Foil
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare

As You Like It: Foil 1 key example

New! Understand every line of As You Like It.
Read our modern English translation.
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Orlando and Oliver:

In Act 2, Scene 3, Adam the servant informs Orlando of the plot his brother, Oliver, has hatched against his life. His language highlights the role that Oliver plays as a foil to Orlando:

Your brother—no, no brother—yet the son—
Yet not the son, I will not call him son—
Of him I was about to call his father,
Hath heard your praises, and this night he means
To burn the lodging where you use to lie,
And you within it.