Pennsylvania College of Technology   Dr. Vavra's ENL 121: Lit & Comp

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1.      In the play "Hamlet" [Title] . [sic] I will be explaining the use of foils in the play. The four foils I will be using are between: [no :] the ghost and Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet, Laertes and Gertrude and finally Laertes and Hamlet. [As noted in class, foils are characters, not "between" characters.]

2.     A foil is a minor character that either talks to support the major characer. [Frag -1]  Or it is someone who is similar or one who differs from the major character. [A foil has to be both similar and different.] An example of someone there just for support are Laertes and Gertrude. [SV Agr -1 ] They foil each other because the [sic] both have the similarity of being extremely gullible. [According to the definition you gave, a foil is the minor character. How can these two be foils for each other?] This is evident in Gertrude[']s belief of how the real king died. [Just because she is unaware of something means that she is gullible?] In Laertes it is relevant because he is also confused about who killed the king. [Do you have any evidence that Laertes ever even thinks about who killed the king?] Not believing people that he should be trusting such as Hamlet.  [Frag -1] Their difference are in their physical characteristics and there [H-50] thoughts about the real kings death. [SV Agr -1] This foil is relevant because with out [without] Gertrude and Laertes gulibleness the story would be lacking supporting characters who really care about the real king.

3.    Claudius foils Hamlet even though they are on different sides. This is evident because the [sic] both are extremely power hungry. [Evidence that Hamlet is power hungry?] Claudius killed a king to get his position and Hamlet is willing to listen to a ghost to get his. [Do you have any evidence that suggests that Hamlet wants the throne?] There differences is that Hamlet is much younger and that he has other motives for killing the king instead off [sic] just for power. [SV Agr]  These are to revenge his fathers death and to make his mother wrong. [I do not understand what you mean by "to make his mother wrong." How would Hamlet's killing Claudius make Gertrude wrong?] The way this foil affected the play is that without it their [H-50] would be no conflict between good and evil. [This needs more explanation. In this context, what is "good," and what is "evil"?]

4.      The similarity between Hamlet and the ghost are known through out the play. [SV Agr -1] The similarity is that they both want revenge. [There are several, more basic similarities that you could have pointed to, and, isn't Hamlet's delay in killing Claudius a suggestion that he does not want revenge?] There differences is that the ghost tells Hamlet who the that [sic] revenge should be taken on and Hamlet is the one to carry out the process. [SV Agr -1] The reason this is relevant to the play is because with out [without] the ghosts determination for revenge Hamlet would not have found his fathers true killer.

5.     Laertes foils Hamlet because they both want to know who killed the previous king [Not true.] and After [sic] they find who did they want to avenge the kings death. [Do you have any evidence that Laertes wants to avenge the king's death?] The differences between the two is that one is young the other is old. [SV Agr] [They are approximately the same age.] Also Hamlet knew who killed the king along [a long] time before Laertes knew . Also Hamlet was next in line to rule if Claudius was not king. The way this is relevant to the story is because Laertes wanted to know the killer of the king for his own soul. [Nonsense] Hamlet wanted to avenge it because he knew that Claudius killed the king. He liked this because He [sic] wanted to be made king. [Evidence?]

6.    Foils are used through [through?] minor characters to help understand the major character more. I have given a few of the foils in this story. These foils are: [no :] the ghost and Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet, Laertes and Gertrude, and Laertes and Hamlet.

[There are far too many sloppy errors in this paper, and the errors in facts suggest both that the writer did not read the play and that the writer did not pay attention in class discussions.]

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