What is Foreshadowing?

What is Foreshadowing

Hinting at something that comes later in your story (without giving it away).

Writers use foreshadowing to:

  • Build suspense
  • Suggest a future outcome
  • Set the stage
  • Get readers invested

Examples

  • Shakespeare’s Macbeth features foreshadowing. When the witches meet Banquo and Macbeth, they predict two things:

Banquo will become an ancestor to a line of kings but won’t rule himself.

And Macbeth will become the King of Scotland.

Both prophecies foreshadow events later in the play.

  • In Little Red Riding Hood, Red’s mother worries about her safety, foreshadowing the appearance of the Big Bad Wolf.

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