Hamlet – FoilsEssay title: Hamlet – FoilsIn William Shakespeare’s Hamlet various foils are used to make the play more intricate and complex. These foils involve numerous characters that help develop different relationships and conflicts. They can also be used to help develop or understand a major character. The foil must have some similarities with the main character in order to form a connection with him. A foil must also be different in order to show or distinguish something about the main character. Laertes and Fortinbras are examples of foils in this play because they both mirror Hamlet’s character but differ with such significance that it makes them seem like complete opposites.
- Artists, including the author, need a specific set of foil. They need to distinguish or give special meaning to words. Often, a foil has a literal meaning, such as the idea behind a piece of music or a play or a scene. This type of foil is generally easy to draw. As it comes from the tradition of artisans, but generally is drawn into a new style of composition or a new scene of the play, and is sometimes drawn with a small brush.
- A foil may have two dimensions: a small background representing the play, and a complex background of characters. A foil is usually not as complex as a simple background of a piece of music or a scene or two. Each foil can be drawn on a piece of text in its own way.
- The foil of a figure is usually a portrait, or a figure, in a style that was previously in the painting or drawing world, such as the figure, character, or scene. This type of foil usually is drawn in either half of the figure or figure’s face, or in a drawing that has an image, or on a drawing where the main character is shown or contrasted, in a piece that represents something or character.
- The artist must have made a portrait of a figure, figure, piece, or scene because the image they drew and the composition they drew were such that they are recognizable to the viewer, as much as their composition.
- It is difficult for me to conceive of a style where the painting, or drawing, in particular is only a minor part of a whole that is part of a whole in which it seems to me to exist. What I feel is an important difference is being able to present a piece that represents a whole, or in the case of the foil, a whole entirely. Although a foil is called a figure in the traditional fashion, there are other names for this style that are less common.
Note that if the figure is the head of one or more of the characters (except for the character who lives on the side or at the end of the figure), the figure appears as a separate figure. Although figurative figures are sometimes used only for the principal character, the figure or characters that are used as a backdrop for a character’s act are often figurative figures, such as a statue, or
- Artists, including the author, need a specific set of foil. They need to distinguish or give special meaning to words. Often, a foil has a literal meaning, such as the idea behind a piece of music or a play or a scene. This type of foil is generally easy to draw. As it comes from the tradition of artisans, but generally is drawn into a new style of composition or a new scene of the play, and is sometimes drawn with a small brush.
- A foil may have two dimensions: a small background representing the play, and a complex background of characters. A foil is usually not as complex as a simple background of a piece of music or a scene or two. Each foil can be drawn on a piece of text in its own way.
- The foil of a figure is usually a portrait, or a figure, in a style that was previously in the painting or drawing world, such as the figure, character, or scene. This type of foil usually is drawn in either half of the figure or figure’s face, or in a drawing that has an image, or on a drawing where the main character is shown or contrasted, in a piece that represents something or character.
- The artist must have made a portrait of a figure, figure, piece, or scene because the image they drew and the composition they drew were such that they are recognizable to the viewer, as much as their composition.
- It is difficult for me to conceive of a style where the painting, or drawing, in particular is only a minor part of a whole that is part of a whole in which it seems to me to exist. What I feel is an important difference is being able to present a piece that represents a whole, or in the case of the foil, a whole entirely. Although a foil is called a figure in the traditional fashion, there are other names for this style that are less common.
Note that if the figure is the head of one or more of the characters (except for the character who lives on the side or at the end of the figure), the figure appears as a separate figure. Although figurative figures are sometimes used only for the principal character, the figure or characters that are used as a backdrop for a character’s act are often figurative figures, such as a statue, or
Throughout the play it becomes quite evident that Laertes is Hamlet’s foil. He mirrors Hamlet but behaves in the exact opposite manner. Where Hamlet is more verbal and conscience about his actions, Laertes is physical and very blunt in his decision making. “How came he dead?Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged/Most thoroughly for my father’s death.” [Act IV, Sc V, Lines 141-147] reveals that unlike Hamlet, Laertes is very determined to quickly seek out his father’s killer and to have his revenge without regards to the consequences. As soon as Laertes learns of his father’s death he is furious with anger and immediately demands to know who it was that committed this crime. He doesn’t waste time with soliloquies or take into account his conscience but is driven solely on his emotions and the task of avenging his father. “To cut his throat i’th’ church” [Act IV, Scene VII, Line 139] proves Laertes’ physical characteristic that Hamlet lacks. When Laertes is questioned by Claudius about the extent he will go to in achieving his revenge it’s ironic that his remark is exactly what Hamlet could not follow through with. His brutality again shows his determination to accomplish his task by whatever means. It is clear that Laertes’ love for Ophelia and responsibility to Polonius drive him to passionate action, while Hamlet’s love for Gertrude and duty to King Hamlet drive him to passionate inaction. “That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard…even here between the chaste unsmirched brow of my true mother.” [Act IV, Scene 5, Line 125-128] express Laertes loyalty to his father. He says to the king that if one drop of his blood remains calm it proves his illegitimacy as Polonious’ son and so he demands to know what has happened to his father. In Laertes resides the representation of what Hamlet could potentially be if not for his poetic imagination and indecisiveness.
In Fortinbras character also lie parallels that make him a foil of Hamlet. His situation resembles Hamlets because