign, far-off lace where he lacks family and friends. He uses a simile to describe his emotions:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. I had no body to converse with but now and then this neighbour; no work to be done, but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I liv'd just like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had no body there but himself. But how just has it been, and how should all men reflect, that when they compare their present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange.
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Encounter With Cannibals:
Robinson mentions cannibals quite early on, which foreshadows a later point in the novel when he actually encounters cannibals. His first mentions of cannibals feel especially premature considering how late they appear in the narrative as veritable characters with any kind of bearing on the plot.
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Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Encounter With Cannibals:
Robinson mentions cannibals quite early on, which foreshadows a later point in the novel when he actually encounters cannibals. His first mentions of cannibals feel especially premature considering how late they appear in the narrative as veritable characters with any kind of bearing on the plot.
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Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Prophetic Dream:
Throughout his narrative, Robinson demonstrates a keen preoccupation with fate and prophetic signs. He derives great value from the experience of coincidentally opening the Bible to verses that seem to perfectly capture and address his current situation. Additionally, he shows deference to the symbolic or predictive power of his own dreams. The most significant example of this can be found in Chapter 18, when Robinson dreams that one of the cannibals' prisoners escapes and comes to him. This dream is an example of foreshadowing because it comes true a few years later—in part because the dream makes him determined to "get a savage into [his] possession."
Unlock with LitCharts A+I dream’d, that as I was going out in the morning as usual from my castle, I saw upon the shore, two canoes, and eleven savages coming to land, and that they brought with them another savage, who they were going to kill, in order to eat him; when on a sudden, the savage that they were going to kill, jumpt away, and ran for his life; [...] and, smiling upon him, encourag’d him; that he kneel’d down to me, seeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I shew’d my ladder, made him go up, and carry’d him into my cave, and he became my servant...
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Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Prophetic Dream:
Throughout his narrative, Robinson demonstrates a keen preoccupation with fate and prophetic signs. He derives great value from the experience of coincidentally opening the Bible to verses that seem to perfectly capture and address his current situation. Additionally, he shows deference to the symbolic or predictive power of his own dreams. The most significant example of this can be found in Chapter 18, when Robinson dreams that one of the cannibals' prisoners escapes and comes to him. This dream is an example of foreshadowing because it comes true a few years later—in part because the dream makes him determined to "get a savage into [his] possession."
Unlock with LitCharts A+I dream’d, that as I was going out in the morning as usual from my castle, I saw upon the shore, two canoes, and eleven savages coming to land, and that they brought with them another savage, who they were going to kill, in order to eat him; when on a sudden, the savage that they were going to kill, jumpt away, and ran for his life; [...] and, smiling upon him, encourag’d him; that he kneel’d down to me, seeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I shew’d my ladder, made him go up, and carry’d him into my cave, and he became my servant...
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