Character Foils in Romeo and Juliet What is

Character Foils in Romeo and Juliet

What is a Foil Character? Foil Character – a character who serves as a contrast to another character • Use - used to compare and highlight particular qualities and character traits. Must have some similarities in order for the reader to compare them.

Tybalt and Benvolio : Both cousins to main characters, important families, present during conflicts. – Tybalt= aggressive, impulsive, concerned with family honor/status. – Benvolio= calm, mediator, wants to stop violence

Romeo and Mercutio : • Best friends, prominent young men of Verona. – Mercutio = witty, outgoing, skeptical about love. – Romeo = falls in love constantly and completely, talks about his feelings, introverted

Romeo and Paris : Young men from rich families, in love with Juliet – Paris= older, conventional, father’s approval, reacts moderately – Romeo= younger, impulsive, secretly defying families, reacts passionately

Nurse and Lady Capulet : both help raise Juliet, her “mothers” – Nurse = common, funny, Juliet confides in her. – Lady Capulet = noble, dignified, distant from her daughter’s emotions

Rosaline and Juliet: Both girls Romeo is wildly in love with – Rosaline- uninterested in love, chaste – Juliet- falls immediately for Romeo, can’t wait to be married to him