Question

What are some examples of foreshadowing in Macbeth?

Answer 1

Hint: We know the basic story of Macbeth where, a Scottish general named Macbeth, is informed by three witches that he will become King of Scotland. Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more citizens out of fear, thanks to his wife's encouragement. A civil war breaks out in an attempt to topple Macbeth, and as a result of which more people were killed in the war.

Complete answer:
We can list out some instances where foreshadowing is brought in by Shakespeare into Macbeth;
- Take the part where when Macbeth encounters the witches, he is taken aback by their predictions, which mirror his own thoughts. The witches' and Macbeth's use of the phrase "fair and foul" adds to this.
- Another place is as Duncan first sees Macbeth's palace, he remarks about how pleasant it is, that was indirectly a foreshadowing of what is to come.
- Any form of predictions by witches are considered to be a foreshadowing itself. So the case where Banquo's and his heirs' fates are foreshadowed by the witches' predictions is a valid point.
- There are many more examples and some other examples include their references to ‘no man born of woman (Macduff)’ and ‘till Birnam Wood arrives in Dunsinane’.

Note: This is definitely not the only play where Shakespeare makes use of foreshadowing. He is very much used to doing this and he incorporates foreshadow into his work since it's a valuable tool for any storyteller to have in their tool belt, and particularly for playwrights who wish to know either to guarantee their audience is paying attention rather than falling asleep, or to get their audience to remember on subsequent viewings so they're able to see more times and still have a high degree of enjoyment. So this is why he is fond of using foreshadowing in his plays.