The Character

Character

• I. What is Character?

A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story. Writers use characters to perform the actions and speak dialogue, moving the story along a plot line. A story can have only one character (protagonist) and still be a complete story. This character’s conflict may be an inner one (within him/herself), or a conflict with something natural, such as climbing a mountain. Most stories have multiple characters interacting, with one of them as the antagonist, causing a conflict for the protagonist.

II. Examples of Character

A popular television series that just ended is the show “Glee.” Each season had popular characters who had to learn to work together to create a good musical production. Various characters underwent a change, making them a dynamic character, such as Noah Puckerman. He appears to carry out the stereotype of a jock (strong but not so smart), but his character changes as it’s revealed that he can be hard working and intelligent.

A movie that features one character throughout most of it is “Castaway” with Tom Hanks. His character is on board a shipping plane when it crashes. He’s the only survivor, trapped on an island for four years. This movie focuses on his psychological (mental) and physical condition as he slowly adapts to a life of isolation, living alone on an island that is off all regular sea and airplane routes. It’s a great example of how a story can work with only one character, although many minor characters appear in the beginning and end.

III. Types of Character

a. Major characters

These are the most important characters in the story. There are two types, of which there may be a couple for each.

• Protagonist – This is the main character, around which the whole story revolves. The decisions made by this character will be affected by a conflict from within, or externally through another character, nature, technology, society, or the fates/God.
• Antagonist – This character, or group of characters, causes the conflict for the protagonist. However, the antagonist could be the protagonist, who is torn by a problem within. Most times, something external is causing the problem. A group of people causing the conflict would be considered society, perhaps the members of a team, community, or institution. Additionally, the antagonist could be a part of nature, such as an animal, the weather, a mountain or lake. A different kind of antagonist would be an item such as a pen, car, phone, carpet, etc. These are all considered technology, since they are instruments or tools to complete a job. Finally, if the conflict comes from something out of the character’s control, the antagonist is fate or God.

b. Minor characters

These are the other characters in a story. They are not as important as the major characters, but still play a large part in the story. Their actions help drive the story forward. They may impact the decisions the protagonist or antagonist make, either helping or interfering with the conflict.

Characters can have different traits. Major characters will usually be more dynamic, changing and growing through the story while minor characters may be more static.

• Foil – A foil is a character that has opposite character traits from another, meant to help highlight or bring out another’s positive or negative side. Many times, the antagonist is the foil for the protagonist.
• Static – Characters who are static do not change throughout the story. Their use may simply be to create or relieve tension, or they were not meant to change. A major character can remain static through the whole story.
• Dynamic – Dynamic characters change throughout the story. They may learn a lesson, become bad, or change in complex ways.
• Flat – A flat character has one or two main traits, usually only all positive or negative. They are the opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its use in the story.
• Round – These are the opposite of the flat character. These characters have many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting.
• Stock – These are the stereotypical characters, such as the boy genius, ambitious career person, faithful sidekick, mad scientist, etc.

 Types of Characters in Fiction

"What does characterization do for a story? In a nutshell, it allows us to empathize with the protagonist and secondary characters, and thus feel that what is happening to these people in the story is vicariously happening to us; and it also gives us a sense of verisimilitude, or the semblance of living reality. An important part of characterization is dialogue, for it is both spoken and inward dialogue that afford us the opportunity to see into the characters' hearts and examine their motivations. In the best of stories, it is actually characterization that moves the story along, because a compelling character in a difficult situation creates his or her own plot."

Karen Bernardo, Characterization in Literature
In fictional literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell their stories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles in the narrative process, and with a little bit of analysis, you can usually detect some or all of the types below.

• Major or central characters are vital to the development and resolution of the conflict. In other words, the plot and resolution of conflict revolves around these characters.
• Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and help move the plot events forward.
• Dynamic - A dynamic character is a person who changes over time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic characters tend to be central rather than peripheral characters, because resolving the conflict is the major role of central characters.
• Static - A static character is someone who does not change over time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve.
• Round - A rounded character is anyone who has a complex personality; he or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person.
• Flat - A flat character is the opposite of a round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of personality trait or characteristic.
• Stock - Stock characters are those types of characters who have become conventional or stereotypical through repeated use in particular types of stories. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to readers or audience members (e.g. the femme fatale, the cynical but moral private eye, the mad scientist, the geeky boy with glasses, and the faithful sidekick). Stock characters are normally one-dimensional flatcharacters, but sometimes stock personalities are deeply conflicted, rounded characters (e.g. the "Hamlet" type).
• Protagonist - The protagonist is the central person in a story, and is often referred to as the story's main character. He or she (or they) is faced with a conflict that must be resolved. The protagonist may not always be admirable (e.g. an anti-hero); nevertheless s/he must command involvement on the part of the reader, or better yet, empathy.
• Antagonist - The antagonist is the character(s) (or situation) that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, the antagonist is an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome.
• Anti-Hero - A major character, usually the protagonist, who lacks conventional nobility of mind, and who struggles for values not deemed universally admirable. Duddy, in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a classic anti-hero. He's vulgar, manipulative and self-centered. Nevertheless, Duddy is the center of the story, and we are drawn to the challenges he must overcome and the goals he seeks to achieve.
• Foil - A foil is any character (usually the antagonist or an important supporting character) whose personal qualities contrast with another character (usually the protagonist). By providing this contrast, we get to know more about the other character.
• Symbolic - A symbolic character is any major or minor character whose very existence represents some major idea or aspect of society. For example, in Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a symbol of both the rationality and physical weakness of modern civilization; Jack, on the other hand, symbolizes the violent tendencies (the Id) that William Golding believes is within human nature.
  
  
• Direct presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the speaker or narrator directly says or thinks about a character. In other words, in a direct characterization, the reader is told what the character is like. When Dickens describes Scrooge like this: "I present him to you: Ebenezer Scrooge....the most tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" - this is very direct characterization!
• Indirect presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the character says or does. The reader then infers what the character is all about. This mimics how we understand people in the real world, since we can't "get inside their heads". In other words, in an indirect characterization, it's the reader who is obliged to figure out what the character is like. And sometimes the reader will get it wrong.

Setting

Definition of Setting

Setting is an environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place. It may provide particular information about placement and timing, such as New York, America, in the year 1820. Setting could be simply descriptive, like a lonely cottage on a mountain. Social conditions, historical time, geographical locations, weather, immediate surroundings, and timing are all different aspects of setting.

There are three major components to setting: social environment, place, and time. Moreover, setting could be an actual region, or a city made larger than life, as James Joyce characterizes Dublin in Ulysses. Or, it could be a work of the author’s imagination, such as Vladimir Nabokov’s imaginative place, space-time continuum in Ada.

Types of Setting

There are two main types of setting:

Backdrop Setting

Backdrop setting emerges when it is not important for a story, and it could happen in any setting. For instance, A. A. Milne’s story Winnie-the-Pooh could take place in any type of setting.

Integral Setting

It is when the place and time influences the theme, character, and action of a story. This type of setting controls the characters. By confining a certain character to a particular setting, the writer defines the character. Beatrix Potter’s short story The Tail of Peter Rabbit is an example of integral setting, in which the behavior of Peter becomes an integral part of the setting. Another good example of this type of setting can be seen in E. B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web.

Examples of Setting in Literature

Example #1: Wuthering Heights (By Emily Bronte)

In Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, its setting plays a vital role, as it reflects the mood of major characters and their actions, while contributing to its overall atmosphere. The novel has three main settings:

1. The Moors
2. Wuthering Heights
3. Thrushcross Grange

The Moors symbolize wilderness and freedom, as nobody owns them, and everyone can freely move about anytime. Wuthering Heights depicts weather around this house, which is stormy and gloomy. The characters are cruel and extremely passionate. Thrushcross Grange, on the other hand, is contrary to Wuthering Heights because its weather is calm, while its inhabitants are dull and weak.

Example #2: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (By Christopher Marlowe)

Christopher Marlowe’s poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is set in the countryside in the springtime. The springtime has a double purpose, as it refers to baby animals and budding flowers, and the fifth month of the year. Then the month of May sets the scene as well as emphasizes fertility and new life linked with springtime. Thus, the poet has idealized the image of rural life in the background of his personal emotions, while time is stationary in the poem.

Example #3: Heart of Darkness (By Joseph Conrad)

In Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, the leading character Marlow goes to different places and settings that influence his imagination, which adds to the themes of the story. The title, Heart of Darkness, refers to the center of the jungle on the African continent, where Marlowe travels to find Kurtz. The darkness not only applies to the shadowy jungle, but also to the behavior and actions of the civilized people it affects, and they become savage like Kurtz. The setting is also symbolic of imperialistic forces that have made black men their slaves.

Example #4: Lord of the Flies (By William Golding)

In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, weather plays a very important role, as it represents mood, behavior, and attitudes of young boys throughout the storyline. During the day, the beach looks bright, while the ocean is calm, and there is no conflict. The author describes the dense areas of the jungle as scary and dark. One night, when Simon is killed, there comes a violent storm, and the ocean looks very rough in the black night. Thus, its setting includes weather conditions, and the ocean representing dark forces of nature present in human nature.

Function of Setting

The function of setting in a fictional, poetic, and prose work is of great importance. It has immense effect on plots and characters, as it could act as an antagonist, post a conflict that characters need to resolve, or shed light upon characters. It can also present symbolic persons, objects, place, action, or situations. Setting can establish the mood or atmosphere of a scene or story, and develop the plot into a more realistic form, resulting in more convincing characters. By establishing mood, setting also helps the audience relate themselves to the characters in a story.

Epilogue

What Is an Epilogue?

An epilogue is the final chapter of a book, where the author finally gets to discuss the fate of the characters. In some works, the epilogue is the same as the denouement. It can also be a place where the narrator provides commentary about his or her central theme.

In suspense, horror, and dystopic genres, the epilogue may indicate that all is not as great as it seems. The monster is not really dead; the problem has only been deferred to a later time. The expanded version of Stephen King’s novel, The Stand, contains a good example of this sort of epilogue. Even though the survivors of the Free Zone have managed to kill off the evil Flagg’s followers, Flagg himself has been transported to an island where he begins to work his evil magic again. Films use this kind of unresolved epilogue to foreshadow a sequel.

Examples of Epilogue

1. In Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaiden’s Tale, the epilogue takes the form of papers given at a future academic conference, detailing the period of time when the United States was controlled by extreme right wing religious fanatics. The academics even make jokes about the handmaidens, in the same way we minimize past historical events. It is a very effective epilogue, because it makes the dystopic quality of the novel seem more real.

2. At the end of Orwell’s Animal Farm, the epilogue looks back on the early years of the rebellion at Manor Farm and notices that the pigs have become indistinguishable from men.

3. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the cue to the epilogue is Jane’s confession, "Reader, I married him." This statement satisfies both the reader’s own desire for a happy ending and the theme of the plot, which is that true love communicates across time and space and knows no boundaries.

4. In the original film version of Stephen King’s novel, Carrie, the epilogue takes the form of a nightmare where Carrie’s hand reaches out from the grave to seize the popular girl who felt the most remorse over her mistreatment. This dream suggests that teenage bullying will continue to haunt the characters long after Carrie herself is dead.

5. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the character Prospero addresses the audience directly in the epilogue, telling them that his powers are gone and that only their applause can now determine his fate.

Prologue

Prologue

Prologue, a preface or introduction to a literary work. In a dramatic work, the term describes a speech, often in verse, addressed to the audience by one or more of the actors at the opening of a play.

The ancient Greek prologos was of wider significance than the modern prologue, effectually taking the place of an explanatory first act. A character, often a deity, appeared on the empty stage to explain events prior to the action of the drama, which consisted mainly of a catastrophe. On the Latin stage, the prologue was generally more elaborately written, as in the case of Plautus’s Rudens.

In England, medieval mystery plays and miracle plays began with a homily. In the 16th century, Thomas Sackville used a dumb show (pantomime) as a prologue to the first English tragedy, Gorboduc; William Shakespeare began Henry IV, Part 2 with the character of Rumour to set the scene, and Henry V began with a chorus. The Plautine prologue was revived by Molière in France during the 17th century.

While the use of prologues (along with epilogues) waned in the English theatre after the Restoration period, they persisted in various forms across the world’s theatres and were used effectively in such 20th-century plays as Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie and Jean Anouilh’s Antigone.

PROLOGUE

Definition of Prologue

A prologue is a separate introductory section that comes before the main body of a poem, novel, or play, and gives some sense as to what’s to come. There are many different ways in which the prologue may do this, such as presenting the main characters and setting in a straightforward way, explaining some background event or events, or give a sense of the theme or atmosphere of the upcoming work.

The definition of prologue is opposite to that of the epilogue, a separate section of the text that provides a conclusion and answers questions. The word prologue comes from the Greek word πρόλογος (prólogos), which is a compound of pro, “before” and lógos, “word.”

Difference Between Prologue, Preface, and Foreword

The sections of the prologue, preface, and foreword all come before the main body of the text, but have slightly different functions. A foreword is written by someone other than the author in order to introduce the reading audience to the text, often from a scholarly perspective. If a book had all three of the three sections, this one would come first. The preface would then come next, which is an introduction from the author that explains how the text came into being, and to whom the author would like to give gratitude.

The prologue differs from these two other forms of introduction because it is written in the same voice as the rest of the text; indeed, it is a literary addition to the text. The prologue usually occurs in a different time, and sometimes a different place, than the rest of the text, but it does contain some sense of background plot.

Common Examples of Prologue

Sometimes we provide a short prologue before launching into a story. For example:

• “I was hanging out with Sandy and Jim the other night. You know Sandy, the one who once ran a major New York magazine but declared bankruptcy after publishing scandalous photos of Leonardo DiCaprio? So anyway…”
• “I visited my aunt’s cabin last weekend. It’s the same cabin that Billy the Kid once spent a winter, and it doesn’t look or feel like much has changed there since then.”
• “I’m worried about going camping next month. Did I ever tell you about the time I went camping in the mountains of Romania and thought I saw a vampire pass by my tent?”

We also use the term “prologue” to refer to real events. For example, we might talk abut the economic crisis in Germany that was a prologue to WWII.

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Significance of Prologue in Literature

Prologue examples were prevalent in Ancient Greek theater, often explaining an episode which directly led into the main events of the play about to come. The prologue in these cases provided important, pertinent information that playgoers would need to understand and contextualize the main events of the drama. Plays in the Middle Ages and in Elizabethan England drew on this tradition of prologues, and often included a short introduction presented by a character or chorus. We can find examples of prologues in many different novels, plays, and poems to this day. However, some writers caution away beginning novelists from including prologues because they do not often grip the reader as much as beginning in media res, i.e., in the middle of the action.

Examples of Prologue in Literature

Example #1

Here begins the Book
of the Tales of Canterbury
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-
Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.

(The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Geoffrey Chaucer included a very long “general prologue” to his famous work The Canterbury Tales. In this prologue Chaucer introduces us to the theme of people going on pilgrimage, and introduces the various people he will be going on pilgrimage with. These people end up occupying different chapters in the rest of the text.

Example #2

PROLOGUE

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

(Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)

Perhaps the most famous of all literary prologues, William Shakespeare wrote a lovely sonnet to introduce the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. This prologue, a poem in itself, sets the scene in a very straightforward manner telling the audience the setting, protagonists, theme, and even what will happen at the end.

Example #3

As a case history, “Lolita” will become, no doubt, a classic in psychiatric circles. As a work of art, it transcends its expiatory aspects; and still more important to us than scientific significance and literary worth, is the ethical impact the book should have on the serious reader; for in this poignant personal study there lurks a general lesson; the wayward child, the egotistic mother, the panting maniac—these are not only vivid characters in a unique story: they warn us of dangerous trends; they point out potent evils. “Lolita” should make all of us—parents, social workers, educators—apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.
John Ray, Jr., Ph.D.
Widworth, Mass

(Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)

Vladimir Nabokov loved to play with conventions in his very unconventional works of literature. He creates a fake foreword for his novel Lolita by an imaginary scholar named John Ray, Jr. In this prologue, Nabokov pretends that someone else has encountered the text and is now introducing it to the reader. In so doing, Nabokov provides a clever way of introducing his text and also the theme of the untrustworthy narrator.

Example #4

Parties to that settlement, including the distinguished scientific board of advisers, signed a nondisclosure agreement, and none will speak about what happened-but many of the principal figures in the “InGen incident” are not signatories, and were willing to discuss the remarkable events leading up to those final two days in August 1989 on a remote island off the west coast of Costa Rica.

(Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton)

Michael Crichton uses two prologue examples in his best-selling novel Jurassic Park. First comes a prologue, excerpted above, which seems very straightforward in style that presents the technological advances of the time period. This prologue reads almost like a news clipping, and yet sets up Crichton’s own authorial view on the possible dangers of scientific innovation. The second prologue is more literary in nature, describing a short scene in which someone has been bitten by a dinosaur, not knowing what this creature is.

Parallelism

Definition of Parallelism

Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter. Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well as in ordinary conversations.

This method adds balance and rhythm to sentences, giving ideas a smoother flow and thus persuasiveness, because of the repetition it employs. For example, “Alice ran into the room, into the garden, and into our hearts.” We see the repetition of a phrase that not only gives the sentence a balance, but rhythm and flow as well. This repetition can also occur in similarly structured clauses, such as, “Whenever you need me, wherever you need me, I will be there for you.”

Common Examples of Parallelism

1. Like father, like son.
2. Easy come, easy go.
3. Whether in class, at work, or at home, Shasta was always busy.
4. Flying is fast, comfortable, and safe.

Short Examples of Parallelism in Speech

1. They got together, conversed, and dispersed, but to no avail.
2. He came, he saw, and he conquered.
3. He wanted to have a new house to live in, and a new car to drive.
4. The applicant was approached through telephone, email, and snail mail.
5. Their new teacher was neither a Catholic, nor an Anglican.
6. His favorite foods are chocolate, chips, and soft drinks.
7. The new airline claims to be fast, efficient, and safe.
8. James liked fast food, while Mary liked conventional food.
9. The boss said, “You need to work hard and be efficient to get a promotion.”
10. The political leader said, “The present government has ruined the economy; it has ruined the education system; and it has ruined the health system of our country.”
11. Shakespeare was a prolific playwright and an excellent sonneteer.
12. The culprit was wanted dead or alive.
13. He preferred fruits to sweets.
14. The book was interesting as well as adventurous.
15. For success in life, one needs to pursue his goal with determination and perseverance.

Examples of Parallelism in Literature

In literature, parallelism is used in different ways to impress upon the readers certain messages or moral lessons. Let us analyze a few examples of parallelism in literature:

Example #1: An Essay on Criticism (By Alexander Pope)

Antithesis is a kind of parallelism in which two opposite ideas are put together in parallel structures. Alexander Pope, in his An Essay on Criticism, uses antithetic parallel structure:

“To err is human; to forgive divine.”

Imperfection is a human trait, and God is most forgiving. Through these antithetical but parallel structures, the poet wants to say that God is forgiving because his creation is erring.

Example #2: Community (By John Donne)

“Good we must love, and must hate ill,
For ill is ill, and good good still;
But there are things indifferent,
Which we may neither hate, nor love,
But one, and then another prove,
As we shall find our fancy bent.”

Contrasting ideas of “good” and “ill,” “love” and “hate,” are placed together in parallel structures to emphasize the fact that we love good because it is always good, and we hate bad because it is always bad.

Example #3: A Tale of Two Cities (By Charles Dickens)

We see the repetition of parallel structures in the following lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

By repeating “It was…” in the passage, the readers are prompted to focus on the traits of the “age” they will read about in the succeeding passages.

Example #4: The Tyger (By William Blake)

“What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”

Blake uses parallel structures, starting with “what” in each phrase, creating a beautiful rhythm in the above lines.

Example #5: Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 2 (By William Shakespeare)

Parallelism takes form of “Diazeugma,” in which a single subject is connected with multiple verbs. Read the following lines from the speech of Norfolk in William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 2:

“My lord, we have
Stood here observing him: Some strange commotion
Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then, lays his finger on his temple; straight,
Springs out into fast gait; then, stops again,
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
We have seen him set himself.”

The use of multiple verbs in the above lines creates a dramatic effect in the speech of Norfolk, which makes his description vivid.

Example #6: I have a Dream speech (By Martin Luther King Jr.)

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

“I have a dream today.”

This is a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in which he repeats the phrase, “I have a dream” several times. This phrase later became the title of the speech. This is a good example of parallelism.

Example #7: How do I Love Thee (By Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.”

These two verses from the poem of Elizabeth Barrett Browning have been made parallel by the repetition of “I love thee.”

Example #8: Presidential Inauguration Speech (By Barack Obama)

“My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.”

In this speech, U.S. President Barack Obama uses structural parallelism in the bold phrases, giving his speech beauty.

Function of Parallelism

The use of parallel structures in speech or writing allows speakers and writers to maintain a consistency within their work, and create a balanced flow of ideas. Moreover, it can be employed as a tool for persuasion.

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