This paper is an analysis of how foils are used in two classic tragedies, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. By establishing a character who is strikingly different from the protagonist, each playwright is able to use that individual to point out key elements both in the main character and in important themes in the play. In each case, the foil is a person who seems initially to be far beneath the protagonist in social rank and importance. In Oedipus, Teiresias is blind, but he can see things that will eventually cause Oedipus to gouge out his own eyes, reducing him to aimless wandering without even the gift of prophecy to give him a purpose. In A Doll's House, Mrs. Linde's poverty and desperation presage Nora's fall from social comfort. In both cases, the main characters descend to become a version of their foils, the result of their own pride and folly. The playwrights use each to foreshadow their main character's fate in ways that are clear to the audience and tragically invisible to the protagonist.
The character who serves most importantly as the foil to Oedipus is Teiresias, the blind seer who the king consults in his search for the men who murdered King Laius. Although he has power by virtue of his ability to foretell the future, Teiresias' power is, at first, nothing compared to the royal authority of his king. Yet Oedipus appeals to him as "our shield and savior" (361), trying to convince him to reveal the killers' identities. Teiresias tries to keep Oedipus ignorant of the fact that the man Oedipus killed on his way to assume the throne was actually his own father.
Finally, however, Oedipus goads him into revealing, "You yourself are the very man you're looking for" (433-434). This enrages the king, who banishes the seer from his presence. However, he will come to learn that Teiresias has told him the truth. In the end, when he has come to see things as clearly...