Characters and characterization

All stories have characters

• Characters are fictive or real persons that think,
act or are acted upon in a narrative
• The term plot-driven is sometimes used to
describe fiction in which a preconceived storyline
is the main thrust, with the characters' behavior
being molded by this inevitable sequence of
events. Plot-driven is regarded as being the
opposite of character-driven, in which the
character(s are) the main focus of the work.
– Wikipedia
 Not all characters are people
• Characters can be any psychological presence
or personality
– Animals
– Robots
– Aliens
– Artificial intelligence
– Magical beings
– Spirits/ghosts
– Even objects
 Characterization
• Characterization is the many ways that
characters are constructed for the audience
member. The narrator can explicitly provide
character information or can provide
information that implies things about a
character.
Means of conveying character information
to the audience
• The narrator can describe the character directly:
– “She was tall and muscular, but with dark eyes and a soft
voice”
• Other characters can describe her
– To another character
– To himself (internal focalization)
• The character can describe herself
– To another character
– Internal focalization (VO)
• A character’s actions and thoughts can
provide clues to the character’s personality,
etc.
– Actions and thoughts can be revealed directly or
through focalization techniques, other characters’
talk, etc.
 Flat v. round characters
• The depth with which the character is
presented determines whether the character
is ‘round’ (deep) or ‘flat’ (shallow)
 Round characters
• Round characters are fully developed by an
author, physically, mentally, and emotionally,
and are detailed enough to seem real.
• Rarely can more than a few characters be
‘round’
– Too much detail, time spent in development, etc.
– Stereotypic characters are efficient
– Usually only main characters are round
 Flat characters
• Flat characters are distinguished by their lack
of detail and depth.
• Supporting characters are usually flat, as most
minor roles do not require a great deal of
complexity.
 Stock characters
• A number of stereotypical, or "stock"
characters, have developed throughout the
history of drama.
– E.g., country bumpkin, con artist, city slicker.
• Stock characters are often flat characters,
though elements of stock characters can be
found in round characters as well.
 Dynamic v. static characters
• A dynamic character is one who changes
significantly during the course of the story.
• changes in insight or understanding
• changes in commitment
• changes in values
• Protagonists are often dynamic characters
– Being changed by a quest
– Coming of age
– Gaining insight and wisdom
Dimensions of characterization
• Physical appearance
• Capabilities
• Demographics
• Personality
• Behavior
• Role
• Relationships
 Archetypes
• Though Carl Jung identifed the first archetypes
based on story patterns in 1919, authors like
Joseph Campbell and James Hillman
continued the work he'd begun. Other authors
have reorganized the information, often
blending Jungian archetypes or recognizing
sub-archetypes within Jung's structure.
 Jung’s four main archetypes:
• The Self, the regulating center of the psyche
and facilitator of individuation
• The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image,
often containing qualities that the ego does
not identify with but possesses nonetheless
• The Anima, the feminine image in a man's
psyche
• The Animus, the masculine image in a
woman's psyche
• Although the number of archetypes is limitless, there
are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal
images:
• The Syzygy
• The Child
• The Hero
• The Great Mother
• The Wise old man
• The Trickster or Fox
• The Puer Aeternus (Latin for "eternal boy")
• The Cosmic Man
• The artist-scientist
• The Scarlet Women
• The Faceless Man
 Dramatica
• Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley’s Dramatica defines eight
different archetypes defined by their "Action" and "Decision"
characteristics:
• Driver Characters:
– Protagonist: "... the driver of the story: the one who forces the action." Defined by
"Pursue" and "Consideration" characteristics.
• Jungian equivalent: Hero
– Antagonist: "... the character directly opposed to the Protagonist." "Prevent" & "Re-
consideration".
• Jungian equivalent: Shadow
– Guardian: "... a teacher or helper who aids the Protagonist..." "Help" & "Conscience"
• Jungian equivalent: Wise Old Man or Wise Old Woman, also sometimes referred to collectively
as The Mentor
– Contagonist: "... hinders and deludes the Protagonist..." "Hinder" & "Temptation"
• Passenger Characters
– Reason: "... makes its decisions and takes action on the basis
of logic..." "Control" & "Logic"
– Emotion: "... responds with its feelings without thinking..."
"Uncontrolled" & "Feeling"
– Sidekick: "... unfailing in its loyalty and support." "Support"
& "Faith".
– Skeptic: "... doubts everything..." "Oppose" & "Disbelief"
• Jung's Trickster archetype often overlaps here, since its purpose is to
question and rebel against the established way of doing things
• Wikipedia
 Character as symbol
• In some readings, certain characters are
understood to represent a given quality or
abstraction. Rather than simply being people,
these characters stand for something larger.
• Characters have symbolized:
• Christ
• Capitalist greed
• The futility of fulfilling the American Dream
• Romanticism
• Feminism
• Wikipedia
 Character as Representative
• Another way of reading characters
symbolically is to understand each character
as a representative of a certain group of
people.
– Concern over stereotyping
• Stock characters
• The Media Awareness Network of Canada (MNet)
has prepared a number of statements about the
portrayals of American Indian and Alaskan Natives in
the media:
– “Westerns and documentaries have tended to portray
Natives as stereotypes: the wise elder, the aggressive
drunk, the Indian princess, the loyal sidekick. These images
have become ingrained in the consciousness of all North
Americans.”
• Native Americans have been stereotyped as nature
lovers who believe that all people must respect it.
• Hollywood's portrayal of the American West
essentially used Native tribes as a malignant
presence to be wiped out or reined in.
• Portrayals of Native characters as primitive, violent
and deceptive, or as passive and full of childlike
obedience, extended to TV, novels and comics.
– Media Awareness Network
 Characters as historical or
biographical references
• Sometimes characters obviously represent
important historical figures.
• Nazi-hunter Yakov Liebermann in The Boys from
Brazil by Ira Levin is often compared to real life
Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal
• Corrupted populist politician Willie Stark from All
the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren is often
compared to Louisiana governor Huey P. Long.
 Characters as patients
• Psychoanalytic criticism usually treats
characters as real people possessing complex
psyches. Psychoanalytic critics approach
literary characters as an analyst would treat a
patient, searching their dreams, past, and
behavior for explanations of their fictional
situations.
• Alternatively, some psychoanalytic critics read
characters as mirrors for the audience's
psychological fears and desires. Rather than
representing realistic psyches then, fictional
characters offer readers a way to act out
psychological dramas of their own in symbolic and
often hyperbolic form.
– Freud’s analysis of Oedipus
 Characters as words
• Some language- or text-oriented critics
emphasize that characters are nothing more
than certain conventional uses of words on a
page: names or even just pronouns repeated
throughout a text. They refer to characters as
functions of the text.
 Direct and Indirect Characterization

Direct Characterization Indirect Characterization

• A writer TELLS readers • Reveals the character’s
what a character is like. personality in various ways,
by SHOWING character
traits.
 Notes on Indirect Characterization
The writer shows a character’s personality:

• by what the character says

• in how the character looks (appearance)
• in the character’s thoughts and feelings
• by characters’ dialogue (between characters)
• in a character’s behavior.
Example of Direct Characterization
“Telling”
Which One? Indirect or Direct?

Telling or Showing….

see if you can guess…

Indirect or Direct
 Indirect or Direct Characterization?

A.“That Ed Johnson,” said Anderson, watching the old mechanic scratch

his head in confusion as the sales rep explained Dralco’s newest engine
performance diagnostic computer. “He hasn’t got a clue about modern
electronics. Give him a good set of tools and a stack of yellowing
manuals with a carburetor needing repair, and he’d be happy as a
hungry frog in a fly-field.”

B.Ed Johnson scratched his head in confusion as the sales rep

explained Dralco’s newest engine performance diagnostic computer. The
old mechanic hated modern electronics, preferring the old days when all
he needed was a stack of manuals and a good set of tools.
 Static and Dynamic Characters
Static Characters Dynamic Characters
• Do not change much in the • Change as a result of the
story. story’s events.
 Flat and Round Characters

• "Round" characters are • “Flat” characters are minor

characters that have a lot characters who do not
of depth and detail and tend to change or grow
their personalities can be very much.
easily described and • Flat characters are usually
pictured. supporting or minor
• Round characters are characters that just add
almost always main background and detail to
characters. the story.