AP® English Literature and Composition review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/lit/units/6/6-1)
Unit 6 · Topic 6.1
6.1 Foils, competing perspectives and complex characters
Complex characters want more than one thing, and what they say they value doesn't always match what they do. A foil is a character set up to contrast with another, so each one's traits stand out more sharply. This topic shows you how to read those tensions and contrasts, and how other characters' perspectives fill in the picture.
Key terms
- foil
- perspective
- complex character
- private vs. professed values
- internal conflict
What makes a character complex
A simple character has one clear motive and acts on it. A complex character is pulled in more than one direction. They may want two things that can't both happen, or they may say they believe one thing and then act on another. That gap is where most of the interesting questions about a novel or play live.
Look for three kinds of tension. The first is internal conflict: a character torn between two choices, like love and duty. The second is a gap between professed values (what a character says matters) and private values (what their choices show matters). The third is inconsistency over time: a character who acts one way early and another way later.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, King Claudius tries to pray for forgiveness for murdering his brother. He can't, because he still wants to keep the crown and the queen he gained by the murder. He admits it himself: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below." His professed wish to repent clashes with what he really values, and that makes him more than a stock villain.
Foils: characters who sharpen each other
A foil is a character whose traits contrast with another character's, usually the protagonist's. The two often share a situation but respond to it differently, so the contrast highlights what makes each one distinct. A foil doesn't have to be an enemy. Friends, siblings and rivals can all work as foils.
Hamlet is full of foils. Hamlet, Laertes and young Fortinbras each lose a father, and each is expected to respond. Laertes rushes back from France, storms the palace with a mob and quickly agrees to Claudius's revenge plot. Fortinbras raises an army. Hamlet thinks, doubts, tests and delays. Each foil makes Hamlet's hesitation easier to see and harder to judge simply.
| Pair | What they share | How the contrast works |
|---|---|---|
| Hamlet and Laertes (Hamlet) | A murdered father and a duty to avenge him | Laertes acts at once and gets manipulated; Hamlet hesitates and questions |
| Elizabeth and Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) | Sisters looking for good marriages | Jane thinks well of everyone; Elizabeth judges fast and sometimes wrongly |
| Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval (Frankenstein) | Friends with a love of learning | Clerval's warmth and interest in people show how isolated Victor's ambition makes him |
Perspectives: each character sees part of the story
A character's perspective is how they see events, shaped by their background, interests and what they know. Different characters often describe the same person or event in very different ways. No single view is complete, so you build your reading by comparing them.
When characters disagree about someone, ask what each speaker has at stake. A rival's criticism and a friend's praise both tell you something, but they also tell you about the speaker. On the exam, a question might ask what a minor character's comment reveals, and the best answer often concerns the speaker's perspective as much as the person being described.
How to write about it
Name the tension precisely, then explain what it shows about the work. "Hamlet is complex" earns nothing. "Hamlet's delay looks like weakness next to Laertes's speed, but Laertes's speed makes him easy for Claudius to use" is a real claim about how the contrast works.
- Ask what each character wants, then what they actually do.
- When two characters face a similar situation, compare their responses.
- Say what the contrast highlights, not just that it exists.
- Connect the tension to a larger idea, such as justice, loyalty or ambition.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Explaining a foil in a model paragraph
In Act 5 of Hamlet, Hamlet tells Horatio he regrets losing his temper with Laertes: "For by the image of my cause I see / The portraiture of his." Write a short analytical paragraph explaining how Laertes works as a foil to Hamlet.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Unpack the lines. Hamlet sees his own situation (his cause) mirrored in Laertes's situation. Both are sons whose fathers were killed, and both want revenge.
- Step 2: Find the contrast inside the likeness. Laertes acts fast and lets Claudius steer him into a rigged fencing match, even offering to poison his own sword. Hamlet spends most of the play questioning, testing and delaying.
- Step 3: Decide what the contrast highlights. Next to Laertes, Hamlet's delay looks less like cowardice and more like a refusal to act without certainty. Laertes's speed turns him into another person's tool.
- Step 4: Write a claim, the evidence, then commentary that connects to a larger idea about revenge.
Answer: Model paragraph: Shakespeare uses Laertes as a foil to show that revenge without reflection is its own trap. Hamlet himself notices the parallel, saying that "by the image of my cause I see / The portraiture of his," and the word "portraiture" suggests a likeness, not a perfect copy. Both sons have lost fathers, but Laertes acts at once and lets Claudius plan the revenge with him, while Hamlet tests the ghost's story before he acts. The contrast complicates the charge that Hamlet is simply weak. Laertes's speed makes him easy for Claudius to use, so Hamlet's hesitation starts to look like the only way to keep his revenge his own. (Annotation: the claim names a purpose, the evidence is short and exact, and the commentary explains what the contrast changes in our view of Hamlet.)
Common mistakes
- Calling any two different characters "foils." A foil works because the characters share something, like a situation or a goal, and then differ in a revealing way.
- Listing a character's traits without naming the tension between them. Complexity comes from traits or values that pull against each other.
- Taking a character's stated values at face value. Check what their choices show they value.
- Judging a character as simply good or bad. Readers reward explaining why a character is hard to judge.
On the exam
- Multiple-choice questions often ask what a contrast between two characters emphasizes, or what a character's statement reveals about the speaker. Pick the answer that explains the contrast, not just the one that describes it.
- On the literary argument essay, a foil is an efficient way to show the work as a whole: one contrast can carry you from the beginning of a novel to its end.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 6.1 Foils, competing perspectives and complex characters. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, Act I (1879), translated by R. Farquharson Sharp (1910)
In paragraphs 3–5, the contrast between Nora’s and Mrs. Linde’s responses to the news of the promotion mainly serves to
Nora’s claim that “‘Nora, Nora’ is not so silly as you think” (paragraph 7), together with her lowered voice as she adds “And other things as well” (paragraph 9), most strongly suggests that
In paragraph 25, Nora’s shift from “it’s good to be alive and happy!” to “But how horrid of me; I am talking of nothing but my own affairs” chiefly reveals
Mrs. Linde’s reply in paragraph 34, “I have no father to give me money for a journey, Nora,” functions mainly to
0 of 4 answered