Foreshadowing in Oedipus the King and The Marriage of Figaro

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Foreshadowing in Oedipus the King and The Marriage of Figaro

`You are the curse, the corruption of the land!'. With these words,

Tiresias, a blind prophet in `Oedipus The King' set the actions in play

that would turn king to beggar within the day. Prophecy and foreshadowing

is an important part of playwriting, and adds an element of suspense that

is not possible any other way. Whether it be the witches of MacBeth, the

ramblings of Tiresias in Oedipus the King, and Antigone, or whether it is

the unrealized foreshadowing by Figaro in `The Marriage of Figaro',

foreshadowing gives the reader or the audience something to puzzle

themselves over, until the play or novel is actually over. It would not be

a stretch of the imagination to say that some of the greatest plays ever

written would be impotent if their elements of foreshadowing was removed.

Foreshadowing is defined, in Webster's dictionary, as `to give a

hint or suggestion of beforehand'. In drama, foreshadowing is generally

used for several purposes, including the creation of tension, creation of

atmosphere, and adds an element of credibility to a character. All of

these are important elements of a play. However it is not hard to imagine

a play in which more then half of the elements of a plot, namely exposition,

discovery, point of attack, complication and crisis all be caused by an act

of foreshadowing or prophecy. Indeed, "Oedipus the King", which was

considered the greatest play in history by Aristotle, was one such play.

"Oedipus the King" was the story of the King of Thebes, Oedipus,

and his dark past history which no one, including himself to a point, was

aware of, one that involved abandonment, patricide and incest. Thebes was

beset by a plague, and a delegation was sent to Apollo, the Greek God of

healing, where they received instructions to find the murderer of the

previous king of Thebes, King Laius. This form of foreshadowing was

necessary for the storyline to have a starting place, and acts not only as

foreshadowing, but also as discovery, because it gave new information that

moved the plot forwards. A problem with this is the fact that it requires

an act of God, something that Aristotle frowned upon in his definitive text

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