Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrée of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.
"So foul a sky clears not without a storm." - Shakespeare
What's up with the epigraph?
Has anyone ever told you that sometimes things have to get worse before they get better? That's kind of what this quote from Shakespeare's King John in King John is getting at. Coincidentally enough (or not, because Conrad was a well-read dude who picked his epigraphs thoughtfully) King John is a play about a political unrest and the game of musical chairs—or should we say Game of Thrones?—that follows upheaval.
This quote definitely sets the stage for us to dig into the political life of Costaguana, a place where things have been bad for quite a while, and more war is on the way…