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Ethos
Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Book 2, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Phaeton:
Book 2, Chapter 8 of Gulliver's Travels contains a classical allusion that also functions as a moment of foreshadowing. In this chapter, Gulliver departs Brobdingnag unexpectedly when a bird carries his box away by the ring on its roof and subsequently drops it into the ocean. The ship captain who rescues him finds similarities between Gulliver's plight and that of a figure from Greek mythology:
[T]he Comparison of Phaeton was so obvious, that he could not forbear applying it, although I did not much admire the Conceit.
In Greek myth, Phaeton is the son of the sun-god Helios. Out of desire to have his divine parentage confirmed, he travels to the sun-god's palace, where he asks his father for the privilege to drive his flying chariot. Helios attempts to dissuade him, warning that he alone can control the chariot's horses, but the stubborn Phaeton does not change his mind. The ride ends in disaster—unable to keep a firm grip on the horses, Phaeton loses control of the chariot, first burning the earth by driving too close, then freezing it by flying too far away. To prevent further destruction, Zeus kills Phaeton with a bolt of lightning.
By alluding to this myth, Swift suggests that Gulliver, like Phaeton, will eventually be undone by hubris. Even though Gulliver fails to appreciate the ship captain's comments, after returning to England he does acknowledge the possibility that his fate will be similar to Phaeton's:
[M]y wife protested I should never go to Sea any more; although my evil Destiny so ordered that she had not Power to hinder me.
This foreshadowing comes to fruition in Book 4, when Gulliver convinces his wife to allow him to go to sea once again. In this moment, Gulliver's wife plays the role of the cautious Helios, while Gulliver is aligned with the reckless Phaeton. Unlike Phaeton, Gulliver's journey does not end in his literal death, but he does return to England fundamentally altered by his experiences, and his inability to reintegrate into human society represents a kind of symbolic death.
