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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
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis—Scandal's Reign:
The prologue of the play, though not written by Sheridan himself, foreshadows the key themes of The School for Scandal, outlining the central conflict of the play for the audience:
A School for Scandal! tell me, I beseech you,
Needs there a school this modish art to teach you?
No need of lessons now, the knowing think;
We might as well be taught to eat and drink.
[...]
Thus at our friends we laugh, who feel the dart;
To reach our feelings, we ourselves must smart.
Is our young bard so young, to think that he
Can stop the full springtide of calumny?
Knows he the world so little, and its trade?
Alas! the devil’s sooner raised than laid
So strong, so swift, the monster there’s no gagging:
Cut Scandal’s head off, still the tongue is wagging.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Rules of the Ruse:
Richard Sheridan’s play The School for Scandal consists of multiple interconnected narrative threads— one of which is Sir Oliver’s quest to determine which of his two nephews (Joseph and Charles Surface) should inherit his fortune. Prior to his first stage appearance, Joseph and Sir Peter each imply that there is a chance Sir Oliver may already be prejudiced against his other nephew, Charles. However, when Sir Oliver finally arrives in Act 2, Scene 3, he and Sir Peter have a conversation that reveals the fact that the opposite is true, thereby foreshadowing the play’s eventual end:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sir Oliver: Ay, I know there are a set of malicious, prating, prudent gossips, both male and female, who murder characters to kill time; and will rob a young fellow of his good name, before he has years to know the value of it.—But I am not to be prejudiced against my nephew by such, I promise you.—No, no,—if Charles has done nothing false or mean, I shall compound for his extravagance.
Related Themes:
