Why writers set characters against each other
In a short story there is room for one or two strong characters. A novel or play can keep ten of them alive for hundreds of pages, and that gives the writer a new tool: placing characters side by side so that each shows up the other. Most of what we notice, we notice by comparison. A calm voice is only calm next to an anxious one. A generous act looks generous against a stingy one.
A foil is a character whose contrast with another character brings out the traits, attributes or values of that other character. The word comes from jewellery: a thin sheet of metal set behind a gem to make it shine. In literature the foil does the same job for a person. You can recognise a foil when two characters face the same situation, or hold similar positions, and respond in clearly different ways.
Three points keep the idea precise.
- A foil illuminates. The test is not “are they opposites?” but “what does setting them together let me see that I would otherwise miss?”
- A foil is not the same as an antagonist. An antagonist opposes the protagonist in the plot. A foil contrasts with the protagonist in character. One person can be both, but they are different ideas.
- The contrast is meant by the writer. Because the writer chooses what each character says, notices and does, the pattern of difference is evidence of a decision. Your task is to say what that decision accomplishes.
Perspective: why characters know different things
Every character sees the world from somewhere. A housekeeper, a landowner, a child and a stranger will notice different details of the same event, give it different importance and use different words. The course expresses this as the idea that different character perspectives often reveal different information, develop different attitudes and support different interpretations of a text.
When you read a longer work, ask of any speech or action:
- What does this character notice? (and what do they overlook?)
- What does this character value? (money, honour, safety, loyalty, reputation?)
- What does this character want? (the motive behind the words)
- What does that tell me about the situation, and about the character?
Notice that the answer to question four has two parts. A character’s account of someone else is evidence about the subject and about the speaker. Good analysis uses both.
The contrast frame
A reliable way to analyse a pair of characters is to fill in four boxes before you write a sentence.
| Step | Question | Example prompt |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shared ground | What situation, role or pressure do they have in common? | Both face the same crisis, the same decision, the same family |
| 2. Point of difference | Where, specifically, do they diverge in speech, action or attitude? | One acts, the other calculates; one trusts, the other doubts |
| 3. What it shows | What trait, attribute or value does the difference bring out in each? | Prudence against generosity; ambition against duty |
| 4. Function in the work | Why does the writer want the reader to see this? | It sets up the central conflict of values; it tests our sympathy |
Public-domain examples to learn from
Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras (Shakespeare, about 1600). Hamlet is a prince whose father has been killed and who is urged to avenge him. Two other young men are in a similar position. Laertes, whose father Polonius has been killed, returns in a rage and cries, “To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!” He is ready to throw away loyalty and conscience in an instant. Fortinbras, a prince who marches an army across Denmark to fight for a worthless patch of ground, is the subject of Hamlet’s speech that begins “How all occasions do inform against me”. There Hamlet says that real greatness is not to stir “without great argument”, but “greatly to find quarrel in a straw / When honour’s at the stake”. Set beside these two men of action, Hamlet’s hesitation stands out. The play uses the contrast to ask whether his delay is cowardice, thoughtfulness or something harder to name, and that question drives the whole drama.
Darcy and Wickham (Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813). Austen sets Darcy, whose first manners offend, against Wickham, whose first manners charm, and keeps the two side by side until what each has done becomes known. The contrast teaches Elizabeth, and the reader, that manner is not the same as character.
In both examples the writer does not simply list differences. The difference is placed where it will change how we read someone else.
Worked example 1: a foil pair in a longer novel
Original passage written by Marlbridge for practice. It imitates the register of a nineteenth-century novel and is not taken from any published work.
The flood came to Harrow Mill in the night of the ninth of March. By morning the lower race had overtopped its stones, and the two brothers stood at the door of the wheel-house, watching the brown water carry off the winter’s stack of timber.
“We are ruined,” said Edmund Thorne, and he said it quietly, as he said everything, with his eyes on the ledger beneath his arm. “I shall write to the bank before noon. They must hear it from us first.”
Walter Thorne had already pulled off his coat. “There is meal in the upper store that the water has not reached,” said he, “and forty families in Low Street who will want bread by Saturday, mill or no mill. Come, man, bring a lantern.” He was off down the steps before his brother had finished closing the ledger.
Task. Explain how the brothers function as contrasting characters.
Step 1: shared ground. The brothers co-own the mill and face the same disaster at the same moment, on the same threshold.
Step 2: point of difference. The difference lies in where each directs attention and effort.
- Edmund’s eyes stay “on the ledger”, the record of money, and he speaks “quietly”. His first thought is to inform “the bank”, an institution of credit. His diction, “ruined”, “write”, “hear it from us first”, is financial and procedural.
- Walter’s first act is physical: he “had already pulled off his coat”, and he is “off down the steps” before his brother has closed the ledger. His first thought is of “forty families in Low Street” who “will want bread”. He gives an order, “bring a lantern”, rather than a report.
Step 3: what the difference shows. Edmund values reputation and financial honesty; Walter values immediate neighbourly obligation. The phrase “mill or no mill” suggests Walter thinks the family’s duty to the street does not depend on the mill’s survival.
Step 4: function in the work. The passage sets two ways of being responsible against each other at the opening of a crisis. The contrast is not a simple good-against-bad split. Edmund’s wish that the bank “hear it from us first” can be read as scrupulous honesty, and Walter’s haste may be impulsive. This nuance is what makes the pair interesting. A good response would say that the contrast frames the novel’s central conflict of values, commerce against community, while leaving the reader’s sympathy open.
A model sentence. “By keeping Edmund’s attention on the ledger while Walter drops his coat and runs for the lantern, the narrator contrasts a responsibility measured in accounts with one measured in neighbours, and so frames the brothers’ later disagreements as a conflict of values rather than of temper.”
Worked example 2: different perspectives, different information
Original passage written by Marlbridge for practice. Two characters in a novel are asked about the new steward of an estate, Mr Pell.
Mrs Dacre, the housekeeper: “Mr Pell is a punctual man. He has counted the spoons twice since Michaelmas, and has not once asked after Cook’s mother, who is dying.”
Sir Ralph, the landowner: “Pell is the first steward in my father’s time or mine to give me a true figure for the rents.”
Task. What does each speaker’s version reveal, and about whom?
About Pell. Together the speakers give two facts that neither gives alone: Pell is exact and honest with money, and he is cold in human matters. A reader who trusted only one speaker would form a lopsided view.
About Mrs Dacre. She mentions spoons, which fall under her care as housekeeper, and she judges Pell by whether he shows concern for the household, “Cook’s mother, who is dying”. She values personal kindness. The detail that he “has counted the spoons twice” may hint that she feels watched.
About Sir Ralph. He values accurate accounts of income, “a true figure for the rents”. The phrase “in my father’s time or mine” suggests that earlier stewards gave false figures, so his approval may be partly relief.
Function. The writer uses two characters with different positions in the household, one below stairs and one above, to give the reader a fuller picture than one viewpoint could give. The contrast also exposes a gap between two values, kindness and accuracy, that may drive later events.
A model sentence. “Because Mrs Dacre judges Pell by his compassion and Sir Ralph by his honesty, the novel presents the steward through two incompatible measures of character, and the reader must decide which matters more.”
Common misconceptions
- “A foil is the bad one.” A foil can be admirable, flawed, comic or minor. What counts is the contrast, not the moral label.
- “Foils must be opposites in every way.” Contrast works best against a background of similarity. Two brothers in the same crisis are more useful than two strangers in different worlds.
- “I have proved it when I say they are different.” Difference is the first step. The analysis is complete only when you explain what the difference shows and why the writer wants it noticed.
- “One character’s opinion of another is the truth.” It is a perspective. Ask what the speaker notices, values and wants.
- “The writer must be on the side of one character.” Often the contrast is balanced on purpose, so that both characters carry strengths and limits. Look for the nuance before claiming the work endorses either.
Where this leads
Next, the Topic 6.2 study guide looks at how a single character can be inconsistent with themselves, which is another source of complexity. To test yourself, work through the Topic 6.1 practice questions, skim the revision notes and tick off the checklist.
Quick questions
Is a foil always the villain?
No. A foil can be a friend, a sibling, a rival or a minor figure. What makes a character a foil is the contrast that lights up another character, not moral goodness or badness.
Does a foil have to be the opposite in every way?
No. The strongest foils are alike in situation or circumstance and differ at one important point, so the contrast is easy to see. Two characters who differ in everything tell the reader very little.
Can a character be a foil to more than one person?
Yes. In a longer work a character can contrast with several others, which is how the writer builds a pattern of values across the whole text.
What should I do when two characters describe a third person in different ways?
Treat each description as evidence about the describer too. Ask what each speaker notices, leaves out and values, then combine them into one interpretation.