Foil (literature)

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For other uses, see foil.

A foil character is either one who is in most ways opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only.

A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character; in Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras, whose fathers have been killed, are foils for Hamlet. Or in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abby and Elizabeth Proctor. In Twelfth Night, Olivia has a foil named Viola, because they have both lost a sibling.

An example in modern popular culture is Han Solo in Star Wars, who, in the first film of the series, is a stark contrast to Luke Skywalker. Also, in hip hop, Flavor Flav serves as a comic foil to the eponymous Chuck D in the political rap group Public Enemy.

Another example is in Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome. Zeena, Ethan's wife, acts a foil character who brings out the positive qualities of Ethan's secret lover, Mattie.

In Gregory Maguire's book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the character of Elphaba Thropp (who will eventually become the Wicked Witch in question) is said to be a foil for the heroine of Dorothy Gale, from the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Reasonings to support this idea include that DOR-o-thy and EL-pha-ba are pronounced similarly, and their personalities and relationships with other characters contrast greatly.

The "straight man" in a comedy duo is sometimes known as the comic foil. The humor in these partnerships derives from the uneven relation between the characters, who usually share many traits but have drastically different personalities. While the straight man portrays a reasonable and serious character, the other portrays a funny, dumb, or simply unorthodox one.