Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza, by Gustave Doré: their character contrasts are made manifest not only by their behavior, but their physical appearance.

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Foil

A foil character is either one who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. more...

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The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast, and perhaps by setting up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character but, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality.

A foil's role, as a contrast to the hero, may be emphasized by adding physical contrasts. Don Quixote is dreamy, impractical, and thin, and Sancho Panza is realistic, practical, and fat. Sherlock Holmes is tall and lean; Doctor Watson, although at first described as lean (on his return from Afghanistan), is described "middle-sized, strongly built".

In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot. This is especially true in the case of metafiction. One example of plots being used as foils can be seen in the graphic novel Watchmen, in which a comic book within the Watchmen universe is presented as a story similar to that of one of the main characters.

Examples

Testing of Dostoevsky

In Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras, whose fathers have been killed, are foils for Hamlet.;

In Macbeth, Banquo is a foil for Macbeth because they both met with the "weird women" yet Banquo remains loyal to Duncan.;

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abby and Elizabeth Proctor are foils.;

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Svidrigailov is a foil to Raskolnikov, as are Sonya, Luzhin, Razumihin, and Marmeladov, arguably.;

In Twelfth Night, Olivia has a foil in Viola, because they have both lost a sibling.;

In modern popular culture, there is Han Solo in Star Wars, who, in the first film of the series, stands in stark contrast to Luke Skywalker.;

In DC's World's Finest Comics line and subsequent appearances of Batman and Superman together, each serves as a foil to the other. In some adaptations, Robin also serves as a foil to Batman.;

In hip hop culture, Flavor Flav serves as a comic foil to Chuck D in the political rap group Public Enemy.;

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character of Faith Lehane serves as a foil and parallel to main character Buffy Summers.;

In the Sherlock Holmes works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dr. Watson is Holmes's foil.;

In Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome, Zeena, Ethan's wife, acts a foil character who brings out the positive qualities of Ethan's secret lover, Mattie.;

In the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, both Patrick and Squidward serve as foils to Spongebob. Patrick is nearly the same as and Squidward is opposite to Spongebob.;