Prefiguring

Prefiguring is the present participle of prefigure.  It means to show, suggest, or foreshadow something before it actually happens. It can also mean imagining, or visualising an event beforehand. Depending upon the context, the term has specific applications in literature, sociology, and everyday use. 

In art and storytelling, prefiguring acts as an early hint or a symbolic precursor of a future event. The author's description of the dark storm at the beginning of the book is prefiguring of the tragic ending. In Chapter 50 of Far From The Madding Crowd, Sergeant Troy in the dressing room of the tent where he is to play as Turpin's Ride within a few minutes peep at his wife Bathsheba Everdene on her raised seat. Troy is in the makeup of Turpin. He is confident that his wife will not recognise him.  But he visualises the consequences of her recognising him by his voice.

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