Character and Characterization

All stories need certain necessary elements. Without these elements, literary works often fail to make sense. 

For instance, one of the essential elements of every story is a plot with a series of events. 

Another important element is a character. A character can be any person, a figure, an inanimate object, or animal. 

There are different types of characters, and each serves its unique function in a story or a piece of literature.

Types of Character

There are many types of the characters which include:

Confidante

A confidante is someone in whom the main character confides. He reveals the central character’s thoughts, intentions, and personality traits. However, a confidante need not necessarily be a person. An animal can also be a confidante. 

Like a round character, a dynamic character also undergoes changes throughout the narrative, due to conflicts he encounters on his journey. 

Dynamic character

A dynamic character faces trials and tribulations, and takes time to learn from his encounters, his experiences, and his mistakes, as well as from other characters. 

Sometimes a character learns a lesson, and gains maturity, such as Prince Hal in Shakespeare’s Henry IV.

Some characters discover mistakes in their points of view, and others discover important aspects of their own personalities, such as Neville Longbottom did in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 

All of these changes make a character dynamic, but they are implied changes, not stated outright.

Static Character

A static character is one that does not undergo inner changes, or undergoes a little change. 

It is a character that does not develop or grow, such as Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.

In fact, this character does not develop the inner understanding to know how his environment is affecting him, or he does not understand that his actions have positive or negative impacts on others. 

The personality of this character remains the same at the end of the story as it appeared in the beginning. 

All his actions stay true and unchanged to his personality in-between the scenes.

Antagonist

In literature, an antagonist is a character, or a group of characters, which stands in opposition to the Protagonist, which is the main character. 

The term “antagonist” comes from the Greek word antagonistēs, which means “opponent,” “competitor,” or “rival.”

It is common to refer to an antagonist as a villain (the bad guy), against whom a Hero (the good guy) fights in order to save himself or others.  

In some cases, an antagonist may exist within the protagonist that causes an inner conflict or a moral conflict inside his mind. 

This inner conflict is a major theme of many literary works, such as Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, and A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce. 

Generally, an antagonist appears as a foil to the main character, embodying qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of the main character.

Protagonist

A protagonist is the central character or leading figure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story. 

A protagonist is sometimes a “hero” to the audience or readers. 

The word originally came from the Greek language, and in Greek drama it refers to the person who led the chorus. 

Later on, the word started being used as a term for the first actor in order of performance.

Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello could be identified as the protagonist of the novel because he played a central role in all the controversies of the play. 

The question here would be that, even though he was a central character, was he really the lead character too? This type of indistinctness generally results in completely different interpretations of whether the said character is a protagonist or not.

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.

• Round characters are major characters in a story, who encounter contradictory situations, and undergo transformation during this phase. Therefore, these characters do not remain the same throughout the narrative, making their traits difficult to identify from beginning until the end.
• These characters are more realistic, their personalities somewhat inconsistent.
• They are fully developed and show complex traits, like real people.
• Round characters are also known as “main characters,” or “major characters,” because they are suitable to surprise the readers in a very convincing manner.
• Major characters must be round characters to be believable.

Flat Character

A flat character is a type of character in fiction that does not change too much from the start of the narrative to its end. Flat characters are often said not to have any emotional depth.

E. M. Foster has discussed some features of flat characters in his book, Aspects of the Novel. 

According to Foster, a flat character is a simple character, shown by the author as having just one or two qualities, which generally remain the same throughout the story, not undergoing significant growth or changes. 

The audience does not know much about these characters, because the writer does not provide detailed information about them.

• The role of flat characters is to support the main character.
• They do not go through a substantial growth or transformation in the course of the narrative.
• They have recognizable characteristics that make them appear stereotypical.
• They are often referred to as one- or two-dimensional characters, usually having one perspective or point of view about life, things, or events.

Stock character

A stock character is a flat character that is instantly recognizable by readers. Like a flat character, the stock character does not undergo any development throughout the story.

Difference between Dynamic and Round Character

Though dynamic and round characters both undergo character development, there is a slight difference between them. 

The traits of a dynamic character are not described outright. Rather, his traits are referred to as they change over time. 

On the other hand, a round character’s traits are complex, and described by the author. Round characters are dynamic as well, such as Hamlet.

Difference Between Static and Flat Characters

Static characters should not be confused or mixed up with flat, one-dimensional characters. 

Though neither changes as the story progresses, if a character remains unchanged, it does not mean that he is one-dimensional like a flat character. 

A static character can be perfectly interesting, like Sherlock Holmes, who is completely ingenious, eccentric, and sometimes jerky. He never changes, but the audience still loves him. 

Thus, a static character could be the protagonist too, and a flat character, on the other hand, only plays a side role in the story.

Characterization

Characterization is a literary device that is used step-by-step in literature to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story. 

It is in the initial stage in which the writer introduces the character with noticeable emergence. 

After introducing the character, the writer often talks about his behavior; then, as the story progresses, the thought-processes of the character.

The next stage involves the character expressing his opinions and ideas, and getting into conversations with the rest of the characters. 

The final part shows how others in the story respond to the character’s personality.

Characterization as a literary tool was coined in the mid 15th century. 

Aristotle in his Poetics argued that “tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life.” Thus the assertion of the dominance of plot over characters, termed “plot-driven narrative,” is unmistakable. 

This point of view was later abandoned by many because, in the 19th century, the dominance of character over plot became clear through petty bourgeois novels.

Direct Versus Indirect Characterization

Direct characterization, also known as explicit characterization, consists of the author telling the audience what a character is like. A narrator may give this information, or a character in the story may do it. Examples of direct characterization would be:

• “Bill was short and fat, and his bald spot was widening with every passing year.”
• “‘Jane is a cruel person,’ she said.’”
• “I looked in the mirror and saw how dark the circles under my green eyes had become.”

Indirect characterization, on the other hand, consists of the author showing the audience what kind of person a character is through the character’s thoughts, words, and deeds. This requires the audience to make inferences about why a character would say or do those things. This type of characterization is also known as implicit characterization. While it takes more time to develop a character through indirect characterization, it often leaves a deeper impression on the reader than direct statements about what a character is like. Here are examples of indirect characterization:

• “Bill sighed as he looked at the offer of a gym membership. He really should join. But just thinking about it made beads of sweat collect at the top of his bald spot.”
• “As Jane walked past the box labeled ‘Free Puppies,’ she furtively glanced around her, then gave the box a swift kick.”
• “I yawned, trying to keep my eyes open in the meeting. I reached for my coffee cup and was disappointed to realize it was empty.”

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