Creon And Oedipus Foils

Character foils are important to any story or play as they compare and contrast character traits as the story unfolds. The use of character foils allows the audience to understand a characters way of thought and the actions that they take. Character foils show the moral behaviour and can help the audience see contradictory factors that help advance the plot. Although characters may seem similar, the use of character foils can show their differences. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the use of character foils proves Fortinbras is a stronger political leader over Hamlet, the contrasting view of Laertes as a son in comparison to Hamlet and Horatio being thought of as the better man in contradiction to Hamlet.

A foil is a minor character in a literary work that compliments the main character through similarities and differences in personality and plot. In William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", the main character, Hamlet, has three major foils. These foils are his close friend Horatio, Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, and the brother of his love, Laertes. These three characters contradict and enhance Hamlet's major characteristics.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses foils to enhance the characters namely to enhance Hamlet. A foil is a minor character who with their similarities and differences reveals character traits, that of another character opposite to them. The character may also be put in place by the author to give the main character a person to talk to, through this conversation useful information can be received about either the main character or the plot in general. This can be shown through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, also the Ghost of King Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes.

(If we look back to all the books we have read over the course of our life, we may see that a literary device commonly used by almost all writers would be foils. Foils are often put right next to one another, to emphasize the nature of each character, by putting a good character next to a presumably bad character, so that the bad character will look worse, but the good character will look exceedingly better. We have seen this writing technique in many different types of literature. For example, in mythology with the movie Troy, the foils were King Priam, and King Agamemnon. They may both be kings, but they have very different personalities. King Priam care not just for power, but he also cares for the people of his kingdom; however, King Agamemnon only cares about power.) (This idea of placing somewhat similar, yet mostly opposing characters side-by-side is also undoubtedly presented in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee does an incredible job of creating these opposing characters for Jam and Scout to encounter, so that they can learn what is right and wrong, and so that they could go from innocence to experience.) (In To Kill a Mockingbird, three foils are very highly valued in the children’s transition from their state of innocence to their state of experience; these three foils include, Miss Maudie Atkinson & Miss Stephanie Crawford; Calpurnia and Lula; finally, with Atticus Finch and Mr. Gilmer.)

British Literature contains literary foils. Foils serve as a contrast to the characters. Foils are usually the antagonists and protagonists of stories. Literary foils are evident throughout British literature in the stories of Beowulf, Julius Caesar, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

“Your luck is once more on fate’s razor edge.” (Line 1109) the oracle, Teiresias, warned the king as he, once again, advises him towards the proper will. As King Creon becomes crowned as king, he became quick to judge a person based on his self implied rules. Teiresias’s purpose was to shed the ideas of Antigone and Haemon to contrast the self-centered characteristics of King Creon. Throughout Antigone, Teiresias appears in one scene, but strongly constructed himself to be the turning point of the story as he foreshadows the oncoming conflict to Creon. Most importantly, the blind prophet guided Creon to realize that his choice of selfish, vacuous, and arrogant actions, instead of thinking wisely, would soon cost him

A tragic hero is defined in most cases as a literary character of great stature whose moral defect leads to tragedy but some self-awareness brings the character to make the right decision (World Literatures). That is why although Antigone portrays many characteristics of a tragic hero, the real tragic hero of this play is Creon. A tragic hero in the Greek world is very different from our perceptive of a hero in the modern world. When today’s society thinks of a hero they think of superpowers and modern heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, and ect... A tragic hero is an 'above average ' person, who still has very human flaws and therefore performs very “un-heroic” actions. The hero part takes place in the realization of the wrongs they

A foil character contrasts the personalities of another character, which particularly enlightens certain characteristics of the individual. This element portrays these characteristics in an obvious manner, as it benefits the reader or audience. By showing the characteristics of one, it directly heightens the character traits of the other, creating a foil illustration of an individual. Nowhere is this element of literature more prudent than in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as he effectively engages the use of foil characters. In the play, two lovers from opposing, and hateful families fall in love, but the hatred between households lead to their downfall. Characters in the immoral city of Verona are set to represent key themes and

In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is a foil to Antigone. A foil is when one character contrasts with another character. Antigone and Creon are complete opposites (besides them both being very stubborn). Antigone is very loyal to her family, and buries Polyneices even though she knew she would be punished. Antigone is also very independent. She stood for what she believed in on her own, while those around her were too scared. Creon has no loyalty to his family, and refuses to honor Polyneices because he sees him as a traitor. He also revolves around power and believes his laws comes over God's laws. Creon suffers from too much pride. Antigone and Creon come in contrast with each other, therefore this is a foil relationship.

Foil characters are defined as characters that are used to contrast another character. This character in most cases is the protagonist. Moreover, foil characters tend to be based on the protagonist’s hubris, wherein contrasting the fatal flaw shows how it has ballooned out of control. Foil characters further themes by highlighting the characteristics of certain characters that will help enhance the theme. The role of foil characters in Shakespearean tragedies is to show what could have happened if the protagonist made a different choice. Likewise, this idea is prevalent within Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, this play portrays two children from warring families who meet and fall in love, but eventually kill themselves as their love is not

A foil is a minor character that helps the audience better understand a major character. A foil may exist as a comparison character, with similarities between the two, as well as differences that bring to light an important contrast between the foil and the main character. A foil may also just be someone for the main character to talk to, so we can know and understand their thoughts and feelings. Foils help us understand the obvious as well as the arcane. In the classic tragedy Hamlet, we see William Shakespeare employ foils to illustrate both examples. They become important literary tools that help the reader rationalize the concurrent theme of the play -

Throughout Pericles, Prince of Tyre, there exists a blatant dichotomy between good and evil. The play lacks moral ambiguity within many of the central characters. One can recognize this dichotomy by analyzing the utilization of foils in Pericles. Pericles incorporates obviously corrupt characters that contrast with virtuous counterparts. For instance, in two analogous instances Pericles travels to a new city, attempting to court a princess.

The term “foil” is a “character who contrasts with the protagonist in ways that bring out certain of his or her moral, emotional or intellectual qualities,” as defined by Sharon Hamilton (143). Achilles is the main hero of the “The Iliad”, a warrior who is angry and excluded. The contrasting and secondary hero is Hector. He is also a warrior and upcoming King of Troy who fights courageously for Troy. In his epic poem, “The Iliad,” Homer uses Hector as a foil to Achilles to emphasis their different qualities by comparing their emotions and actions.

Throughout the play of Romeo and Juliet, there are many different techniques used throughout to try and add suspense and diversity to the play. A popular form of this is including foils. Foils are two characters who who contrast to one another. These can be added for multiple reasons, like comedy or suspense.

Many characters have foils. A foil is a character that opposes another character, quite often the protagonist. Character foils are similar to the main character in some ways but often have one key difference. Sometimes, at some point the foils develop traits characteristic to the other. Often times, there is a factor, whether it be physical or psychological, which aids in the apparentness of the foils. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow and Kurtz represent foils driven by the wilderness.