Have you ever found yourself marveling at the effect one character has on a book’s storyline? What was it about that character that made them so impactful?
By conducting a character analysis, you can get fascinating insights into what makes some of literature’s most memorable characters tick, which will offer you a deeper understanding (and therefore greater appreciation) of the story. This exercise will also help you develop empathy, which is one of the most important benefits of reading and writing fiction.
In this post, we’ll walk you through the essential elements of a thorough character analysis, as well as tips and examples for writing your own.
In literature, a character analysis is when you assess a character to see what his or her role is in the bigger story. You take a deep look into their personality, traits, role in the story, and the conflicts they go through.
In analyzing, you need to think in a critical way by asking questions and considering different perspectives:
When analyzing a character, ask yourself: How does this character behave? What is his or her personality type? What are their motivations? How do they relate to the other characters in the story?
Most of the time, the author does not directly name these traits, but you can observe them in the scenes that unfold. For example, in Gone With the Wind, the author never calls Scarlett manipulative, but that’s the word that comes to mind as we read scene after scene of her scheming to get what she wants.
Some of the areas you need to look at when it comes to analyzing a character’s traits are:
Is the character a main, secondary, or minor player in the story? Obviously, main characters tend to be more complex and play a crucial role in the story. They might also undergo transformations throughout the story. On the other hand, minor characters might be not change as much since they’re not involved in as many scenes.
Is the character the protagonist or the antagonist in the story? The protagonist refers to the main character undergoing the main conflict, which is usually caused by the antagonist (which could be a person or nonhuman force).
A traditional way of telling the two types of characters apart is that the protagonist is the good guy and the antagonist is the bad guy, except that it’s not always as clear-cut as one being good and the other evil. They can be complex combinations of good and bad traits; so instead, think of the antagonist as the opposing force.
Examples of protagonists and antagonists are as follows:
As part of your character analysis, take a look at the conflict of the story. What is the main conflict? How do they respond? Do they grow stronger, lose control, form new relationships, sever other relationships, or discover new things about themselves?
Then, see how the conflict and all the events in the plot affect your protagonist, or the character you are analyzing. Does it cause them to grow, or do they retreat into themselves?
A quick way to find out how something affects your protagonist is to watch for verbal cues, like, “he suddenly realized…” or “finally, she knew that…” or “it was the first time he ever…”
Just like all most essays, a character analysis often has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion:
Here is an original example of a character analysis of Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell:
(Introduction)
Anyone who’s met Scarlett O’Hara will surely look twice and be drawn to her charm. But for some reason, she doesn’t live a happy domestic life. Is it because of her attitude? Is it because of difficult circumstances that happened in her life? Is it because of the choices she made? In this essay, we will find out why.
(Body)
Scarlett O’Hara is the main character in the book, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. She is the daughter of a rich landowner during the years before the Civil War. In her youth, she is the belle of all the parties, with the boys eating out of the palm of her hand. But when she’s jilted by her long-time crush, Ashley, she connives to make him jealous by going with another boy, whom she ends up marrying just before he leaves for the war.
When her husband dies, that impetuous decision leaves Scarlett a young widow with a baby boy, itching for her old life of parties and dances and fun. This causes all the neighbors to look at her with disdain, but she doesn’t care. She wants to enjoy life. That’s when she meets Rhett Butler, an enigmatic man who weaves in and out of her life. This shows us how selfish and manipulative she is, and as we read, we keep hoping that she will change.
When the Civil War breaks out, Scarlett volunteers at the hospital to tend wounded soldiers, all the while still pining for Ashley, who is now married to a girl named Melanie. It appears that she doesn’t really have her heart in the work, and was only forced into it because everyone else expected her to volunteer.
She and Melanie struggle through the effects of the war, coming back to her home only to find it in ruins. The experience causes her to swear never to be poor again, and she plots and finds a way to marry a rich man for his money. Once married, she goes into business despite her husband’s disapproval, and proves her wit and cunning for money-making, even at the expense of being hated by everyone. Again, we see her manipulative attitude and the way that she always gets what she wants even if it hurts other people.
Eventually, she marries Rhett Butler, who discovers her continuing infatuation with Ashley, but keeps on loving her. She keeps shunning him and longing for Ashley. After encountering a dying Melanie, she realizes that she doesn’t really love Ashley and has been shortchanging Rhett, coming home to him a changed woman—only to find that he has finally given up on her.
(Conclusion)
Scarlett O’Hara is a complex character, whose manipulative schemes get her into trouble again and again. It’s easy to sympathize with the troubles brought about by the Civil War, but also just as easy to hate her for her selfish decisions.
Writing a character analysis is a great way to take a deeper look into how a character acts in a story, and how their decisions move the plot forward.
By doing this analysis, we can also get insights into the decisions we make in our own lives and the consequences that come about because of these.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
