Franz. PERSONNAGE, English. CHARACTER, German. PERSON, FIGURE. According to narratology, a complex, multi-component phenomenon located at the intersection various aspects that communicative whole that is a work of art. Typically, a character has two functions: action and storytelling. Thus, he plays either the role of an actor or a narrator-narrator (narrator).
G. James designated a character in the role of a narrator as a “historian” or “subject”, and in the role of an actor as a “hero” or “object” (James: 1934). German-speaking theorists L. Spitzer (Spitzer: 196l), E. Lemmert (Lammert: 1955), F. K. Stanzel (Stanzel: 1955) distinguish between the “narrating I” (erzahlendes Ich) and the “experiencing”, “experiencing I” (eriebendes Ich). Accordingly, B. Romberg (Romberg: 1962) distinguishes between “narrating I” and “experiencing l”. In French In narratology, the terminology that goes back to Genette is generally accepted: “I-narrating” and “I-narrating” (je-narrant / je-narre).
In turn, the “I-narrator,” in accordance with the significance of the role it plays in history, can function in it as a protagonist (“autodiegetic narrator” in Genette, Genette: 1966-1972, v. 2, p. 253; “I as a protagonist” in N. Friedman, Friedman: 1955, pp. 126-127; and “narrator-main character” in Romberg, Romberg: 1962, pp. 58-61) - for example, Marianne in “The Life of Marianne” by Marivaux. , Pechorin is the author of that part of “A Hero of Our Time”, which is called “Pechorin’s Journal”.
This same “I-narrating” can also act as an actor - a character. of secondary importance, playing the role of a “witness” (“observer”, “witness” by Genette; “I as a witness” by N. Friedman; “narrator-minor character” by Romberg) - for example, Dr. Watson, talking about the exploits of Sherlock Holmes.
Excellent definition
CHARACTER
from lat. persona - mask, face) - artist. an image of a person performing actions in a certain situation. Unlike narrators and lyrical heroes in literature, as well as carriers of emotions captured in music and choreography, P., in addition to his experiences, is endowed with a certain appearance and behavioral traits. Images of animals, plants, and fantastic creatures similar to humans can also become a kind of P. Being an artistic method. mastering what is characteristic in a person, P. is of paramount importance in epic and dramatic birth literature, theater and cinema, sculpture, plot and portrait painting, graphics. In the composition of P. one can distinguish the spiritual core of the personality, ideological position, range of life interests, emotional world, volitional energy, forms of consciousness and behavior. P.'s traits have different degrees of definiteness: some of them are directly embodied in a visual image or direct verbal designation, while others are present in art. prod. indirectly, as an appeal to the imagination of viewers and readers, entering the perceiving consciousness in the form of optional associations, P. form the basis of the object-visual layer of art. production forms art and embody the author's concept of personality. In literature, theater, cinema, and narrative painting, they are correlated with each other, forming a kind of system, the edge of which is the center of the artist. construction, the most important aspect compositions. By importance and position in production. claims in place of P. are divided into Ch. and secondary ones, and in relation to drama and theater one can also distinguish off-stage P. (only mentioned during the action). The P. system is meaningful and embodies the idea of production. This understanding of speech is opposed to the characteristic of the formal school ideas about it as a neutral and passive “life material” and the motivation of compositional speech techniques. Constituting the most important link of art. structures, P. at the same time are able to live in the consciousness of the perceiving public and regardless of specific productions. art, being rethought anew in various cultural and historical situations; these are " eternal types"(Typical). At the archaic stages of the development of art, based on mythology, P. were “characterless” performers of actions. Later they became a means of assessing human characters, but for a long time they remained schematic, like masks; right up to classicism, the predominant narratives were unilinear and did not change during the course of the action (which is still inherent in satire). In realistic productions. XIX-XX centuries (especially in novels and similar genres) multifaceted and incomplete P. are recreated, revealing human individuality through internal motives of behavior, through understanding the “dialectics of the soul,” the study of the spiritual capabilities of a person that do not receive realization in his activity and destiny (Individualization) . P. often appears in realistic works. as a kind of partner of the author and artist. dialogue. In a number of modernist works. movements (Modernism), on the contrary, there is a leveling and even denial of P. (lit. “stream of consciousness”, theater of the absurd, fr. “ new novel”, where a kind of panorama of a single crisis state is recreated). P. are often created on the basis historical legend or traditional images (mythological, folklore, literary), which is most inherent in the pre-realistic stages of art. In the works of the romantics, P., being a mirror personal experience artists, were created with the active participation of fantasy and imagination (Artistic Fiction). In realistic art, the most important source of painting is observation of reality close to the artist and active reliance on prototypes of the depicted persons. As a synonym for the term "P." The phrase “character” is often used (in relation to literature, theater, cinema). There is a terminological tradition, according to which P. is only a minor figure in the work, while the central figures are designated as heroes of the artist. prod.
CHARACTER is a character (a person or a personified creature, sometimes a thing, a natural phenomenon) in epic and drama, a subject of consciousness and partly of action in character lyrics. They also talk about collective heroes. These include images “ Famusov society” in “Woe from Wit” by Griboyedov, “empty light” in the seventh chapter of Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, the image of the people in “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” N.A. Nekrasov, “Peter the Great” by A.N. Tolstoy, image Don Cossacks V " Quiet Don” M.A. Sholokhov, mothers of prisoners and generally writhing “innocent Rus'” in “Requiem” by A.A. Akhmatova, the image of the inhabitants of a degenerating village in the story of A.I. Solzhenitsyn “ Matrenin Dvor" But such collective heroes do not exist without individual characters (in lyrics, the generalized “we”, for example in Lermontov’s “Duma” or Akhmatova’s “Courage”, does not refer to characters in the proper sense of the word). However, according to another opinion, collective heroes exist only in crowd scenes, where individuals are minimally individualized and highlighted, the author limits himself to “reproducing exclamations, laughter, and general movement, identifying the features of folk or mass psychology,” as in A.N. Tolstoy in the scene of Kuhlman’s execution: mostly non-personified voices are heard there, literally for a moment the “big-lipped guy” appears and then disappears.
The characters in the work are main and secondary, cross-cutting (passing through the entire plot) and episodic. Sometimes their roles in the plot and content are far from the same (see: Composition). A lot is determined by the character system. In Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit”, even off-stage, non-acting, but only mentioned characters are important: Skalozub’s cousin, Princess Tugoukhovskaya’s nephew Prince Fyodor (like-minded people of Chatsky, who is alone in the plot action), a certain princess Marya Aleksevna, whose opinion Famusov himself is afraid of, etc. “Non-stage” characters also exist in epic. These are Raskolnikov’s deceased comrade and his father, whom, as the court learns, this killer “followed” and whom he “almost supported” when he was a student; these are the characters in numerous inserted stories (acting within their framework) in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus' ” (Kudeyar-ataman from the legend “About two great sinners”, emanating from the Solovetsky monk Father Pitirim, is an ideologically important figure along with the “main character” Grisha Dobroslonov, who appears only in the last part of the poem, “A feast for the whole world”) .
According to their characters and actions, characters are divided into positive and negative. In pre-realistic official literature they were usually sharply contrasted: the first were idealized, and black paint was not spared for the second. But there were and are sublime characters, far from the usual negative ones. Strong passions raised enormously above the “ordinary” level negative characters not only the erring Oedipus and Othello in the tragedies of Sophocles and Shakespeare, but even the usurper Macbeth and the prince of darkness and evil himself, whether he was called Satan, as in the poem of John Milton “ Lost heaven” (1667), or Woland, as in M.A. Bulgakov; in the same row are Lermontov’s Demon and Pechorin, who is not devoid of demonism. The character and sometimes the intentions of the hero are more important in the matter of “positivity” than the actions. And the not at all exalted, but clever and charming swindler Ostap Bender is the favorite hero of many readers, who in life do not sympathize with people of this kind.
The era of realism abandoned the clear opposition of positive and negative characters. N.V. Gogol (admittedly, decisively excommunicated from realism by the symbolists or V.V. Nabokov) directly calls Chichikov a scoundrel and yet does not deprive him of his attractive features. Soviet literary criticism worked in vain, trying to prove the pure negativity of either Oblomov, or Stolz, or both: they both good people and “complement” each other, need each other. Dostoevsky saw a particularly difficult task in creating an image completely wonderful person, but he subjected his beloved heroes to the most difficult tests: he made the humanist and champion of justice Raskolnikov an “ideological” murderer, Prince Myshkin, who resembles Christ, an idiot, Alyosha Karamazov was going to be put through the test of revolutionism and atheism. In the 20th century in Bulgakov, Margarita becomes a witch for the sake of her beloved, “the queen of the ball” for Satan; The master saved thanks to her, a rather weak, albeit extremely talented person, “did not deserve light, he deserved peace.” And yet Russian literature is rich in images of truly positive heroes. These are Chatsky and Tatyana Larina, Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova, some Chekhov intellectuals, a number of characters from the people of I.S. Turgeneva, N.A. Nekrasova, N.S. Leskova, Bulgakov's Turbines, Sholokhov's Grigory Melekhov (with all his throwing, even thanks to them) and Andrei Sokolov, Solzhenitsyn's righteous Matryona, Rasputin's old woman Daria, etc.
From point of view creative process characters can be divided into “real” (historical, images of contemporaries, directly autobiographical), fictional (having a prototype, but appearing under a different name, in other situations, etc., for example, Tolstoy’s Vasily Denisov) and fictional, perhaps having several prototypes (Dolokhov in “War and Peace”). The separation is not absolute. In pre-realistic literature, and often in Soviet literature, historical names characters were named who had very little in common with the people who bore these names. Characters of myths, legends, etc. at one time or another were not considered fictional. Among fictional characters There are fantastic ones, but fantasy has not always been perceived and is not perceived by everyone as fiction. The reliability of the story and the authenticity of the characters need not be emphasized in any way (“Matrenin’s Dvor” by Solzhenitsyn). In “Eugene Onegin” the author-character passes off the hero as his friend, real person, and the narrator - only for literary character. Romantic heroes are exceptional, and their fate is exceptional, not at all the author’s, but psychologically they are often very close to the author. Realists tried to objectively show characters that were not close to them: the merchant’s son I.A. Goncharov - the master Oblomov and his serf servant Zakhara, the liberal and artistic nature of Turgenev - the nihilist Bazarov, the ideological enemy of the Kirsanov brothers, who were close to the writer in age and convictions, Count L.N. Tolstoy - both aristocrats and peasants, commoner doctor Chekhov - representatives of the most different social strata, smart and stupid, good and evil, moreover, he tried to treat everyone with understanding. True, in the 20th century. maintaining such objectivity proved difficult. The refined intellectual Bulgakov did not love the proletariat just like the hero “ Heart of a Dog”Professor Preobrazhensky, and Sholokhov, who grew up among the Don Cossacks, disliked and underestimated the intelligentsia.
In early stage literature, action and, therefore, literally characters were in the foreground. In modern times, the emphasis shifts to characters.
character
character, wine pl. chew and live, m. (French personnage).
A character in a dramatic or literary work(lit.). Character in the play.
trans. Person, personality (ironic). Comic character.
Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.
character
A, m. A character in a literary work, in a performance, as well as a person as an object genre painting. Comic p. Ostrovsky's characters. Characters of the paintings. Surikov.
New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.
Character
(French personnage, from Latin persona ≈ personality, face), the protagonist of a play (performance), script (film), novel and other works of art.
Wikipedia
Character
Character(, from - personality, person) - a character in a play, movie, book, game, etc. Characters can be completely fictitious or taken from real life. Characters can be human, animal, supernatural, mythical, divine beings, or personified abstract entities. The process of presenting information about characters in fiction called a characteristic.
In the usual meaning, the same as a literary hero. Most often under character the actor is understood. But here, too, two interpretations differ:
- A person represented and characterized in action rather than in description; then the concept character Most of all correspond to the heroes of dramaturgy, the images-roles.
- Any actor, subject of action in general. In this interpretation, the character is opposed only to the “pure” subject of experience appearing in the lyrics, which is why the term character not applicable to the so-called “lyrical hero”: you cannot say “lyrical character”.
Under character sometimes only a minor person is understood. In this understanding the term character correlates with the narrowed meaning of the term hero- the central person or one of the central persons of the work. On this basis, the expression “episodic character” arose.
Character (film)
"Character" is a 2006 American tragicomedy film produced by Columbia Pictures, directed by Marc Forster. Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and Tony Hale.
The pre-premiere screening of the film took place on September 9, 2006 at the International Film Festival in the Canadian city of Toronto. The film was released in wide release in the United States on November 10. And in Russia the premiere took place almost six months later - on May 24, 2007. Will Ferrell for his role as Harold Crick in 2007 was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category "Best male role ».
Examples of the use of the word character in literature.
Viktor Abramov - still wearing glasses, not contact lenses, with the face of a typical smart guy, an excellent student, a hooligan, a classic character math school folklore.
Irrationality, human nostalgia and the absurdity generated by their meeting - these are three character a drama that must be followed from beginning to end with all the logic of which existence is capable.
For Grigoriev, the man and the artist, duality and duplicity were intertwined and multiplied: undoubtedly, his duality was real life, dual characters his stories, and because of their autobiographical basis, the author’s connections with his double heroes were dialectically dual.
Tao, Kundalini - concepts of eastern mysticism Agramant - character poems by L.
Thorough study of Georgian literature, monuments material culture, the architecture of ancient monasteries and castles, frescoes, ornaments and miniatures helped the writer to develop a clear idea of the spirit of the time, the material appearance of the era, and its people - characters of her future work: Having mastered all this material, in 1922, when the Antonovsky family moved permanently to Moscow, the writer began work on the novel.
When characters Aristophanes fight for peace, then they stand for have a fun life, because many holidays were canceled during wartime.
Thus, Zeus of the Arthurian cycle received the name Myrddin, and this character entered the Norman-French novels about Arthur under the more familiar name - Merlin.
Another character, found in the stories of the Arthurian cycle and occupying a very important place in the Celtic myths, is March ap Meirchion, whose pigs Arthur himself once tried to steal, just as Gwydion even earlier wanted to steal the pigs of Pryderi.
Nebuchadnezzar, Tiglath-pileser, Esarhaddon, Shenshok and others are now not only and not so much biblical characters, how many are real historical figures, and what the Bible reports about them is included in the total historical sources concerning these individuals.
With all the traditional obligatory theological orientation of auto as a specific genre, Calderon’s allegories are much deeper and more philosophical than his predecessors, and the most characters, displayed in them, are much more humane.
About fabulous characters, Bazhov always speaks jokingly about fairy-tale events, with a sly grin.
She laughed at recent sentiments, reproached herself for lack of will and extravagance, and set her favorite literary and historical heroes as examples. characters.
The only fictitious character- Pavel Berkov, although it is known that Bulgakov had several similar acquaintances who visited his house, whose names could be named.
In the legends of the northern tribes, living in the twilight of the dens, Where there are five names per village, and then more and more monosyllables, Where they don’t take off their skis and fur coats, they are proud of the heavy smell, They sing without opening their lips, and smear themselves with walrus fat, Where the day is short, like, where the crust is crunchy and the air is cruel, - There is an indispensable character, usually a teenage girl.
Finally everything characters from the fairy tale about Bitty Belina lay in nourishing baths.
Copyright Competition -K2
The word "hero" ("heros" - Greek) means a demigod or deified person.
Among the ancient Greeks, heroes were either half-breeds (one of the parents is a god, the other is a human), or outstanding men who became famous for their deeds, for example, military exploits or travel. But, in any case, the title of hero gave a person a lot of advantages. They worshiped him and composed poems and other songs in his honor. Gradually, the concept of “hero” migrated to literature, where it has stuck to this day.
Now, in our understanding, a hero can be either a “noble man” or a “worthless man” if he acts within the framework of a work of art.
The term “hero” is adjacent to the term “character”, and often these terms are perceived as synonyms.
Person in Ancient Rome they called the mask that the actor put on before the performance - tragic or comic.
A hero and a character are not the same thing.
A LITERARY HERO is an exponent of plot action that reveals the content of the work.
A CHARACTER is any character in a work.
The word “character” is characteristic in that it does not carry any additional meanings.
Take, for example, the term “actor.” It is immediately clear that it must act = perform actions, and then a whole bunch of heroes do not fit this definition. Starting from Papa Pippi Longstocking, the mythical sea captain, and ending with the people in “Boris Godunov”, who, as always, are “silent”.
The emotional and evaluative connotation of the term “hero” implies exclusively positive qualities = heroism\heroism. And then it will not fall under this definition yet more people. Well, how about, say, calling Chichikov or Gobsek a hero?
And so literary scholars are fighting with philologists - who should be called a “hero” and who a “character”?
Time will tell who will win. For now we will count in a simple way.
A hero is an important character for expressing the idea of a work. And the characters are everyone else.
A little later we'll talk about the character system in work of art, there will be talk about the main (heroes) and secondary (characters).
Now let's note a couple more definitions.
LYRICAL HERO
Concept lyrical hero was first formulated by Yu.N. Tynyanov in 1921 in relation to the work of A.A. Block.
Lyrical hero - the image of a hero in lyrical work, experiences, feelings, thoughts which reflect the author’s worldview.
The lyrical hero is not an autobiographical image of the author.
You cannot say “lyrical character” - only “lyrical hero”.
THE IMAGE OF A HERO is an artistic generalization of human properties, character traits in the individual appearance of the hero.
LITERARY TYPE is a generalized image of human individuality, most characteristic of a certain social environment at a certain time. It connects two sides - the individual (single) and the general.
Typical does not mean average. The type concentrates in itself everything that is most striking, characteristic of an entire group of people - social, national, age, etc. For example, the type of Turgenev girl or a lady of Balzac's age.
CHARACTER AND CHARACTER
IN modern literary criticism character is the unique individuality of a character, his inner appearance, that is, what distinguishes him from other people.
Character consists of diverse traits and qualities that are not combined by chance. Every character has a main, dominant trait.
Character can be simple or complex.
A simple character is distinguished by integrity and staticity. The hero is either positive or negative.
Simple characters are traditionally combined into pairs, most often based on the opposition “bad” - “good”. The contrast accentuates the merits of positive heroes and diminishes the merits of negative heroes. Example - Shvabrin and Grinev in “The Captain’s Daughter”
A complex character is the hero’s constant search for himself, the hero’s spiritual evolution, etc.
A complex character is very difficult to label as “positive” or “negative.” It contains inconsistency and paradox. Like Captain Zheglov, who almost sent poor Gruzdev to prison, but easily gave food cards to Sharapov’s neighbor.
STRUCTURE OF A LITERARY CHARACTER
Literary hero– a complex and multifaceted person. It has two appearances - external and internal.
To create the appearance of the hero they work:
PORTRAIT. This face, figure, distinctive features physique (for example, Quasimodo’s hump or Karenin’s ears).
CLOTHING, which can also reflect certain character traits of the hero.
SPEECH, the features of which characterize the hero no less than his appearance.
AGE, which determines the potential possibility of certain actions.
PROFESSION, which shows the degree of socialization of the hero, determines his position in society.
LIFE STORY. Information about the origin of the hero, his parents/relatives, the country and place where he lives, gives the hero sensually tangible realism and historical specificity.
The internal appearance of the hero consists of:
WORLDVIEW AND ETHICAL BELIEF, which provide the hero with value guidelines, give meaning to his existence.
THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES that outline the diverse life of the hero’s soul.
FAITH (or lack thereof), which determines the presence of the hero in the spiritual field, his attitude towards God and the Church.
STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS, which indicate the results of the interaction of the soul and spirit of the hero.
The hero can not only reason and love, but also be aware of emotions, analyze his own activities, that is, reflect. Artistic reflection allows the author to identify the hero’s personal self-esteem and characterize his attitude towards himself.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
So, a character is a fictional animate person with a certain character and unique external characteristics. The author must come up with this data and convincingly convey it to the reader.
If the author does not do this, the reader perceives the character as cardboard and is not included in his experiences.
Character development is a rather labor-intensive process and requires skill.
Most effective way- this is to write down on a separate sheet of paper all the personality traits of your character that you want to present to the reader. Straight to point.
The first point is the hero’s appearance (fat, thin, blond, brunette, etc.). The second point is age. The third is education and profession.
Be sure to answer (first of all, to yourself) the following questions:
- how does the character relate to other people? (sociable\closed, sensitive\callous, respectful\rude)
- How does the character feel about his work? (hardworking/lazy, creative/routine, responsible/irresponsible, proactive/passive)
- How does the character feel about himself? (has self-esteem, self-critical, proud, modest, arrogant, vain, arrogant, touchy, shy, selfish)
- how does the character feel about his things? (neat/sloppy, careful with things/careless)
The selection of questions is not random. The answers to them will give a FULL picture of the character's personality.
It is better to write down the answers and keep them before your eyes throughout the entire work on the work.
What will it give? Even if in the work you do not mention ALL QUALITIES of personality (for minor and episodic characters it is not rational to do this), then all the same, the author’s FULL understanding of his characters will be transmitted to the reader and will make their images three-dimensional.
ARTISTIC DETAIL plays a huge role in creating/revealing character images.
An artistic detail is a detail that the author has endowed with significant semantic and emotional load.
A bright detail replaces entire descriptive fragments, cuts off unnecessary details that obscure the essence of the matter.
An expressive, successfully found detail is evidence of the author’s skill.
I would especially like to note such a moment as CHOOSING A CHARACTER NAME.
According to Pavel Florensky, “names are the essence of categories of personal cognition.” Names are not just named, but actually declare the spiritual and physical essence of a person. They form special models of personal existence, which become common to each bearer of a certain name. Names are predetermined spiritual qualities, actions and even the fate of a person.
The existence of a character in a work of fiction begins with the choice of his name. It is very important what you name your hero.
Compare the options for the name Anna - Anna, Anka, Anka, Nyura, Nyurka, Nyusha, Nyushka, Nyusya, Nyuska.
Each of the options crystallizes certain personality qualities and provides the key to character.
Once you have decided on a character name, don’t change it (unnecessarily) as you go along, as this can confuse the reader’s perception.
If in life you tend to call your friends and acquaintances diminutively and disparagingly (Svetka, Mashulya, Lenusik, Dimon), control your passion in writing. In a work of art, the use of such names must be justified. Numerous Vovkas and Tankas look terrible.
CHARACTER SYSTEM
A literary hero is a clearly individual person and at the same time clearly collective, that is, he is generated by the social environment and interpersonal relationships.
It is unlikely that there will be only one hero in your work (although this has happened). In most cases, the character is at the intersection of three rays.
The first is friends, associates (good relations).
The second is enemies, ill-wishers (hostile relations).
Third - others strangers(neutral relationship)
These three rays (and the people in them) create a strict hierarchical structure or CHARACTER SYSTEM.
Characters are divided by the degree of author's attention (or frequency of depiction in a work), the purposes and functions that they perform.
Traditionally, there are main, secondary and episodic characters.
The MAIN CHARACTER(s) are always at the center of the work.
The main character actively masters and transforms artistic reality. His character (see above) predetermines events.
Axiom – main character must be bright, that is, its structure must be spelled out thoroughly, no spaces are allowed.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS are located, although next to the main character, but somewhat behind, in the background, so to speak, of the artistic depiction.
The characters and portraits of minor characters are rarely detailed, more often they appear dotted. These heroes help the main characters to open up and ensure the development of the action.
Axiom - a secondary character cannot be brighter than the main one.
Otherwise, he will pull the blanket over himself. An example from a related area. Film "Seventeen Moments of Spring". Remember the girl who pestered Stirlitz in one of the last episodes? (“They say about us mathematicians that we are terrible crackers.... But in love I am Einstein...”).
In the first edition of the film, the episode with her was much longer. Actress Inna Ulyanova was so good that she stole all the attention and distorted the scene. Let me remind you that there Stirlitz was supposed to receive important encryption from the center. However, no one remembered about the encryption; everyone reveled in the bright clownery of an EPISODIC (completely passable) character. Ulyanov, of course, is sorry, but director Lioznova made the absolutely right decision and cut out this scene. An example to think about, though!
EPISODIC HEROES are on the periphery of the world of the work. They may have no character at all, acting as passive executors of the author's will. Their functions are purely official.
POSITIVE and NEGATIVE HEROES usually divide the system of characters in a work into two warring factions (“red” - “white”, “ours” - “fascists”).
The theory of dividing characters according to ARCHETYPES is interesting.
An archetype is a primary idea expressed in symbols and images and underlying everything.
That is, each character in the work should serve as a symbol of something.
According to the classics, there are seven archetypes in literature.
So, the main character could be:
- The protagonist – the one who “accelerates the action”, the real Hero.
- An antagonist - completely opposite to the Hero. I mean, a Villain.
- Guardian, Sage, Mentor and Assistant - those who assist the Protagonist
Minor characters are:
- A bosom friend – symbolizes support and faith in the Main Character.
- Skeptic - questions everything that happens
- Reasonable - makes decisions based solely on logic.
- Emotional – reacts only with emotions.
For example, Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.
The main character is undoubtedly Harry Potter himself. He is opposed by the Villain - Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore=The Sage appears periodically.
And Harry's friends are the reasonable Hermione and the emotional Ron.
In conclusion, I would like to talk about the number of characters.
When there are many of them, this is bad, since they will begin to duplicate each other (there are only seven archetypes!). Competition among the characters will cause discoordination in the minds of the readers.
The most reasonable thing is to stupidly check your heroes by archetypes.
For example, in your novel there are three old women. The first is cheerful, the second is smart, and the third is just a lonely grandmother from the first floor. Ask yourself – what do they represent? And you will understand that a lonely old woman is superfluous. Her phrases (if there are any) can easily be conveyed to the second or first (old ladies). This way you will get rid of unnecessary verbal noise and concentrate on the idea.
After all, “The idea is the tyrant of the work” (c) Egri.
© Copyright: Copyright Competition -K2, 2013
Certificate of publication No. 213010300586
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Who is a literary character? We devote our article to this issue. In it we will tell you where this name came from, what literary characters and images are, and how to describe them in literature lessons according to your desire or the teacher’s request.
Also from our article you will learn what an “eternal” image is and what images are called eternal.
Literary hero or character. Who is this?
We often hear the concept of “literary character”. But few can explain what we are talking about. And even schoolchildren who have recently returned from a literature lesson often find it difficult to answer the question. What is this mysterious word “character”?
It came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). The meaning is “personality”, “person”, “person”.
So, a literary character is an active person. We are mainly talking about prose genres, since images in poetry are usually called “lyrical hero”.
Without characters It is impossible to write a story or a poem, a novel or a story. Otherwise, it will be a meaningless collection of, if not words, then perhaps events. The heroes are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, Andersen's steadfast tin soldier, historical figures and even entire nations.
Classification of literary heroes
They can confuse any literature connoisseur with their quantity. And it’s especially hard for secondary school students. And especially because they prefer to play their favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify heroes if a teacher or, even worse, an examiner demands it?
The most win-win option: classify the characters according to their importance in the work. According to this criterion, literary heroes are divided into main and secondary. Without the main character, the work and its plot will be a collection of words. But if we lose minor characters, we will lose a certain branch storyline or expressiveness of events. But overall the work will not suffer.
The second classification option is more limited and is not suitable for all works, but for fairy tales and fantasy genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, poor Cinderella herself - positive hero, she evokes pleasant emotions, you sympathize with her. But the sisters and the evil stepmother are clearly heroes of a completely different type.
Characteristics. How to write?
Heroes of literary works sometimes (especially in a literature lesson at school) need a detailed description. But how to write it? The option “once upon a time there was such a hero. He is from a fairy tale about this and that” is clearly not suitable if the assessment is important. We will share with you a win-win option writing characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.
- Introduction. Name the work and the character you will talk about. Here you can add why you want to describe it.
- The place of the hero in the story (novel, story, etc.). Here you can write whether he is major or minor, positive or negative, a person or a mythical or historical figure.
- Appearance. It would not be amiss to include quotes, which will show you as an attentive reader, and will also add volume to your description.
- Character. Everything is clear here.
- Actions and their characteristics in your opinion.
- Conclusions.
That's all. Keep this plan for yourself, and it will come in handy more than once.
Famous literary characters
Although the very concept of a literary hero may seem completely unfamiliar to you, if you tell you the name of the hero, you will most likely remember a lot. Especially it concerns famous characters literature, for example, such as Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, Assol or Cinderella, Alice or Pippi Longstocking.
Such heroes are called famous literary characters. These names are familiar to children and adults from many countries and even continents. Not knowing them is a sign of narrow-mindedness and lack of education. Therefore, if you don’t have time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell you about these characters.
The concept of image in literature
Along with character, you can often hear the concept of “image”. What is this? Same as the hero or not? The answer will be both positive and negative, because a literary character may well be literary way, but the image itself does not have to be a character.
We often call this or that hero an image, but nature can appear in the same image in a work. And then the topic of the examination paper can be “the image of nature in the story...”. What to do in this case? The answer is in the question itself: if we are talking about nature, you need to characterize its place in the work. Start with a description, add character elements, for example, “the sky was gloomy,” “the sun was mercilessly hot,” “the night was frightening with its darkness,” and the characterization is ready. Well, if you need a description of the hero’s image, then how to write it, see the plan and tips above.
What are the images?
Our next question. Here we will highlight several classifications. Above we looked at one - images of heroes, that is, people/animals/mythical creatures and images of nature, images of peoples and states.
Also, images can be so-called “eternal”. What's happened " eternal image"? This concept names a hero who was once created by an author or folklore. But he was so “characteristic” and special that after years and eras other authors write their characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but that doesn’t matter the essence changing. Such heroes include the fighter Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan and many others.
Unfortunately, modern fantastic characters they don’t become eternal, despite the love of the fans. Why? What's better than this funny Don Quixote of Spider-Man, for example? It's difficult to explain this in a nutshell. Only reading the book will give you the answer.
The concept of "closeness" of the hero, or My favorite character
Sometimes the hero of a work or movie becomes so close and loved that we try to imitate him, to be like him. This happens for a reason, and it’s not for nothing that the choice falls on this character. Often a favorite hero becomes an image that somehow resembles ourselves. Perhaps the similarity is in character, or in the experiences of both the hero and you. Or this character is in a situation similar to yours, and you understand and sympathize with him. In any case, it's not bad. The main thing is that you only imitate worthy heroes. And there are plenty of them in the literature. We wish you to meet only with good heroes and only imitate positive traits their character.