The Foil Of Shakespeare 's ' The Tragedy Of Hamlet '

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.

On the other hand, Laertes wants to revenge his father’s death. Therefore this mistake murder leads Hamlet to his downfall as Claudius and Laertes want to kill him.

Laertes also brings revenge and betrayal out of Hamlet. Though an enemy, Laertes is a foil to Hamlet. Laertes helps in the development of Hamlet through the similarities they share. These include anger over the death of their fathers, and desire to exact revenge. Betrayal is also relevant because Laertes betrays Claudius in the end, revealing his plan to kill Hamlet. Hamlet betrays his father by verbally abusing his mother, against the wishes of his father. The differences between the two men are very strong. Hamlet would not kill Claudius in the church because he was praying. Laertes, however stated that he would kill Hamlet in a church, praying or not. Another difference is that Hamlet cannot be a man of action and a man of thought at the same time. He does not use his mind when he acts. He just acts. When he is pondering something, he is unable to act out his thoughts, and keeps quiet. Laertes, however, is able to act while thinking. He finds out that Hamlet killed his father and immediately devises a plan to kill him. This flaw makes Hamlet dangerous to himself, and is ultimately his downfall.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both lose a father by unnatural and sudden death. The unnatural death of the father is brought on by someone close to the son. When Laertes discovers that his father is dead, he is outraged. When Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father's murder, he weeps, and promises action, though he delivers none. Both Laertes and Hamlet grieve deeply for their fathers, but Laertes acts upon this grief while Hamlet carefully plots his revenge and waits for the perfect moment to avenge King Hamlet. Laertes' unplanned action causes his death by his own sword, while Hamlet's apparent inaction finally gets him the revenge that Laertes has attempted. Though Laertes' grief at his father's death causes his

2always has to make sure he thinks things over before he does anything. Laertes wants to get back at Hamlet for killing his father. “How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand. That both the worlds I give to negligence. Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged. Most thoroughly for my father”. Act 4 Scene 5. Laertes tires to figure out what happened and how it happened, he is trying to figure out why he was killed and by who. He wants his father to have a proper burial, but he can not find the body because Hamlet hid it in another room. Hamlet and Laertes is so different in so many ways. Hamlet wanted to talk things out and make everyone happy at the end.

Laertes loses his family because of Hamlet’s actions. His father is killed by him and his sister kills herself because of her grief. Laertes and King Claudius begin to plot Hamlet’s murder, planning to poison him, by drink or wound, whichever comes first. However, the plan backfires on the both of them and Laertes dies from his own blade, but not before saying “The King, the King’s to blame.”

Laertes plots for vengeance due to Hamlet killing his father and second-handedly killing his sister, Ophelia. Hamlet, who is still a self-absorbed narcissist, is beyond clueless to Laertes intentions for fighting. In the end, Hamlet is cut with the poisonous sword, Laertes is stabbed with the poisonous sword, Gertrude drinks from the poisonous cup, and King Claudius finally gets what he deserves after Hamlet, as he’s dying, stabs him and forces him to drink the poison. Hamlet, who suffered through a road of vengeance, finally kills Claudius at the last possible second. All of Hamlet’s family and friends die because of his inability to be a man of action and a man of thought at the times when they are opportune. His delay of killing Claudius led him to become invested in his own issues and become the domino effect for the death of others. His moral ambiguity is questioned even at the end of the play because he killed Claudius at the last possible second. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, like Hamlet, Hamlet desire for vengeance ultimately corrupts the morals and decisions he makes further affecting the people around him as he is so self-involved. Hamlet’s morals suffer because he never once looked within himself to understand where he went wrong. Hamlet’s moral ambiguity creates this significance to the play by emphasizing the fact that

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.

To begin with, Laertes is the most similar foil to Hamlet when it comes to circumstance and rage. They both want revenge for their father’s death, though their method of revenge are different. Laertes is a man of action and wants to get revenge right away after learning that his father Polonius has been killed. In contrast to Laertes, Hamlet does not even make public knowledge of his father’s murder. Laertes doesn’t procrastinate his attempt at revenge like Hamlet. However, he is very shallow and Hamlet is a genius in comparison. Hamlet thinks of ways to plan his revenge against Claudius, though it is his tendency to overthink that leads him to his tragic flaw. He himself realizes that Laertes is put in a similar position to himself. “I’ll be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance your skill shall, like a star i’ the darkest night, Stick fiery off indeed” (V.ii.5-7). Rage is another emotion the characters have in common. When Laertes learns of his father’s death, he gets enraged and wants to get revenge instantly. "To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand, that both worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father." (Act 4 Scene 5 lines 128-134). Laertes says to Claudius that he will honor his father when he says that he was “in deed his father’s son more than in words” and that he will kill Hamlet. “To cut his throat i’

Hamlet and Laertes are similar in the way they associate with their families. Laertes respects and loves his father Polonius and Hamlet holds a great respect for his dead father, who Hamlet compares his father to the sun god, "Hyperion". After the death of both their fathers, Hamlet and Laertes seek revenge on the murders. Hamlet and Laertes both show different attitudes towards females. Laertes gives Ophelia guidance on her relationship with Hamlet and Hamlet is able to persuade Gertrude that he is not mad and manipulates her to follow his instructions. Hamlet tells his mother to convince Claudius of Hamlet's madness. He is able to make his mother reflect upon her part in the death of his father and feel guilt "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct." (Shakespeare 1997 3.4.90-93). The father's of Laertes and Hamlet both attempted to use spies to gain information on their sons. Claudius hamlets uncle and step-father. Claudius employed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to gather information on Hamlet and Polonius sends Reynaldo to check up on Laertes. Hamlet becomes outraged that Claudius is spying on him which then results in Hamlet mistakenly killing Polonius. Laertes becomes angered at the death of his father and boldly seeks vengeance against Claudius.

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

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 -

    William Shakespeare wrote the classic play, Hamlet in the sixteenth century.  Hamlet would be a very difficult play to understand without the masterful use of foils.  A foil is a minor character in a literary work that compliments the main character through similarities and differences in personality.  The audience can identify similarities and differences between any of the characters and Hamlet, however, there are two characters that share so much in common with Hamlet that they have to be considered the most important foils in the play.  These two characters are Laertes and Fortinbras.  It is the great similarities between Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet that make the

Laertes serves a foil to Hamlet, although they are not similar in birth, they are similar in that they both have a dear father murdered. Using this parallel, Shakespeare uses Laertes to show what Hamlet should be doing, contrasting Laertes’s words of action to Hamlet’s own words of action. We see this most clearly when Laertes is talking with Claudius and he says that he will “cut [Hamlet’s] throat i' th' church” to avenge his father, this contrasts directly with Hamlet who decides not to kill a praying Claudius when he has the chance (4.7.144). Laertes also serves as external conflict as he challenges Hamlet to a fight and is convinced by Claudius to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword. Without this fight, who knows if Hamlet would have gotten around to kill Claudius? But when we really look at Laertes’ words and consequent action, we see another similarity with Hamlet, both are rash and passionate. This is significant because