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Dramatic Irony
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Tony and Marlow :
Marlow and Tony function as foils to each other to highlight the contrast between town fops and rustic countrymen, while also emphasizing Marlow’s earnestness compared to Tony’s affinity for pranks and tricks. Readers can see this dynamic right from the start, when Tony and Marlow first encounter each other. Tony, seeing Marlow, immediately perceives an easy target for one of his pranks, and indeed Marlow is easily tricked by Tony. In this way, Goldsmith uses Tony’s cunning as a foil for Marlow’s naivety.
Moreover, and perhaps more strikingly, Marlow’s rudeness to Mr Hardcastle when mistaking him for an innkeeper also functions as a foil for Tony, emphasizing Marlow’s snobbishness and Tony’s affability. Tony, after all, proves to be most at ease with the landlord of the Three Pigeons, and he engages with locals in the inn in very much the same way he engages with anyone else. Marlow, in contrast, treats Mr Hardcastle with a haughty superiority when he thinks Hardcastle is a mere innkeeper, but he quickly reverts to extreme humility when he learns Hardcastle's actual social ranking. Tony’s easy, egalitarian nature thus functions as a foil for Marlow’s snobby pretensions in a way that satirizes society's upper classes as a whole.
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