Character foils

A study of contrasts

 a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist)

highlights various features of other character's personality

throws these characteristics into sharper focus.

Definition

A foil's complementary role may be emphasized by physical characteristics.

A foil usually differs drastically. 

For example in Cervantes'Don Quixote, the dreamy and impractical Quixote is thin in contrast to his companion, the realistic and practical Sancho Panza, who is fat.

Don Quixote

Another popular fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, is tall and lean; his right-hand man Doctor Watson, meanwhile, is often described as "middle-sized, strongly built." 

Sherlock Holmes

Pumbaa and Timon are playful and superficial, and these qualities save Simba’s life when he is young.

But as he grows up he realizes he has to give up the playfulness and be a leader.

Pumbaa and Timon are foils for Simba in “The Lion King”

In Romeo and Juliet, the Friar's patience is a kind of foil to Romeo's haste and passion.

Click here for video clip of Father Lawrence urging “distempered” Romeo to be patient.

The end