Hamlet Character Foils

What is a Character Foil?

A Character Foil is… A character who provides a direct contrast to another character, and by doing so illuminates the traits of the other character. Examples in popular culture: Agent J (Will Smith’s character) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones’ character) in Men in Black Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy Mercutio and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet

Character Foils in Hamlet Which of these characters are foils to Prince Hamlet and why? A) Prince Fortinbras B) Laertes C) Ophelia

They All Are! Fortinbras Laertes Ophelia father was killed his uncle became King bears his father’s name like Prince Hamlet. FOIL: quick to take action and seek revenge Laertes loses a father FOIL: seeks immediate revenge. Ophelia FOIL: actually goes mad (Hamlet’s feigned madness)

Character Foils Paragraph (frame) In Hamlet, Shakespeare introduces character foils in order to ___. One example of a character foil, Prince Fortinbras, stands in sharp contrast because ___. Hamlet illustrates their differences in his soliloquy in Act IV when he states, “___” ( ). From these lines the reader can conclude that, unlike Hamlet, Fortinbras ___. A second character foil to Hamlet is ___, who, in contrast to Hamlet, ___, as demonstrated by “___” ( ). The importance of this foil is ___. These two foils truly help the audience to understand ___.