Characterization

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Characterization

• IB English 11
• Brad Hutchinson

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Character Role

• Protagonist
• The protagonist is the main character.

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Character Role

• There are two main types of protagonists
• 1. Hero
• 2. Anti-hero

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Character Role

• Hero
• The hero is a character whose actions are
  noble/moral. Use this term for both male and
  female characters to avoid sexism. In the past,
  the word heroine was used for female heroes.

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Character Role

• Antihero
• An antihero is a protagonist who is
  negative--not noble or moral.

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Character Role

• Antagonist
• The antagonist is the person, idea or force that
  opposes the main desire of the protagonist.

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Character Role

• Secondary characters
• Secondary characters are characters not involved
  in the main conflict

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Character Role

• Foil
• A character who is a foil is a character who is
  opposite in major traits to another character .
  Foil is not a synonym for antagonist!

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Types of Characters

• Complex or round
• Complex characters are identified by more than
  one aspect. These characteristics can be (and
  often are) contradictory.

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Types of Characters

• Simple or flat
• Characters identified by a single
  characteristic.

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Types of Characters

• Caricature
• A caricature is an exaggerated image of a person
  (usually meant to be funny).

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Types of Characters

• Stereotype
• A stereotype is a socially acquired assumption
  based on a single character trait such as race,
  economic status, gender etcetera. In fiction, it
  is a character based on a single feature that
  implies other attributes due to the prejudices of
  the society

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Methods of Characterization

• Direct characterization
• The author tells us what we should think about a
  character.

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Methods of Characterization

• Physical Descriptions
• The way that the author describes the physical
  attributes of the character can tell us how the
  author wants us to view a character.

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Methods of Characterization

• Authorial commentary
• The author tells us what he or she wants us to
  think or believe about the character

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Methods of Characterization

• Other Characters Opinions and Actions
• We can learn about a character by how other
  characters react to him or her, by what other
  characters say about him or her, or by what other
  characters say or think about the character

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Methods of Characterization

• Thoughts
• The characters thoughts can tell us a great
  deal about the kind of person the character is.

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Methods of Characterization

• Dialogue
• What characters say to other characters can tell
  us a great deal about the character by comparing
  statements with others the character has said or
  thought.

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Methods of Characterization

• Actions
• What characters do allow us to make judgments
  about the type of people they are.

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Character Change

• Statica static character does not change over
  the course of a story

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Character Change

• Dynamica dynamic character changes during the
  course of the story.

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Character Change

• A character in a narrative can change in three
  ways
• 1. Changes in the eyes of the reader
• 2. Changes in the eyes of other characters
• 3. Changes in his or her own eyes

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Additional Terms

• Representational charactera character who
  represents a group (the middle class, the
  priesthood etcetera).

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Additional Terms

• Verisimilitudethe degree to which something is
  true to life

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Additional Terms

• Plausibilitythe degree to which something is
  likely to occur

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Additional Terms

• Direct characterizationauthor tells the audience
  what to think about a character

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Additional Terms

• Indirect characterizationauthor allows audience
  to decide for themselves about a character based
  on actions, thoughts, reactions, and reactions to
  the character by other characters

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Additional Terms

• Internal qualitythe information the audience
  gets about the interior life of a character, what
  a character thinks, subconscious behavior

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Additional Terms

• External behaviorwhat a character does or says

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Additional Terms

• Motivationthe reason that a character does or
  says something
• he or she may be conscious of his or her
  motivation or not aware of it.

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Additional Terms

• Archetypea plot or character element that recurs
  in cultural or cross-cultural myths such as "the
  quest" or "descent into the underworld" or
  "scapegoat."