Character in Fiction

Week #9

By

Erik Rusmana, S.S., M.Hum.

Character What or who is characters?

In order to have a story, there must

also be characters.

The arrangement of characters in

the story is called characterisation.

A character is any entity in the story

that has agency, that is, who is able

to act in the environments of the

story world

Characters are most often human

beings, but they can also be

nonhuman animals or other entities

who behave like humans

Characters
are important for narrative fiction can be seen from the fact

that the titles of many short stories and novels are taken from

the proper names of their main characters (protagonists)

eponymous characters

the intimate connections between characters and the other two

1
existents of the story, events and environments

Stories are not simply made of characters acting in an

environment.

2 All the existents of the story are equally indispensable to

the recreation of a convincing storyworld, just as they are

in our own lifeworld

Thus, characterisation, plot, and setting need to work

together in order to effectively sustain narrative

3
discourse and contribute to meaningful communication

between authors and readers.

 The Actants of
Narrative
At the level of narrative, characters may be seen as

figments of the author, who endows them with certain

features or qualities drawn from his imagination or

observations, which are then recreated by readers in

every reading.

At the level of discourse, however, we can see

characters as a construct of the text, a sort of ‘paper

people’ whose features are exclusively constituted by

the descriptions found in the text and the inferences

that can be made from textual cues.1 In this sense,

characters are incomplete creatures, mere actants with

no life beyond the text and no reason to exist other than

to fulfil their function in the plot.2

Harry Potter, for example, might appear as an almost

real individual for many readers, but at the level of

discourse he is simply the hero of an adventure story

whose ‘life’ does not extend beyond the events narrated

in the eponymous novels.

Characters in
the Storyworld
within the confines of the storyworld created by

narrative discourse, characters are generally agents

endowed with an identity, social and personal

relationships, feelings, desires and thoughts, just like

any of us in our own lifeworld.

As existents in the storyworld, all characters have in

principle the same importance.

narrative discourse, by arranging events,

environments, and characters into a plot, necessarily

establishes distinctions amongst the characters, just

as it does amongst the events and environments

Individuation

Whether characters are central to the story

or only play a secondary role, their

characterisation generally requires the

narrator to directly or indirectly ascribe to

them certain characteristics or properties

that identify them as individuals.

 In general, individuation involves three sets
of defining characteristics or traits
Physical: These are the
features of the body, such
as whether the character
is tall or short, slim or fat,
blue-eyed or brown-eyed,
fair or dark, male or
female, etc.
Behavioural: These are the features of
behaviour or habits, such as whether
the character is punctual or
unpunctual, shouts or whispers when
Mental: These are the features of
speaking, laughs easily or never
personality or psychology, such
laughs at all, drinks or avoids alcohol,
as whether the character is
etc. Sometimes it is difficult to
modest or arrogant, upbeat or
distinguish mental and behavioural
depressive, cruel or kind, dreamy
traits, as they tend to be intimately
or practical, etc
connected. Behavioural traits may be
include traits that are perceptual
related to any actions that
(e.g. powers of observation),
characters undertake, including
emotive (e.g. excitability),
communicating and interacting with
volitional (e.g. ambition), and
other characters.
cognitive (e.g. shrewdness).

 Characters based on their degree of

individuation:
Flat characters

a single characteristic

Round characters

endowed with many different

or trait
traits or characteristics, some
constructed around a
of which might even be

limited number of
contradictory and cause

traits or them internal or

characteristics psychological conflicts

tend to lack depth or With well-crafted

characterisation, round
complexity and are

characters can appear to be

easily recognizable
as complex and multifaceted
and remembered by
as any human being we might
the reader
encounter in our world
Minor or secondary

characters in fiction

tend to be flat

 typology which is based on a psychological-

realist conception
Static characters:

These characters do

Dynamic characters:

These characters undergo

not experience any
profound and significant
profound change or
changes as the story develops,

personal evolution
showing some degree of

from the moment they personal evolution or growth

appear in the plot which transforms them into

until they disappear. somewhat different

characters at the end of the

Most flat characters

plot.
are also static,
This evolution is not always
although these
positive or constructive, and
classifications are
the changes experienced by
based on different
the character may involve
variables
different forms of crisis,

physical or psychological

degradation, depression, and

other negative or destructive

changes

 Indirect characterization: The character is presented

Representing
by the narrator, who describes his or her physical, mental,
or behavioral characteristics. Character descriptions are
similar to environmental descriptions. They can be long

Characters
and detailed or short and cursory. And they often rely on
significant details that connect characters to the setting,
the plot, or even the reader

Direct characterization: The character is revealed through

his or her actions, words, looks, thoughts, or effects on other
characters. Here, the narrator simply records external or
internal events related to the character, including words and
thoughts, without undertaking a descriptive summary or
evaluation of the character’s traits. Direct characterization is,
therefore, a form of ‘showing’. It leaves the reader to interpret
the character based on the information provided in the
narrative.
 How to Represent
Actions: What characters do, their

behaviour, is perhaps the most

important method of direct

There are five methods of direct
characterisation. In general, actions
characterisation that are commonly used in
often involve some kind of physical

narrative: speech, thoughts, effects, actions, movement (e.g. gesturing, walking,

and looks. running, etc.), but they can also be

passive states (e.g. sleeping, sitting,

Speech: What characters say and how they say it is one
etc.), or even internal changes
of the most important components of direct
reflected in the face or body of the
characterisation. Verbal language is the fundamental
character (e.g. staring, frowning,
semiotic system that we humans employ to
etc.).
communicate meanings, emotions, intentions, and so on

Thoughts: Knowing what the characters think (or desire,

want, plan, etc.) can also help to define their

characteristics.

Looks: How a character looks or appears in the story

can also be a useful method of direct characterisation.

Appearance includes the physical traits of the

character’s face and body (e.g. eye colour, hair length,

Effects: How other characters are affected or react to a
height, skin complexion, etc.), but also their way of
character can be used to characterize, not just those
dressing or presenting themselves in front of others.
characters (using speech, thought, or action), but also

the character that causes the effect.

Dialogue
In the narrative, the representation of

communicative interaction using speech, or

dialogue, contributes both to the

development of the plot and to the

characterization of characters.

Regardless of the actual method used to represent

speech and conversation, there is little doubt that

dialogue and, in general, the representation of

different voices and perspectives, is a fundamental

principle of modern prose fiction.

The ‘dialogic principle’11 brings together voices from

a multiplicity of social and ideological worlds

(including the voices of the different characters, the

voices of narrators, and even voices external to the

story itself) in order to create a narrative that aspires

to be as rich and multifarious as life itself.