Discussion Topic

Dramatic Foils in Romeo and Juliet

Summary:

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare employs dramatic foils to highlight character traits. Benvolio and Tybalt serve as foils in Act 1, with Benvolio's calmness contrasting Tybalt's fiery nature. Mercutio and Romeo are foils, with Mercutio's humor contrasting Romeo's serious approach to love. Juliet initially acts as a foil to Romeo's impulsiveness, offering rationality, but later becomes emotionally driven herself. Other foils include Romeo and Paris, with their differing approaches to love, and the Nurse and Lady Capulet, highlighting emotional connections to Juliet.

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Who serves as a foil in act 1, scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet and how does Shakespeare create this?

First, let's identify what a "foil" is within this context. In literature, a foil is a character whose qualities directly contrast the qualities possessed by another character; in doing so, the foil's qualities draw attention to and highlight the qualities of the other character. Foils are generally secondary in nature to a protagonist

In Act One, Scene One of Romeo and Juliet, two servants of the Capulets—Sampson and Gregory—begin a fight with two servants of the Montagues when Sampson bites his thumb at them. This brawl is quickly joined by various members and friends of the rivaling families. While Benvolio (a friend of the Montagues) attempts to call for a stop to the fighting, Tybalt engages him in a fight of their own while declaring his hatred for peace. Montague and Capulet themselves attempt to go after one another, with only their wives preventing this. The fight is only formally broken up when Prince Escalus angrily commands the two parties to lay down their weapons, and declares that anyone who disturbs the peace in such a manner again will be sentenced to death. After the crowds disperse, Benvolio goes to comfort Romeo, who is incredibly depressed over his unrequited love for Rosaline, a young woman who has sworn to live a chaste life. 

We can see from this scene the two characters which are in clear opposition to one another: Benvolio and Tybalt. We can argue that Tybalt is a foil to Benvolio, or that Benvolio is a foil to Tybalt—depending upon which character we identify as more "primary" in nature. I would personally argue that Tybalt is more of a primary character in that he largely operates as the antagonist throughout the play. 

Thus, Benvolio is the foil to Tybalt. While Tybalt is fiery, impulsive, explosively violent, and arrogant, Benvolio is calm, even-tempered, logical, and always in favor of the common good. We see this in Benvolio's initial response to the fight, when he comments:

Part fools!

Put up your swords. You know not what you do.

Meanwhile, Tybalt responds to this call for peace with a swift negation:

What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.

Have at thee, coward!

Tybalt clearly has no interest in resolving conflict, while Benvolio does everything in his power to prevent the fight from progressing. Benvolio's ability to remain reasonable in this situation—and the fact that he really only physically engages with Tybalt as a matter of self-defense—makes Tybalt's violent flair all the more evident. 

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What are four examples of dramatic foils in Romeo and Juliet, acts 3-5?

Character who are foils are effective in literature for highlighting other characters' assets and shortcomings. These foils are usually set against the main personages in a literary work in order to make more pronounced the characteristics of the protagonists and antagonists. However, in Romeo and Julietthe foil character of Mercutio is such a well-developed and strong character that it seems Shakespeare must kill him off in the third act to keep the focus more on Romeo. 

Here, then, are the foil characters in Acts III-V:

  • Benvolio/Mercutio

Benvolio, whose name is in part Latin for good [bene], has been the one to calm Romeo in an earlier act; however, at the beginning of Act III, it is, ironically, the volatile Mercutio who attempts to diffuse the heat:

Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.  (3.1.9-10)

  • Mercutio/Romeo; Romeo/Tybalt

After Romeo comes upon the scene as Mercutio becomes heated in his words with the fiery Tybalt, Romeo steps between them and then tries to diffuse the tension by placing himself before Mercutio and by telling Tybalt that he has no argument against him:

I do protest I never injured thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise...(3.1.56)

And, although Romeo urges Benvolio to break up the fight with his sword, Tybalt surreptitiously stabs Mercutio, fatally injuring him. Mercutio berates Romeo jokingly at first and then seriously for having caused his fatal injury.

  • Benvolio/Romeo

After Mercutio dies and the enraged Romeo kills Tybalt, Romeo bemoans his misfortune, but Benvolio urges him to flee lest the Prince condemn him to death for his action against the recent law against feuding: "Romeo, away, be gone!" (3.1.94)

  • Juliet/Nurse

Juliet remains loyal to her husband while the Nurse cries out "Shame come to Romeo!" (3.2.91)

Friar Laurence is the voice of maturity against the weeping of Romeo. He tells Romeo when Romeo pulls out his dagger in despair,

Hold thy desperate hand
Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art. (3.3.108-109)

  • Friar Laurence/ Juliet

Again, Friar Laurence is the voice of maturity as Juliet comes to him is desperation and he devises a plan to give him a few days in order to fix some of the family problems. 

Friar Laurence.  And if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy
Juliet.               Oh, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris
                        From off the battlements of yonder tower.... (4.2.76-78)

  • Romeo/Paris

Paris comes to pay respectful homage to Juliet; Romeo to visit his dead love and to join her in death as he has poison. When Paris starts to enter and then challenges Romeo as a felon, the fiery Romeo slays him.

Paris.   I do defy thy conjurations
            And apprehend thee for a felon here.
Romeo  Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy! (5.3.69-70)

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Who are the dramatic foils in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

A dramatic foil is a secondary character whose own character traits are completely opposite of another character's. The dramatic foil is used in juxtaposition with another character, helping the reader to see their traits more vividly.

In Rome and Juliet, Mercutio serves as a dramatic foil for Romeo. We see this clearly in Act 1, Scene 4, in which Mercutio tries to persuade Romeo to join them in crashing the Capulets' feast. Romeo takes love very seriously, pining and yearning for Rosaline, while Mercutio treats love as a joke. When Romeo says he cannot join them because he feels too heavy-hearted, Mercutio tells Romeo to "borrow Cupid's wings, / And soar with them above a common bound" (I.iv.18-19)  Furthermore, when Romeo argues that love is "rough," "rude," "boist'rous," and that it "pricks like a thorn," Mercutio advises,

If love be rough with you, be rough with love.
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. (I.iv.28-29)

All of Mercutio's light humor shows us that Mercutio does not treat love as seriously as Romeo, proving that Mercutio serves as a dramatic foil for Romeo.

Benvolio also serves as a dramatic foil for Tybalt. We see clearly in the first scene that Benvolio is a practical, peace-loving gentleman, while Tybalt is an arrogant, impetuous, and fiery tempered fiend. We see this when Bemvolio first appears on the set trying to break up the opening fight between the two houses' servants, saying "Part fools! / Put up your swords. You know not what you do," and trying to "beat down" their own swords with his own (I.i.59-60). When Tybalt arrives at the scene and sees Benvolio's drawn sword, he assumes that Benvolio is being heartless and callous enough to start a fight with the servant men. Tybalt even responds by saying, "What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word," proving that Tybalt's violent anger  serves as a dramatic foil for Benvilio's peaceful mind.

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In Romeo and Juliet, how do the main characters serve as each other's dramatic foils?

At least at the beginning of the play, Juliet serves as Romeo's dramatic foil in being the sensible one, while Romeo is the emotionally driven one. However, as the play continues and the couple progresses deeper into their relationship, Juliet becomes emotionally driven as well.

We especially see Juliet being more rational and sensible than Romeo in the balcony scene found in Act 2, Scene 2. For example, Romeo begins this scene by speaking rapturously of Juliet's beauty and idolizing her by comparing her to heavenly beings, such as the "sun" (3), the "fairest stars in heaven" (15), and a "bright angel" (28). Juliet, on the other hand, opens the scene by laying out the problem of the family feud and rationalizing that it is really only their names that are standing in the way of their romance, and names mean nothing. We see her laying out the problem of the family feud when we see her ask herself, "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" (35). In asking why he must be Romeo, she is asking why he must be the son of a man her own father is fighting against. We see her rationalize that names are meaningless when we see her declare, "What's a Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot...nor any other part / Belonging to a man" (42-44).

We further see Juliet play the rational dramatic foil to Romeo's rash emotionalism when we see her argue that they are being to hasty in exchanging vows so suddenly, as we see in her lines,

Although I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night.
It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden. (122-124)

Thus, since we see Juliet remaining calm and rational while Romeo is impetuous and governed by his emotions, we can easily see Juliet as a dramatic foil to Romeo. However, Juliet ceases to be Romeo's dramatic foil when she, too, gives way to her emotions. She gives way to her emotions in letting Romeo convince her to marry him so suddenly, even though she thinks it is unwise. She further gives way to her emotions when she decides to commit suicide, first in order to escape marrying Paris and then in order to join Romeo in death. 

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