Foreshadowing and Dramatic Irony in Death and the Maiden

Foreshadowing is the warning or the indication that something else is going to happen later on in the story. In Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman uses this literary device to the maximum, exploring all the different ways he can make the reader predict or foresee what’s going to happen next. However, Dorfman also takes on the audience’s ideas and implements dramatic irony, giving the plot a twist of events and making the audience question themselves and their own theories as to why the character acts that way or why the author set things as they are. Dorfman takes the idea of dramatic irony when referring to the characters and their roles in the play. The greatest contrast in the play is between Paulina and Gerardo. Paulina Salas, a†¦show more content†¦In addition, one can also argue about Paulina’s love-hate relationship with Gerardo, as she is clearly very emotionally attached to him, yet seems as though she treats him with a sort of disrespect or harsh manner. Paulina’s strange relationship also brings the audience to question this woman’s sense of judgment, and maybe even her past. Ironically, later she refers to him as ‘my little man’, contrasting with how he called her, and making sure that Gerardo knows that he is her husband, and she’s in charge. Furthermore, Dorfman shows the dramatic irony in the gender roles once Paulina finds out about Doctor Miranda and gets the gun. At the beginning of the play, the gun was a sign of safety and security, and by the climax, she uses the gun to manipulate Roberto and Gerardo to do what she wants, and what she thinks is ‘fair’. GERARDO: Paulina, I’m asking you to please give me that gun. PAULINA: No. GERARDO: While you point it at me, there is no possible dialogue. PAULINA: On the contrary, as soon as I stop pointing it at you, all dialogue will automatically terminate. If it put it down, you’ll use your strength to win the argument. (Death and the Maiden, Act 1, scene 4, pgs- 24-25) Paulina knows that without the gun, she is hopeless. Her own husband won’t listen to her, and they think she’s completely crazy. All she wants isShow MoreRelatedImportant Quote from Othello5402 Words   |  22 PagesI in my speech, / And little blessd with the soft phrase of peace * Othello on how war has been his life: little of this great world can I speak, / More than pertains to feats of broil and battle * Brabantio on Desdemona’s personality: A maiden never bold; / Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion / Blushd at herself * Suggestions of Othello’s otherness when Brabantio says it is impossible that Desdemona fall in love with what she feard to look on! * Brabantio claims that