what are the characteristic of a FOIL in literature?
What famous 'foil' characters in stories do you know of?
what are the characteristic of a FOIL in literature?
What famous 'foil' characters in stories do you know of?
it may never try
but when it does it sigh
it is just that
good
it fly
For example: Mary and Elizabeth from "Pride and prejudice"
Alluminati foil. The thing I don't like about alluminum foil is that the bottom of the pizza never crisps well before the top is burnt.
Last edited by cafolini; 04-18-2013 at 12:09 PM.
Pizza no. But aluminum foil does work well for roasting things like yams and zucchinis in a camp fire. Just wrap them up and put them in amongst the coals. Presto. Well, 20 minutes later.
Agree. But Cacian will do pizza. LOLOriginally Posted by islandclimber
The foil relationship requires three things. I will use the characters Raskolnikov and Razumikhin from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment to illustrate each.
(1) Parallels between two characters—in life circumstances, personal characteristics, similarity of names, or so on—that invite and serve as a basis of comparison. The Dostoyevsky characters are both impoverished students in St. Petersburg; both of their names have meaning in Russian (Raskol means split, Razumikhin implies simplicity or simple-mindedness).
(2) Differentia — That is differential elements in their responses to similar circumstances or situations etc.—that are placed in special relief by the above-mentioned parallels. Raskolnikov gets depressed and becomes a hatchet murderer, Razumikhin, while suffering the same indignities, remains irrepressibly optimistic and balanced.
(3) The differential features seen in light of the underlying parallels yield thematically significant inferences. The presence of Razumikhin shows that Dostoyevsky wasn't simplistically indicting poverty as the cause of Raskolnikov's violence, since the former showed no inclinations in that direction despite suffering the same circumstances.
Last edited by WyattGwyon; 04-18-2013 at 09:47 PM.
I would have thought FOIL would be more much prevalent in Science Fiction than classics...
Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb
A man and his foil I've heard of is Phillias Fog and Passepartout. One is obsessed with time, far from a ladies man, and precise with his time. The other is devil-may-care, a womanizer, and always getting delayed. Combined on the same expedition creates tension, also one compared to the other make both stand out.
Wyatt thank you very much for this useful post.
This makes me think of the star sign Libra/ Balance in French where one weight takes over the other. A bit like the symbol of justice. The heavy outweighs the weak.
On tragedy compensate for one's triumph happiness. Is that ever justified I wonder.
Interesting names Phillias Fog and Passepartout.
Passpartout sounds like the passport to everywhere and anywhere whereas fog is not usually dense unclear ie visibility is shun. I do not know the story however. I will look it up.
it may never try
but when it does it sigh
it is just that
good
it fly
You're French but haven't read Jules Verne? Merde!
H
depends what pizza one is talking about. I do a mean tomatoe and anchovies pizza.
sacré bleu de bonsoir!! I am not a fan of Jules Verne. I am a Molière fan and even Hugo La Fable and Rousseau over Jules Verne. C'est la vie. Anyway Jules Verne was well known even before one has read it so I did not.
it may never try
but when it does it sigh
it is just that
good
it fly
I agree, 'Around the World in 80 Days' isn't as enjoyable a read as 'Madame Bovary'. But I would have hoped you might have read his adventures when you were une petit fille.
H
Ah indeed ''Madame de Bovary'' an accident waiting to happen as I would like to describe it. I do finfdthe fact that the word 'Madame' in the title does it justice just slightly . This of course with reference to the meaning of 'Madame' that is often linked with with prostitution/brothels. As it goes I do refer to it as the '' mot juste'' if I may say so myself it could not be more appropriate with regard to the book.
On the other hand I often find the name Emma quite enchanting because after reading Jane Austen Emma I sometimes try to cross it with the Emma in Bovary and what a contrast of course one would not compare.
In Bovary Emma is almost a courtisane and in Austen she is a partisane for romance and coupling.
And if of course with Flaubert ''le mot juste'' comes to mind. Do you have any views on the 'right word'?
Last edited by cacian; 04-19-2013 at 12:49 PM.
it may never try
but when it does it sigh
it is just that
good
it fly
There's very little point in taking words out of context and interpreting them from a contemporary point of view.
I don't believe the word 'madame' as a brothel keeper is what Flaubert had in mind at the time of writing his novel. And you seem to be making unwarranted criticisms of Emma's behaviour on that basis.
'Madame' was simply the term for a married woman as you obviously know - the hidden agenda in the choice of title being sympathetic towards Emma's situation rather than judgemental of her actions. 'Madame Bovary' the wife of Mr Bovary. Subjugated to such a degree that she changed her name as is the custom in marriage. The point being was that Emma did not behave as if she was her husband's possession. She was rebellious and fought against the notion of being a dutiful wife by having an affair - and she ultimately paid the price for her insubordination. One of many 'liberated' women in literature.
H
Courtesan? Liberated? Hardly. Emma seemed like a romantic idealist whose actions, generated from immature beliefs about love, destroyed lives.
Of course Flaubert was characteristically mute about the point, Madame Bovary being constructed of a narrative that was heavy on description and implicitness but zilch on moral assessment.
J
Last edited by Jack of Hearts; 04-19-2013 at 02:36 PM.
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