Character Analysis

Why is Character Analysis Important?

Authors use their characters to express meaning and convey messages to their audience. Daisy Buchanan’s (The Great Gatsby) ambivalence represents an upper class that has deadened itself to the humanity outside its sphere. Jo March’s (Little Women) carelessness with her wardrobe expresses her defiance of traditional femininity. Even Bertha Rochester, who is barely described as a character in Jane Eyre, is essential to Charlotte Brontë’s message about misogyny in her time.

When writing a character analysis, you must pay close attention to the things both stated and unstated about the character. Authors don’t always explicitly tell you what they want you (the reader) to know about the character—sometimes, the writer wants you to come to realize things about the character for yourself.

For example, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, Harry sacrifices himself to save his friends and win the battle against the evil Voldemort. J.K. Rowling never describes Harry as a martyr or tells the audience to admire his bravery—you should come to understand these character traits by reading about his actions.

Authors typically give direct descriptions of characters sparingly. They usually provide an explanation of the character at the beginning of a story or when a character is introduced. This gives the audience a clear sense of who the character is and what they look like physically.

Just because an author doesn’t devote a lot of time to explicitly describing a character doesn’t mean there aren’t things to learn about them throughout the story. A character analysis should include many details given directly from the author’s description—if one is given at all—as well as any relevant information revealed about the character in the story.

Here are some details to pay close attention to while analyzing a character:

1. Behavior – What does the character do? How do they act?

2. Motivation – What makes the character behave the way they do? What underlying details drive them to make certain decisions?

3. Personality – The things that make the character unique. This includes their perspective and any other distinguishing details and characteristics.

4. Relationships – Their habits with other characters. How do they interact with other characters? Does the character you’re analyzing play a specific role in any relationships?

5. What they say – What they say and how they say it can communicate important details about the character. Are they educated? Does what they say make sense, given what readers know about the character? Are they being forthcoming, or are they hiding anything?

Purpose of a Character Analysis

A character analysis aims to gain a deeper understanding of the piece of literature. Because you’ll have to investigate the story's details to gather information about the character, you’ll also get insight into the story and the author.

Sometimes it’s easy to read about a character and take their qualities at face value, not really appreciating all the nuances given to them by the author. For example, consider the title character Emma from Jane Austen’s Emma. It’s easy to read Emma as a selfish, entitled daughter of the aristocracy, but if you look closely at Emma’s character, her motivations to create love connections are more nuanced than they might initially seem.

A character analysis will help you understand the author’s intent for the particular character and the whole story. The point of a character analysis is not only to better understand the character, but also the mind that created the character (i.e., the author).

How to Write a Character Analysis

You may have to write a character analysis essay as a school assignment. If so, the first thing to do is to read the text. To conduct a rich character analysis, you need to know the context of the character, which means reading the entirety of the story.

While reading the story, take notes about any specific details that you think are important to discuss in the character analysis (refer to the list above for things to pay attention to). This will make it easier for you to remember the significant details of the character and their personality.

Different characters have different defining characteristics. Similarly, one character can have a variety of character traits.

Types of Characters

There are several types of characters found in literature, and each type has a few defining characteristics that may help you better understand a character.

Protagonist

This is the main character in the story. They must act for the story to move forward.

Antagonist

This character exists to create conflict for the protagonist, even just for a short time in the story. Similar to a villain, but not necessarily evil.

Major Character

This is a character who plays a significant role in the story. They may fall under one or more other character types.

Minor Character

This is a character who does not play a large role in the story.

Dynamic Character

A dynamic character transforms in some way(s) over the course of the story. The protagonist and antagonist tend to be dynamic characters.

Static Character

This is the opposite of a dynamic character; static characters stay mostly the same throughout the story. That is not to say they are boring or not worth analyzing; they simply do not evolve.

Stock Character

Stock characters could also be called stereotypes—this is a character that represents a type of person that is recognizable as belonging to a certain group.

Character Analysis Main Idea

The next step is to choose the main idea for character analysis.

The main idea of your character analysis will be whatever message you’d like to express about that character. That could be a comparison to another well-known character or a contrast between another character in the book. Your main idea could be a new perspective about the character; perhaps you see the hero as a true villain.

The main idea of your character analysis might go beyond the scope of that character to reveal some insight into ideas and themes that the author uses that specific character to communicate. Regardless of the message, you must be prepared to defend your character analysis with supporting evidence from the text.

Character Analysis Outline

An entire essay may be devoted to character analysis. In this case, your main idea will also serve as your thesis statement.

An outline for a character analysis essay could look like this:

OUTLINE

1. Introduction to the literary work and character, thesis statement

2. Body paragraphs

   • 1st body paragraph: description of physical appearance and background

   • 2nd body paragraph: discuss strengths and weaknesses as seen in the story

   • 3rd paragraph: conflicts involving the character, and their role in conflict resolution

3. Conclusion: summary of key points, including the thesis and final thoughts on the character

You could also discuss the character according to their characteristics and write your body paragraphs characteristic by characteristic—as seen in different scenes of the story.

Character Analysis Example

Here is an example of a character analysis essay outline. This essay will analyze the character Jem Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee.

OUTLINE

1. Introduction

   • Introduce the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

   • Brief description of plot synopsis

   • A short list of major characters (Atticus Finch, Scout Finch, and Jem Finch)

   • Thesis statement: Jeremy Finch, known to his friends and family as “Jem,” represents that difficult evolution every child must undergo, from naive and innocent to knowledgeable and worldly.

2. Body paragraph 1: Jem’s background and physical appearance

   • Jem is athletic and, like many other boys his age, loves football.

   • Jem is adventurous, but his definition of adventure is childish.

   • Jem is a good big brother. He protects Scout from things that are within his realm of influence (as a child).

3. Body paragraph 2: Jem’s strengths and weaknesses

   • Jem’s strengths are a lot of his father’s strengths.

     • Respectful - always defers to adults

     • Doesn’t back down - he exhibits bravery in their childish games.

     • Empathetic - he is empathetic toward people he understands.

   • Jem’s weakness is that he is naive and believes the best in people

     • Thinks people in his town are all friendly.

     • Doesn’t believe/ understand the implications of racism.

4. Body paragraph 3: Jem’s idea of bravery changes as he matures

   • Jem used to think that bravery meant doing something scary without flinching (like touching the side of Boo Radley’s house).

   • Jem learns about real-world bravery, as seen in the people around him

     • Atticus faces the mad dog.

     • Scout stands up to the mob.

     • Mrs. Dubose’s fight with addiction.

5. Conclusion:

   • Jem Finch is a young, confident, athletic boy.

   • He takes after his father in many ways, including his love and protection of Scout, but his empathy and bravery haven't been tested in the "real world."

   • He starts off with a childish belief in the goodness of people.

   • After seeing many examples of bravery around his hometown in the face of true hardship, Jem comes to understand what it means to have courage.

This character analysis will be effective because it will describe the character Jem according to how he is portrayed in the book. Each body paragraph supports the thesis by examining Jem's character in some way.

Even more importantly, the analysis will dig into some deeper themes of maturity and what it means to be brave. Harper Lee undoubtedly wanted the reader to consider these significant themes in the book.