Foil: Difference between revisions
Frye, Nothrop, Sheridan Baker, George Perkins, Barbara M. Perkins. "The Harper Handbook to Literature. 2nd ed. 1997 Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. |
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A dramatic character who enhances or deflates another character by contrast. Based on the literal jeweler’s foil, or black velvet cloth held behind a piece of jewelry to allow it to shine in contrast. Horatio, in Shakespeare’s ''Hamlet'', represents the definitive foil to Hamlet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_%28literature%29 Foil]is a character who is different from another character and the foil character's difference highlights the qualities of the other character, which most of the time is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonist protaganoist]. Another way to interpret a foil character would be to explain them as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidekick sidekick]with a contrasting personality. | A dramatic character who enhances or deflates another character by contrast. Based on the literal jeweler’s foil, or black velvet cloth held behind a piece of jewelry to allow it to shine in contrast. Horatio, in Shakespeare’s ''Hamlet'', represents the definitive foil to Hamlet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_%28literature%29 Foil]is a character who is different from another character and the foil character's difference highlights the qualities of the other character, which most of the time is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonist protaganoist]. Another way to interpret a foil character would be to explain them as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidekick sidekick]with a contrasting personality. | ||
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== Types of Foil Characters == | == Types of Foil Characters == | ||
A foil character can come in many different forms. It can be the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain#Villainous_foil villain] in a story who fights the protagonist and therefore causes conflict for the character. A different type of foil character does not have to be a villain but simply a character who has differing opinions than that of another | A foil character can come in many different forms. It can be the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain#Villainous_foil villain] in a story who fights the protagonist and therefore causes conflict for the character. A different type of foil character does not have to be a villain but simply a character who has differing opinions than that of another. A character who is disagreeable is considered foil because two characters are contrasting in opinions or beliefs. A character who simply has contrasting taste in appearance or opposite personality could also be considered a foil character. | ||
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[[Category:Literary Terms]] | [[Category:Literary Terms]] | ||
== References == | |||
Frye, Northrop, Sheridan Baker, George Perkins, Barbara M. Perkins. '''The Harper Handbook to Literature'''. 2nd Ed. Addison- Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. 1997. | |||
Harmon, William, Hugh Holman. '''A Handbook to Literature'''. 9th ed. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2003. | |||