foil

Illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. WatsonSherlock Holmes (right) explaining to Dr. Watson what he has deduced from a pipe left behind by a visitor; illustration by Sidney Paget for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Adventure of the Yellow Face,” The Strand Magazine, 1893.

foil, in literature, a character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character. An obvious example is the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson is a perfect foil for Holmes because his relative obtuseness makes Holmes’s deductions seem more brilliant.

This article was most recently revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.
Citation Information
Article Title: foil
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 25 February 2016
Access Date: February 22, 2025