Foil

Foil characters make the characteristics and personality of the protagonist stand out. A foil
character may be an enemy or a friend. A character that reflects (like shiny foil) the attributes of
another character is a foil character. The foil characters characteristics and personality serve as a
contrast to the main character. They are named after the medieval practice of placing a metal foil
around a gemstone to make it shine brighter. This idea of the word foil as contrast comes from
the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brightly. Shakespeare used it
in this sense in Henry IV, Part I. The future Henry V is a dissolute prince. In a soliloquy he
anticipates changing his ways when he becomes king. He thinks that his subjects will appreciate
his reign more because theyll have his rotten youth to compare it with:

My reformation, glittering oer my fault,

Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.

Foils are a great way to develop the protagonists characterisation without dropping an anvil of a
message upside your readers head. Foils often have conflicting personalities and dissimilar
physical features. Through the use of the foil a protagonists background, upbringing and current
position in society can be examined. The foil can share similarities in the given areas or have
completely different circumstances in life. In the classic good-guy versus bad guy scenario, both
the hero and villain can be considered as foils of each other, in that each acts to show how the
other behaves in certain situations. Note, then, a foil is not always a minor character. Two
main characters can be foils for each other.

However, as virtually any story with multiple characters can contrast the characters to show
greater depths to them, regardless of what side they are on in the good versus evil equation. In
fact, good versus evil doesn't have to come into the picture at all. Sometimes, also, a foil is a
secondary, flat character that comes on stage, sparks a response, then fades from the story. More
often, though, the foil is a recurring character that has a personality, or an opinion of things, that
is different from another recurring character. Many intentional foils are depicted as physical
contrasts to the main character. When foils are intentionally written, oftentimes the
writer/playwright will be specific in drawing comparisons between the two. (Consider, for
example, how the main romantic plot of Twelfth Night has Olivia and Viola deliberately
compared against each other. Even their names bear similar letters. In the same way, consider
how/if Malvolio and Orsino both certain of their love for Olivia, and hers for them, could be
considered as foils for each other.)

Thin vs. fat and tall vs. short are among the commonest way of setting up contrast. Similarly,
when the hero's love interest is blonde, the villainess tends to have dark or red hair; when the
villainess is blonde, the hero's love interest tends to be dark or red haired.

As implied earlier, virtually any two characters or character-types can serve as foils to each other
if they're put together properly and a little good writing goes into the creation of them. However,
there are a surprisingly large number of character-types that exist primarily for the purpose of
being a foil, usually to the main character - or in the case of a set of characters, to each other.

Examples of Foil in Literature

Paradise Lost, Wuthering Heights, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are books that are often used for
examples of foil.

Example #1
Miltons Paradise Lost Book I is based on the comparison of two contrasting characters: God
and Satan. Satan, in the entire work, appears as a foil to God. The negative traits of Satan and the
positive traits of God are frequently compared which consequently brings to the surface not only
the contrast between the two characters but also justify the ways of God We reach a
conclusion that it is only just for Satan to be expelled from the paradise because of his refusal to
give in to the will of God.

Example #2
In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte depicts two contrasting settings that are foils to each
other. The entire action of the narrative takes place in two neighbouring houses i.e. Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange. While describing Wuthering Heights in chapter 12, the
narrator says:

There was no moon, and everything beneath lay in misty darkness: not a light gleamed
from any house, far or near all had been extinguished long ago: and those at Wuthering
Heights were never visible

The description of Thrushcross Grange, in contrast to the Wuthering Heights, creates a calm and
peaceful atmosphere.
Gimmerton chapel bells were still ringing; and the full, mellow flow of the beck in the
valley came soothingly on the ear. It was a sweet substitute for the yet absent murmur of
the summer foliage, which drowned that music about the Grange when the trees were in
leaf.
The foils in the settings also help in the development of the foils in the characters i.e. the people
from Wuthering Heights are unsophisticated and thus are foils to those from Thrushcross Grange
who have a refined disposition.

Think of any romantic love triangle, two persons in the triangle are almost always (invariably)
foils to the other: Twelfth Night Viola and Olivia, Wuthering Heights Linton and Heathcliff,
The Great Gatsby Tom and Gatsby
Also consider non-romantic rivals like Feste and Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Heathcliff and
Hindley (Wuthering Heights)

Now, think of any pair of friends, or siblings, in a play or novel. More than just an incidental
pairing, there may be some evidence of one being a foil for the other: Twelfth Night Maria and
Olivia, Wuthering Heights Catherine and Nelly, Heathcliff and Hindley (their friendship is
debatable, but still), The Great Gatsby Nick and Gatsby, Brown Girl Brownstones Selina and
Ina.

Function of Foil
In fiction, a foil is important in the development of characters. The comparison of the contrasting
traits of the characters helps the readers to not only understand their personalities but also to
comprehend the importance of their roles in a work of literature.

Try to think why writers use character foils. Sometimes it may seem as simple as contrasting
what is good against what it bad (think Albus Dumbeldore vs Lord Voldermort) but more often
than not theyre trying to challenge the reader to consider where their allegiances rest with
characters. Sometimes neither character is explicitly right in the case of character foils built on
enmity, or sometimes the way the foil highlights the other character is a way of showing
different perspectives in the world of the novel (or play).

Things to think about

Using the original definition of what foil originally stood for try to consider how foils become
essential in making other characters shine brighter.
Would Malvolios insufferableness be as pronounced were it not for the carousing of Sir Toby
and Feste and company?
In Wuthering Heights, for example, Catherine is not as cognisant of the limitations of her abode
at Wuthering Heights until she visits Thrushcross Grove and becomes more of a (conventional)
lady.

In drama, specifically, which is written to be performed consider how directors can take issues of
character foil to a more explicit degree by making use of costumes and casting.
A fat Sir Toby versus a gaunt Malvolio
The obvious difference of an Olivia in a gown against Viola (as Cesario) in boys clothes, and so
on.

It is essential, then, to think what attributes of the main character/concept the foil is making more
pronounced, and then how these pronouncements are adding to the ultimate, overall effectiveness
of the text. Ask yourself, what is the writer trying to tell me by using X as a foil for Y?