Narrative, character and setting

What is characterisation?

The representation of characters in narrative and dramatic works. It may use direct methods, such as describing a character's qualities, or indirect methods, where readers infer qualities from actions, dialogue or appearance.

What is the difference between direct and indirect characterisation?

Direct (explicit) characterisation tells the audience what a character is like. Indirect (implicit) characterisation makes the audience infer what a character is like from thoughts, actions, speech, appearance, mannerisms and interactions.

Name three indirect methods an author can use to reveal character.

Any three of: thoughts, actions, speech (choice of words and manner of speaking), physical appearance, mannerisms, and interaction with other characters (including others' reactions to them).

What is a protagonist?

The main character of a story, whose experiences and actions the narrative usually centres on.

What is an antagonist?

A character who opposes the protagonist, creating conflict in the story.

What is a character arc?

The way a character changes over the course of a story in response to their experiences.

What is a flat character?

A character who sticks to a single archetype without deviating, and so may seem simple or undeveloped.

What is a complex or realistic character?

A character who combines several archetypes, with some more dominant than others, much as real people do.

What is a first-person narrator?

A narrator who tells the story from their own point of view, using 'I' or 'we'.

What is a third-person narrator?

A narrator who tells the story from outside the events, referring to characters as 'he', 'she' or 'they'.

What is a limited third-person narrator?

A third-person narrator who reveals only one character's thoughts and feelings, so the reader knows no more than that character does.

What is an omniscient narrator?

A third-person narrator who knows everything, including the thoughts and feelings of all characters.

What is setting?

The time and place in which a story happens. It helps create atmosphere and can shape characters and events.

How does setting create atmosphere?

Details of place, time and weather build a mood or feeling that influences how the reader responds to the story and its characters.

What are the main elements of prose fiction?

Plot, character, setting, theme and point of view.

What is point of view in fiction?

The perspective from which a story is told, such as first-person or third-person (limited or omniscient).

What is plot?

The sequence of events that make up a story, showing how one event leads to another.

What is theme?

The central idea or message explored in a story, such as love, courage or loss.

What did Aristotle argue about plot and character?

He promoted the primacy of plot over characters, arguing in Poetics that tragedy is a representation of action and life, not of men.

When was the primacy of character affirmed, and by what?

In the 19th century, first with the realist novel and increasingly later with the development of psychology.

How do characters in drama differ from characters in novels?

Actors interpret the writer's description and dialogue in their own way, adding new layers. Drama cannot go inside a character's head, and characters can be seen and heard rather than described.

What are Carl Jung's twelve archetypes?

The Innocent, the Orphan, the Hero, the Caregiver, the Explorer, the Rebel, the Lover, the Creator, the Jester, the Sage, the Magician and the Ruler.

Why are Jung's archetypes considered problematic by some?

Their use can be reductive and unhelpful for writers, simplifying character complexity into clichéd tropes.

How are characters in the Hebrew Bible depicted?

As fully developed individuals with character arcs; figures like Jacob or David change drastically across their lives in response to experience.

What is a character-driven narrative?

A story in which the characters and their development are the primary focus, rather than the plot.