In the literature world, the word “foil” is commonly used on a character that demonstrates its performance that has completely contrast with another character in the story. Generally speaking, foils can also be referring to the protagonist and antagonist, which the protagonist will mainly behave in a heroic appearance as the antagonist contrast with it and act in opposite behaviors aim to negatively influence the actions of the protagonist.
In the play The Crucible, foils can be applied to the character’s relationship between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor while both of them fall deeply into John Proctor’s heart. Abigail Williams is one of the significant characters that largely impacts the story trend from the beginning to the end. She is a servant served in John Proctor’s house, nevertheless, gains some impractical authority from the witchcraft event and starting to use it as a power to tell lies and influence lots of people just by her untruthful saying. On the other hand, Elizabeth Proctor behaves as a moral and known for being an honest woman in the story. She was the wife of John Proctor but was being accused of witchcraft. She was afraid to lose him due to different kinds of suspicions of having an affair beyond her.
Abigail has been jealous of the love between Elizabeth and John Proctor for time to tome and was caught having an affair with John Proctor. She desires to initiate revenge on Elizabeth once she was being fired and was driven away from John Proctor’s house by Elizabeth. They are contradicting since Act 1 of the play when Abigail complained about Elizabeth to John Proctor as she said:
“She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! “(Miller, 22)
Moreover, the conflict between Abigail and Elizabeth can be seen in Act 2 when Elizabeth realize the power of Abigail can possibly take over her place from John which she carefully clarifies to John:
“It is her dearest hope, John, I know it…There be a certain danger in calling such a name — I am no Goody Good… She’d dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit… She thinks to take my place, John.”(Miller 58)
Abigail Williams by Weebly via CC BY-SA 2.0 // ‘Crucible’ Character Study: Elizabeth Proctor by ThoughtCo. via CC BY-SA 2.0
In addition, I came up with a movie that has also related to the term”foils” and the movie is named “Black Panther”. In the movie, T’Challa is acting as the protagonist, he is the main character which ruled the nation called Wakanda after his father died in the incident in a United Nation building. On the other hand, the antagonist of the movie named Erik Kilmonger decided to return to Wakanda and overthrow the power of T’Challa. Foils can be seen between these two characters since they both contrast with each other just to win the throne of the country no matter the consequences are.
‘Black Panther’ by New Times via CC BY-SA 2.0
Citation:
- Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York: Penguin Books, 1976.
- “SparkNotes: The Crucible .” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/quotes/character/elizabeth-proctor/.
Hey Henry!
Your blog post was wonderful and I really enjoyed reading it. Through reading your post, I was able to learn a lot more about the character in The Crucible, in particular the contrast between Abigail and Elizabeth, in which one is fueled by jealously while the other tries to live a moral life. I never thought of how the two characters might be foil of each other prior to reading your post! However, don’t you think Elizabeth might have been fueled by jealously too when she fired Abigail? I understand that it was due to Proctor and Abigail affair, but do you think she should have taken another approach? Nevertheless, I loved your work and I hope you keep up your good work!!
Hi Henry! I found it really interesting how you applied the concept of foils to The Crucible, and I definitely agree that the character of Elizabeth Proctor definitely works to contrast against Abigail Williams. Elizabeth is portrayed in the beginning as an honest, albeit cold wife of a farmer, while Abigail is a rebellious teen whose hardships during her childhood causes her to rely on a man that cares more about money than his family. Even as their characters develop as the story goes on, they are still depicted as a contrast from each other. Elizabeth becomes more understanding and forgives John Proctor for his mistake, while the power Abigail wields over the court enables her to lie and accuse people of witchcraft to condemn them to death. This also reminds me of Draco Malfoy, a character who serves as an antagonist and a foil at the same time, much like Abigail Williams to Elizabeth Proctor. His traits contrasts against Harry’s because where Harry is selfless and brave, Malfoy is spoiled and cowardly. This leads me to wonder why foils are so commonly used in not only works of literature, but also films and theater productions. Why do you think authors create characters that contrast one another? Personally, I think foils create conflict and make the story line more interesting. However, they can often fall into common clichés and quickly become boring.