Previous
Foil
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
Key Examples in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Chapter 16. The Warnings of Experience
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Maxwell's Warning:
Near the beginning of Helen’s diary entries—before she has met Arthur—she recounts a conversation with her aunt Mrs. Maxwell in which her aunt warns her against choosing to marry a man for superficial reasons, such as for his good looks and agreeable personality:
“If you should marry the handsomest and most accomplished and superficially agreeable man in the world, you little know the misery that would overwhelm you, if, after all, you should find him to be a worthless reprobate, or even an impracticable fool.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 17. Further Warnings
Explanation and Analysis—Vandyke:
When Arthur and Helen are first getting to know each other, he pulls her aside at a party to look at a Vandyke painting with him, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I rose with alacrity. He drew my arm within his, and led me across the room to a splendid painting of Vandyke’s that I had noticed before, but not sufficiently examined. After a moment of silent contemplation, I was beginning to comment on its beauties and peculiarities, when, playfully pressing the hand he still retained within his arm, he interrupted me with –
“Never mind the picture, it was not for that I brought you here; it was to get you away from that scoundrelly old profligate yonder, who is looking as if he would like to challenge me for the affront.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 19. An Incident
Explanation and Analysis—Rose Vs. Peony:
Before Helen and Arthur are officially engaged, Helen notices Arthur paying special attention to Annabella and hides from the pair to cry. When Arthur finds her, he assures her that he loves her and not Annabella, using a simile and a metaphor to communicate the difference in his feelings for the two women:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Annabella Wilmot, in comparison with you, is like a flaunting peony compared with a sweet, wild rosebud gemmed with dew – and I love you to distraction!”
Related Themes:
Chapter 23. First Weeks of Matrimony
Explanation and Analysis—Arthur's Affection:
When Helen and Arthur are first married, Helen describes Arthur’s affection for her, using different kinds of imagery in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He is very fond of me – almost too fond. I could do with less caressing and more rationality: I should like to be less of a pet and more of a friend, if I might choose – but I won’t complain of that: I am only afraid his affection loses in depth where it gains in ardour. I sometimes liken it to a fire of dry twigs and branches compared with one of solid coal, – very bright and hot, but if it should burn itself out and leave nothing but ashes behind, what shall I do?
Related Themes:
Chapter 27. A Misdemeanor
Explanation and Analysis—Arthur and Anabella:
Early in Arthur and Helen’s marriage, Helen witnesses Arthur sitting with Annabella and kissing her hand and later confronts him about it. In an example of situational irony, Arthur denies that he is interested in Annabella and—going even further—says that he will never be seriously interested in anyone else:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Will you never learn?” he continued more boldly, "that you have nothing to fear from me? that I love you wholly and entirely? – or if,” he added with a lurking smile, “I ever give a thought to another, you may well spare it, for those fancies are here and gone like a flash of lightning, while my love for you burns on steadily, and for ever like the sun.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 29. The Neighbour
Explanation and Analysis—Hargrave's Reputation:
In an example of foreshadowing, Helen writes in her diary that she has suspicions about Hargrave’s character even as he acts like a gentleman in front of her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He seemed bent upon doing the honours of his house in the most unexceptionable manner, and exerting all his powers for the entertainment of his guest, and the display of his own qualifications as a host, a gentleman, and a companion; and actually succeeded in making himself very agreeable – only that he was too polite. – And yet, Mr Hargrave, I don’t much like you; there is a certain want of openness about you that does not take my fancy, and a lurking selfishness, at the bottom of all your fine qualities, that I do not intend to lose sight of.
Related Themes:
