Foil

Character Role Analysis

Seth Bede

How much of a foil can your own brother be? Plenty! Adam is strong and aggressive-looking; Seth is pretty strong himself, but his "broad shoulders have a slight stoop" and his "eyebrows have less prominence and more repose than his brother's" (1.3).

Adam courts two women, aggressively and undauntedly; Seth tells his brother "I'll be an old bachelor, belike, and make a fuss wi' thy children" (38.6). But don't think Adam got all the good genes. In a few pages, his headstrong ways get him into more trouble (fist in your face, Arthur!) than Seth gets into in the whole book. We don't know exactly how far from the tree these two apples fell… though they fell kind of far from each other.

Thias Bede

This foil business is turning into a family affair, isn't it? Adam learned everything about carpentering from his father. He also learned a lot from Thias about how to screw up your entire life. We never see Thias alive in Adam Bede; but we do hear a lot about his doings at an inn called The Wagon Overthrown.

Adam does his best to deal with his father, who created such a hardworking son then turned into a sad old drunk. As Adam puts it: "I know there's a duty to be done by my father, but it isn't my duty to encourage him in running headlong to ruin" (4.19).