Is there a name for this technique? (spoiler for Macbeth?)

21 hours ago 5

Sorry if this is the wrong sub, it was the one that seemed to most suit my question but I'll remove it if it's not.

Not a homework question! I'm just wondering as I'm currently studying Macbeth, but won't see my teacher for a few days so came to see if anyone here had any ideas.

In Act 4 Scene 1, one of the apparitions that the witches created/conjured tells Macbeth he:

"shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him."

Now, I already roughly know the ending of Macbeth, and know that the army disguise themselves as a forest and attack him that way.

I was thinking that if the audience already knew this would happen, eg it had been mentioned earlier in the play, this would be dramatic irony. However, I think an audience at the time it had been written wouldn't know the ending, so it would be more foreshadowing of what was to come.

But to a modern audience who would mostly know the ending, would it be dramatic irony? As Shakespeare probably didn't intend for people to know the plot before they saw it performed, so I doubt he intended it to be acknowledging something the audience already knew, and was instead using to foreshadow what happens later.

Thanks :)

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