Foil

Hamlet to Claudius

Does Hamlet want to kill his father and sleep with his mother? That's what some scholars think – that Hamlet has an Oedipus complex and wants to do just that. If so, Claudius is a perfect foil for Hamlet, because Claudius does what Hamlet only thinks about doing: killing Hamlet Sr., and then marrying Gertrude. Some scholars even suggest that Hamlet delays so long in killing Claudius because he realizes Claudius is just like himself. Even if you don't buy this theory, Hamlet and Claudius are foils in a more basic way. Hamlet hates deception; Claudius is really good at it. Hamlet values honesty and truthfulness and fidelity; Claudius is one of the biggest – and most successful – fakers ever. Claudius is good at politics and managing people; Hamlet doesn't seem to be very good at this at all. Claudius doesn't make a bad king, minus the brother-killing-thing; Hamlet may or may not have made the worst king ever.

Hamlet-Fortinbras-Laertes

Both Prince Fortinbras and Laertes are foils for Hamlet because they are everything Hamlet is not. Both Fortinbras and Laertes also need to avenge their fathers: Fortinbras because his father was killed by Hamlet's father, Laertes because Hamlet murdered his father. Neither of them procrastinates. Fortinbras tries to wage a war against Denmark, while Laertes runs home from Paris to stage a revolution in his dead father's honor. Hamlet, as we all know by now, swears to avenge his father and then delays for months for some unknown reason. Even Hamlet himself refers to Laertes and Fortinbras as people he regards as, well, foils for himself. He has an entire soliloquy in Act IV, Scene iv in which he compares himself to Fortinbras and swears to be more like him.

Hamlet-Claudius-Gertrude to Ophelia-Polonius-Laertes

The plot of Hamlet revolves around two families: Hamlet-Claudius-Gertrude, and Ophelia-Polonius-Laertes. There are two sets of fathers (Hamlet Sr./Claudius and Polonius), and two sets of children (Hamlet and Laertes/Ophelia). What we are trying to say here is that family #1 is a foil for family #2. The relationships between parents and their children are portrayed in two different ways: first, Hamlet's relationship to his father's ghost contrasts to Laertes's relationship with his father (lots of advice involved, the question of revenge), and second, Polonius's misunderstanding of Ophelia reflects Gertrude's misunderstanding of Hamlet. The parallels are by no means perfect, but the mirroring structure can raise questions about the universality of the kinds of relationships the play depicts. Doesn't everyone have a parent that misunderstands them? Doesn't everyone receive long-winded advice from his father?

Ophelia to Gertrude

There are only two women in the play: Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, and Hamlet's love interest, Ophelia. At the outset, the play uses the age old "virgin-whore" dichotomy to establish the two women as foils to each other. Ophelia, on the one hand, is a maiden and an obedient daughter to Polonius. Gertrude (in the eyes of Hamlet, anyway) exists at the opposite end of the spectrum – her sexual "appetite" and "hasty" remarriage to Claudius marks her as promiscuous and unfaithful. Eventually, however, Hamlet's view of his mother opens out to include all women, especially poor Ophelia. By Act III Hamlet views all women as "wanton" and "breeders of sinners (3.1.2). Hamlet is cruel to both Ophelia and Gertrude. See the themes of "Sex" and "Gender" for more on this.