Character Foils

Foils in Shakespeare’s Hamlet hold extreme significance to the play as a whole. Without conflicting personalities or thought processes, there would be no conflict in the play at all. Here I plan on explaining the key foil within the play, Hamlet vs. Claudius.

Claudius (the new king) is a foil to Hamlet, but also holds some similarities with him as well.. The similarities they have helps characterize Hamlet. One similarity is that they are both devious. Claudius kills Hamlet’s brother and takes the thrown in one smooth criminal like movement. Hamlet seems to follow suit by going behind Claudius’ back and exposing him’s for the true killer he is in an extremely tedious and outdrawn scheme. However, these similarities only exist to show the resemblance in the family and how no one in this time period thinks honesty is the best policy. Now to show how they are foils. One of the differences between Hamlet and his Uncle Father is in their ethics. Claudius serves to benefit Claudius and no one else. He has no priorities other than keeping the throne. It could be easily arguable that Gertrude serves to be a trophy for Claudius more than a genuine love interest. Hamlet cares about other’s feelings, which is shown by him exhibiting clear grief for the death of Ophelia. When it comes down to it, Claudius is evil, and Hamlet is good(ish). The agendas of both may hold similarities in origin and practice, but the to hold even more differences.

The reason it is so important for these two characters to be foils of each other is simple. Hamlet and Claudius are the main dynamic of the play (with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being a close second). Hamlet wants Claudius dead and Claudius happily returns the feeling. If the two were exactly the same, the play would be wholly predictable and boring to read, let alone watch in a theater. For the play to work as the tragedy it is, Claudius and Hamlet need to be as different as possible.