CHARACTERISATION:

Characters are the motor of the action. The fictional representations of real people. They
cannot be separated either from the other characters or from the universe which surrounds
them.
A. Names:
One of the first things about characters is their names. Names could anticipate some of
the traits that become evident in the course of the story through direct or indirect
characterisation.
B. Types of characterisation:

1. Direct characterisation: description, portrait (eg. Dorothea in Middlemarch, Emma

Woodhouse in Jane Austen's Emma).

2. Indirect characterisation: through actions, other characters´ opinions (eg. What

Maisie Knew, portrait of the mother), dialogues (eg. Sally Bowles in Goodbye to
Berlin), symbols, emblems (things that belong to the character and are associated
with him, eg. "Rosebud", the sledge, in Citizen Kane) pathetic fallacy (eg. Nature in
Tess of the D´Urbervilles 19th century novel, ), etc. Synecdoche (a type of
metonymy) also plays an important part in portraiture (clothes, face, hands...).
C. Typology of characters
Several classifications:
1. Static vs dynamic: those which don´t vary much in the course of the story vs
changeable characters.
2. Primary (protagonist) and secondary characters
3. EM Forster´s round vs flat characters: complex and unpredictable vs those built
around just one quality (eg. Roman comedy, Moliere, etc).
4. Active vs passive.
5. Roles (division according to A.J.Greimas's and Vladimir Propp's literary theories):
protagonist: whose actions are motivated by desire, need or fear. He/she could be a
hero/heroine (larger than life, godlike) or an antihero/antiheroine (flawed, ordinary and
representative of the average person)
antagonist: brings about the conflict and the obstacles (Eg. the uncle in "Araby"). The
antagonist could be the villain of the story if he/she is wicked or acts deliberately
against the other characters (Eg. Malificent in Sleeping Beauty, the stepmother in
Cinderella, the Witch in many fairy tales)
object: What the protagonist lacks or is attracted by (eg. Mangan´s sister in "Araby",
Daisy in The Great Gatsby).
helper: an assistant to one or more of the other characters (eg. the fairy godmother in
Cinderella)
In some novels some of the functions could be fulfilled by elements other than characters
(such as nature as antagonist to the protagonist in 19th Century novels)
D. Presentation of characters:
1. By the first person narrator: either self-presentation or presentation of another
character.
2. By the 3rd person narrator.