Characterization

Characterization

Characterization i s the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. Characterization is revealed through direct characterization and indirect characterization.

Direct Characterization tells the audience what the personality of the character is.

Example: “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”

Explanation: The author is directly telling the audience the personality of these two children. The boy is “patient” and the girl is “quiet.”

Indirect Characterization shows things that reveal the personality of a character.

There are five different methods of indirect characterization:

Speech What does the character say? How does the character speak?

Thoughts What is revealed through the character’s private thought s and feelings?

Effect on others toward the character.

What is revealed through the character’s effect on other people?

How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to the character?

Actions What does the character do? How does the character behave?

Looks What does the character look like? How does the character dress?

TIP #1: Use the mnemonic device of S T E A L t o remember the five types of indirect characterization

TIP #2: Use indirect characterization to analyze visual media: Film: Look at how t he character dresses and moves. Note the facial expressions when the director moves in for a close-up shot. Drama: Pay attention to the way that the characters reveal their thoughts during a soliloquy.

Thinking Like a Writer

Use direct characterization for key character details

When introducing characters for the first time particularly, use direct characterization to give readers essential details. It’s easier to remember simply states facts, e.g. ‘She was a kind woman.’ Consider, for example, our first introduction to the character named ‘Mother’s Younger Brother’ (we’ll abbreviate ‘MYB’) in E.L. Doctorow’s classic novel Ragtime (1975):

‘Down at the bottom of the hill Mother’s Younger Brother boarded the streetcar and rode to the end of the line. He was a lonely, withdrawn young man with blond moustaches, and was thought to be having difficulty finding himself.’ (p. 4)

Doctorow uses direct characterization to show MYB’s melancholic nature. As we read on, we learn MYB is in love with a famous chorus girl, Evelyn Nesbit. Doctorow passes into indirect characterization, describing the posters of Evelyn on the wall in MYB’s bedroom and his stalking of her to illustrate the extent of his obsessive nature.

This movement – from simple, direct characterization to broader character details given indirectly – creates a sense of character development. The direct characterization – MYB’s loneliness – is also relevant to his broader arc. Because he eventually has a brief (but unsatisfying fling) with Evelyn.

Definition of Round Character

A round character in a novel, play, or story is a complex personality. Like real people, they have depth in feelings and passions. For instance, in the movie “Shrek,” the main character says “‘Ogres are like onions,” which means that, what appears to them is not the only truth. Rather, there is something more inside them. Similarly, a round character has many layers of personality. Writers define a round character fully, both physically and mentally. It is the character with whom the audience can sympathize, associate with, or relate to, as he seems a character they might have seen in their real lives.

Dynamic vs. Static Characters

Characters experience varying amounts of change over the course of a story. Two types of characters are

•Static characters that do not experience basic character changes during the course of the story.

•Dynamic characters that experience changes throughout the plot of a story. Although the change may be sudden, it is expected based on the story’s events. A story’s characters fall within a range—from very static characters that experience no change to very dynamic characters that undergo one or more major changes