Foil

A foil character is a character that portrays opposite characteristics of another character to highlight the other’s traits. The characters Don Pedro and Don John in the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a great example of such. Much Ado About Nothing is a play about deceit, conflict, and love. The main conflict in this play is when Claudio and Don Pedro are fooled into believing that Hero has cheated on Claudio right before their marriage. This causes Claudio to shame Hero…

Main characters without the help of other characters are merely just characters. The roles of other characters in the book are just as important as the main, especially foil characters who emphasize specific traits of the main character through their ideas and behaviors to contrast or compare strengths and weaknesses. In the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles', Tiresias, a blind prophet, does a thorough job of highlighting the traits and characteristics of Oedipus, the main…

Ray Bradbury's book, Fahrenheit 451, is a story set in a less imaginative world; where books are illegal and being a curious person is strange. In this story, there are characters that are foils of one another. Character foils are when two characters are completely opposites on one another. The characters that foils can be found in are Clarisse and Mildred. Mildred is unnattractive, disinterested, dark and damaged; while Clarisse is beautiful, curious, pure and innocent. In this story, the…

the word “seemed” (1025). Does he represent more than just man’s physical nature? In the Bible, Aminadab is a high priest, but Hawthorne abases the name from being a high priest to becoming a servant in his story. Aminadab becomes more than just a foil in terms of physical features to Aylmer; he also represents how religion has been relegated below science in the world portrayed by “The Birthmark.” Although Aminadab symbolizes religion, he is never described in terms of spirituality.…

William Shakespeare foiled two main characters throughout ‘Hamlet.’ By doing so, he chose polar opposites to fight for the attention of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet, a young, strong, and intelligent prince who attempts to prove his father, was murdered. Hamlet, who sees his father as a ghost, realizes the cold, hard truth about his murdered father. However, Claudius deceives the young Hamlet, murders his father, and proceeds to marry his mother. Both characters struggle for the love and…

contained within a positively charged sphere. The model of this was known as the plum pudding model. In 1909, Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), who worked under J.J. Thomson, overturned Thomson's model with the well-known gold foil experiment in an attempt to confirm it. Rutherford concluded that matter must not be as uniform as previously assumed but rather, it contains large regions of empty space dotted with small regions of very dense matter. With his experiment…

Foil characters have both similarities and differences that are used to emphasize certain traits. More specifically, a foil’s life mirrors its counterpart but his/her differences reveal to the readers the subtle traits in the other character. In “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Demark”, Hamlet, the protagonist, and his old friend, Laertes, reunite in their home town after the death of King Hamlet. Laertes acts as a very useful foil for Hamlet in that the two men share life experiences yet they…

an unhappy friendship, commonly used among women is society? Although one may not agree, by analyzing Alida Slade and Grace Ansley, rivals in love and life, one can concur that by utilizing juxtaposition and tone, Wharton creates a dynamic character foil: two women that share distinct characteristics, but also possess contrasting personalities. In the short story, “Roman Fever,” by Edith Wharton, the audience learns about two characters whom share a long and complicated past. Wharton’s tone is…

IS Final Over three dollars’ worth of pennies can be held afloat in a tin foil boat. Who would have thought? Our group project allowed us to apply ourselves in a new way to teach the youth of Waverly. The skills and ideas taught in the IS Reader were applied in both developing our project and in the teaching process with the kids. The project was a significant part of the class because it allowed us to connect ideas discussed in class and apply them into a social setting. Important,…

times in literature, characters will represent the idea of angels versus demons. One such case is The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In this book, Simon represents all things good and orderly and Roger is chaotic demonspawn. Roger and Simon are foil characters in how they react to the same situations in conflicting ways. Simon is kind and graceful, the embodiment of all things good and civil; Roger is the cruelty of man…