Foil

elements is foil characters. Foil characters are defined as characters who parallel and contrast each other, giving the audience or reader better insight into the characters qualities and sometimes their downfalls. In many of his plays, including Hamlet, Shakespeare uses foil characters to show different sides of characters and what would happen…

literary foils to help enhance the characters and the tales they tell through literature. This is very true in the Hobbit written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien. In the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, is recruited by the wizard Gandalf to go help Thorin and the dwarves return their ancestor’s treasures stolen by Smaug. Thorin, the proud, arrogant leader of the thirteen dwarves who tends to overlook the needs of the group in order to pursue his own interests, serves as a foil to…

his country against tyranny. By calling for the help of England to overthrow Macbeth, Macduff gives “faithful homage and… free honors” to the men of Scotland as he proves his loyalty to the homeland (3.6.36). Macduff even is presented as a spiritual foil of Macbeth when the witches warn Macbeth to “beware Macduff”, and that he will fall to “none of woman born”, (4.1.69-70;79). Macbeth obviously freaks out over the news and swears to kill Macduff and his family, which he does. This clarifies the…

In his stirring psychological thriller novel, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky subtly manifests how one cannot live without the compassion and concern of others. Dostoevsky’s use of Raskolnikov’s closest friend as a foil character balances Raskolnikov’s seemingly incorrigible ways with Razumikhin’s solicitous personality by the contrast shown in Dostoevky’s choice of words, which further validates how Raskolnikov needs a person who is compassionate so that he refrains from committing more…

A Little Cloud Compare and Contrast Essay Bren Traher In the short story, "A Little Cloud”  by James Joyce, she uses the character foil technique. Fearless Gallaher acts as a character foil for Little Chandler in the story. Meaning, Gallaher’s traits and beliefs are almost the complete opposite of little Chandler’s, yet Gallaher is living the life Chandler dreams of having. We see this through the author's use of physical traits, character traits, and the characters values and beliefs. The…

definition of foils, or cross purposes, is when a certain character uses words or actions to show traits about themselves. This is term takes any type of literature to a new depth, meaning that you can one character act a certain way, but when he’s put in a situation, we’ll see the gruesome change that we don’t want. This also enriches the flavor of the texts, because you create breaking points for the characters and how they react to certain situations. One person who excelled in this usage of…

which would resulting in a foil. One example of a foil appears in the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, with the brothers Don Pedro and Don John. During the play Don Pedro is the Cupid of the story as he sets up Claudio and Hero to be a couple. At the same time Don John tries to ruin Claudio and Hero’s marriage over false information and jealousy. The meaning of Shakespeare’s work is illuminated by Don Pedro and Don John’s relationship by showing how foils create drama and…

perfect examples of character foils. A foil is a character whose values are different from those of another character. An important purpose of a foil is to show contrast to another character. Usually, the characters experience similar events in the story, which is the case with Laertes and Hamlet. Both Laertes' and Hamlet's father was murdered, but the actions of the two after the murder were very different. Laertes and Hamlet are perfect examples of character foils because Laertes is decisive…

consists of many important secondary characters that become foils to the main characters. Laertes, for example, becomes the foil to Hamlet. Laertes brings out the the true nature of Hamlet; cruel and unforgiving. Hamlet’s true nature gets exposed during the funeral of Laertes’ sister Ophelia, and the death of Laertes. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the role of Laertes is to bring out the cruel and unforgiving nature of Hamlet by being Hamlet’s foil. When the play begins, the audience learns that the…

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the relationship between Hassan and Amir is like that of two foils and illuminates the meaning of the work by highlighting the differences between the characters and providing the impetus to finish the novel. Amir’s faults are highlighted by Hassan’s apparent perfection and as such, Amir feels great envy towards Hassan despite his lower social station. Hassan later becomes Amir’s scapegoat which only further drives the line between their perceived levels of…