Foreshadowing is used in written art and film to give hints about things to come in later plot developments. It can be very broad and easily understood, or it may be complex use of symbols, that are then connected to later turns in the plot. Sometimes an author may deliberately use false hints, called red herrings, to send readers or viewers off in the wrong direction. This is particularly the case with mystery writers, who want to bury clues to a mystery in information that is partially true and partially false.

Foreshadowing is an old literary device. Uses of it occur before the development of the novel in the 18th century. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare employed foreshadowing, as did Dante. In short poems, foreshadowing may not be particularly effective, but in longer poems, which were frequently the writing style of the Middle Ages, foreshadowing is very effective and important.

For example in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Troilus glimpses Criseyde and feels the “dreadful joy” of love at looking at her. This is foreshadowing because it connotes that Troilus will have joy in his love, but also suffer as a result of it.

Shakespeare uses foreshadowing frequently, sometimes in quite obvious ways. Romeo and Juliet both talk about dying. However, Shakespeare’s use of foreshadowing can also be quite subtle, and critics argue about what certain symbols foreshadow. The ghost in Hamlet is often thought to foreshadow the death of the royalty of Denmark, though some argue it only foretells Hamlet’s death.

In the early 19th century, Jane Austen employs foreshadowing techniques quite playfully in her work Northanger Abbey. The novel is meant to gently parody the gothic novels produced by writers like Mrs. Radcliffe. In particular, the use and discussion of The Mysteries of Udolpho sets the heroine Catherine upon a journey of imagination that gets her in quite a bit of trouble with her beloved Henry. She spends a miserable night at the Abbey believing in secret passageways and curious cupboards that may reveal horrendous secrets. Later she finds she has locked the cupboard herself, and that its contents are lists of laundry bills.

Charlotte Bronte uses foreshadowing to fantastic effect in Jane Eyre. The very names of the places she stays hint at her emotional experiences at these places. Jane’s series of pictures also portend her fate through the rest of the novel, and their descriptions are a wonderful use of this literary device

In films, M. Night Shyamalan is considered one of the best practitioners of foreshadowing. He is arguably most effective in the film Signs. Most of the earlier aspects of the film like the brother’s ability to hit hard with a bat, the water glasses, the dialogue of the dying wife, and the son’s asthma all connect at the end in the successful defeat of invading aliens. Everything in Signs is so carefully constructed that virtually every camera shot, every bit of character development, and almost all dialogue can be viewed as foreshadowing.