Foreshadowing involves being given a hint of things to
come in a piece of literature. Foreshadowing is normally subtle and sometimes can be
hard to spot.
In Twelfth Night, a comedy from William Shakespeare, an
example of foreshadowing is when Viola decides to dress as a man to work for the Duke
(Orsino). She is going to deliberately disguise herself as a man so that she can work
as a page to Orsino to try to help him win the heart of Olivia. However, this backfires
because Viola ends up falling in love with the Duke
herself.
The foreshadowing, then, is the confusion and
utter chaos that results from her deciding to be a man for a short time. Just like the
gender confusion, there is much confusion later in the play because Viola is later
mistaken for her twin brother, Sebastian. Olivia, the Duke, Sebastian, and various other
characters are utterly befuddled by this trickery.
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