Wild Duck #4

The heightened emotional moments in the text are important for keeping the reader hooked and continuing to read.

By foreshadowing, the authors, both Ibsen and Sophocles, heightened the intensity of the play.

In Wild Duck, when Hedvig grabs the pistol is good foreshadowing for her death; "She steals over and takes the pistol from the shelf, sets the loft door ajar, slips in and draws the door shut after her". This passage is Hedvig's stage cue, which occurs right in the midst of an argument between Hjalmar and Gina. This passage gets the reader thinking what will happen next. Is Hedvig going to shoot the wild duck? Is she going to shoot herself?

Then Hedvig actually kills herself; "RELLING. You can see for yourself that Hedvig is dead". The intensity breaks once Hedvig is found dead, but the use of foreshadowing makes the scene. Without the foreshadowing, the scene would not have the intensity that it has and the reader would not be as interested in reading it.

In Oedipus, when Jocasta runs off after warning Oedipus about searching for details from his past; "Flinging through the palace doors. A long, tense silence follows". The tension is really strong between all the characters. The reader cannot help but ask questions. What will happen to Oedipus? Will Oedipus find out crucial information about his past?

Then Oedipus gouges out his eyes and Jocasta kills herself; "And there we saw the woman hanging by the neck, / cradled high in a woven noose, spinning, / swinging back and forth". Jocasta kills herself due to the agony felt because of her actions. Oedipus gouges out his eyes in order to not see anymore negative actions; "he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying".

The use of foreshadowing makes the intensity of the play and the heightened emotional parts even more emotional.