1. How Shakespeare uses a literary device…
Foiling Hamlet
How Shakespeare uses a literary device…
THE FOIL

2. Foils A foil is a character whose qualities or
actions emphasize those of the protagonist
(or other characters in the story) by
providing a strong contrast to them .
By looking at the similarities and differences
between two characters, the audience can
get a better understanding of the major
character.

3. So, for example:
If you were telling a story about a really stingy person, you might want to add a minor character who is very generous. That could make the first guy seem even stingier.

4. The generous guy would be a foil for the stingy guy.
You can have more than one foil for a character.

5. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses foils to develop the major
4/13/2017
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses
foils to develop the major
characters of his play.

6. Hamlet has several foils.
He’s a complicated guy.

7. So...Who are Hamlet’s foils?
Which qualities of these characters
make them so?

8. Sources:
Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick