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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
Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—Dog Bite as Foreshadowing:
When Griffin is in Iping in Chapter 3, he is bitten by a dog. Before the invention of the rabies vaccine in 1919, dog bites were feared because of the deadliness of the disease. Rabies is a virus that results in madness, an inability to drink water, and eventually death. The rate of fatality is nearly 100% and, before mass pet vaccination efforts, the virus was most commonly spread by dog bites. For this reason, when the people of Iping react to Griffin’s bite, they assume the worst.
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Chapter 2: Mr. Teddy Henfrey’s First Impressions
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Hall's Dream:
In Chapter 2, Mrs. Hall has a dream that foreshadows Griffin’s rampage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She was all the more inclined to snap at Hall because the stranger was undoubtedly an unusually strange sort of stranger, and she was by no means assured about him in her own mind. In the middle of the night she woke up dreaming of huge white heads like turnips, that came trailing after her, at the end of interminable necks, and with vast black eyes. But being a sensible woman, she subdued her terrors and turned over and went to sleep again.
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Chapter 4: Mr. Cuss Interviews the Stranger
Explanation and Analysis—Anarchist in Disguise:
In Chapter 4, residents of Iping, Mr. Teddy Henfrey and Mr. Gould, suspect that Griffin is up to no good:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Elaborated in the imagination of Mr. Gould, the probationary assistant in the National School, this theory took the form that the stranger was an Anarchist in disguise, preparing explosives, and he resolved to undertake such detective operations as his time permitted.
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Chapter 24: The Plan That Failed
Explanation and Analysis—Reign of Terror:
In Chapter 24, Griffin reveals his goal to Mr. Kemp. He wants to impose a Reign of Terror:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Not wanton killing, but a judicious slaying. The point is, they know there is an Invisible Man—as well as we know there is an Invisible Man. And that Invisible Man, Kemp, must now establish a Reign of Terror. Yes; no doubt it’s startling. But I mean it. A Reign of Terror. He must take some town like your Burdock and terrify and dominate it. He must issue his orders. He can do that in a thousand ways—scraps of paper thrust under doors would suffice. And all who disobey his orders he must kill, and kill all who would defend them.
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Chapter 26: The Wicksteed Murder
Explanation and Analysis—Last Great Struggle:
At the end of Chapter 26, after Griffin has successfully evaded the men hunting him, Wells directly foreshadows Griffin’s downfall:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In the night, he must have eaten and slept; for in the morning he was himself again, active, powerful, angry, and malignant, prepared for his last great struggle against the world.
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