Shakespeare`s Characters
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Shakespeare`s Characters
A character that might parallel yet contrast another is said to be a foil. A
foil is used to clarify character traits as well as issues in stories and plays.
An example of this would be Iago and Othello from the Shakespeare play Othello.
Othello is a trustworthy and upstanding individual who has a slight problem as
far as spontaneity is concerned. Iago, on the other hand, is deceptive and
manipulative, but Iago thinks things out thoroughly. Shakespeare uses these two
characters against each other to further bring out their good and bad traits.
This idea of a foil seems to be a recurring tool that Shakespeare uses in his
plays. Shakespeare clarifies character traits in Hamlet by the use of foils. One
of the best examples of foils in the play is Hamlet against Laertes. At the
beginning of the play, we all know that Hamlets father was killed. He has this
trait in common with Laertes later on in the play when his father Polonius is
killed by Hamlet. At this point, both me are seeking vengeance for a fathers
death. This shows perhaps, Hamlet’s “fatal” or “tragic” flaw. Hamlet
hesitates at every opportunity he has to kill Claudius with Laertes is willing
to seek vengeance immediately. Laertes says: “How came he dead? I’ll jot be
juggled with: To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and
grace, to the profoundest pit That both the worlds I give to negligence, Let
come what comes; only I’ll be revenged Most thoroughly for my father.” At
this point, we really see that Laertes is ready to die and that he does not care
about what will happen to him in the next life. Hamlet is plagued by this idea
of what will happen next and thus cannot fulfill his task. Another thing these
two men have in common is Ophelia. Both men love her only in different ways.
Hamlet loves her as a man would love a wife and a Laertes loves her as a brother
would love his sister. When she dies, both men mourn her death. Another thing
that perhaps works to Hamlet’s credit is that Laertes is fooled by the
duplicity of Claudius and the “retardation” of his father Polonius whereas
Hamlet can see the treachery in Claudius and mocks Polonius whenever he talks to
him. Another pair of people Shakespeare uses, as foils are Hamlet and Horatio.
Horatio is Hamlet’s best friend and pretty much the only person throughout the
play that is not “two-faced.” Hamlet praises Horatio as a just and temperate
man, who “is not passion’s slave,” who suffers life’s ups and do...
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