Examples Of Foreshadowing In Romeo And Juliet

It’s common for authors to add melodrama to their work by mentioning the shadow of death lying on a person as if it were a tangible sign or presence. Shakespeare also liked to hint at the demise of his characters, but he used a linguistic technique called foreshadowing to do so rather than the idea of a spooky, possibly supernatural harbinger of fate. Foreshadowing is a means to hint at events that will happen later on in the play without giving away anything directly. Many of these subtle allusions to future events are found what could be called Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy of all: Romeo and Juliet. This high drama set in Italy tells the story of two young people from feuding families who fall hopelessly in love. Through a series of

When Romeo’s intervention in the fight between his friend and Tybalt goes sour, Mercutio is fatally wounded and yells angrily, “...A plague o’ both your houses” (3.1.111). Mercutio’s attempt to curse both the Capulets and the Montagues for having hands in his death is easily brushed off as the delirious cry of a dying man. Shakespeare again uses a character overcome by emotion to foreshadow the ending. Mercutio is angry and bitter that both families had a major hand in his death, so he wishes misfortune on both of them. In the Tudor era, Shakespeare’s time, the worst thing that could happen to a family would be death of their heir. The two parties are similar in that they have one heir. There is only one child that can inherit. To lose that child would be a travesty. Mercutio’s “plague” line is more than an angry retort; Shakespeare uses it as a way to make the audience pause and think about what would happen if both houses lost their heirs. It’s an effective way to hint at a mysterious “curse” that may yet come to

This example occurs in the opening of the fifth act, when events are coming to a head. It’s difficult to effectively slip in indirect references to the characters’ fate when the final reveal is so close, so this example of foreshadowing is almost obvious. It beings when Romeo awakens in Mantua and says, “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead” (5.1.6). He then proceeds to talk about how she kissed him on the lips and breathed life back into his body. This is less important; what really strikes a chord is that the cited line is an almost exact description of what occurs just a few scenes later. When Juliet awakens to Romeo’s recently deceased corpse, she does indeed find him dead as he dreams. However, when she kisses him on the lips, it’s in the hope that there remains some traces of poison on there. She’s not trying to give him his life back–she wants to take hers. In a way, Romeo also follows the events of his dream in the tomb. When he kisses Juliet as a “final good-bye” in the tomb, the sleeping potion is beginning to wear off and she is transitioning from her deathlike coma to a state of awareness. His kiss could be construed as the catalyst that wakes her up. While the other examples of foreshadowing in the play are more subtle and only talk about “a great tragedy” or “dire consequences,” this portentous dream is more specific. It details almost exactly