characterization in essay

Writing a Character Analysis Essay | Step-by-Step Guide

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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I’m also going to give you a ton of examples.

This post is split into four parts for easy navigation:

• What is a Character Analysis Essay?
• What is the best Format to Use?
• 11 Character Analysis Example Ideas
• Template, Checklist and Outline for Your own Piece

In this post, I’m going to explain to you clearly and in a step-by-step way how to conduct a character analysis.

1. What is a Character Analysis Essay?

Let’s get you started with some really simple details about what a character analysis is:

• A Quick Definition: A character analysis essay zooms-in on a character in a book, movie or even real life. It provides what we sometimes call a ‘sketch’ of a character.
• The Purpose of a Character Analysis: The purpose of a character analysis is to reveal interesting details about the character that might contain a broader moral message about the human condition. For example, Atticus Finch is not just a lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird. Rather, he provides us with a moral message about the importance of doing what you believe is right even though you know you will likely fail.

2. What is the best Character Analysis Essay Format?

Character analysis essays do not have just one format.

However, let me offer some advice that might act as a character analysis essay outline or ‘checklist’ of possible things you could discuss:

1. Start with the Simple Details.

You can start a character analysis by providing a simple, clear description of who your character is. Look at some basic identity traits such as:

• Race (if relevant)
• Social class (if relevant)
• Protagonist or Antagonist? A protagonist is the character who is our central character in the plot; the antagonist is often the protagonist’s opponent or challenger.
• Major or minor character?

2. What are the character’s distinctive personality features?

Your character might have some really clearly identifiable character traits. It’s best to highlight in your character analysis the exact traits that this character possesses. Some common character traits include:

I recommend you take a moment to write down what you think the top 3 to 5 words are that you’d use to explain your character’s personality traits. These will be important to discuss throughout your character analysis.

Sometimes a character may start out with some personality traits, but change over the course of the text. This is quite common; and one clear example of this is Lady Macbeth she deteriorates from a cutthroat power player to a guilt ridden shell of a person roaming the halls of the castle. This dramatic character change is something that makes her very interesting, and is worthy of discussion!

3. What are the character’s key relationships?

Does your character have a close relationship with a certain person in the storyline?

You might want to discuss the character’s relationships as a part of your character analysis. These relationships may reveal some key personality traits of your character.

For example, in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Horatio is the loyal offsider to Hamlet. Through his actions in staying by Hamlet through thick and thin, we learn that he is a deeply loyal character.

Examining the character’s relationships with their friends and foes therefore is very useful for digging deeper into who this character actually is, and what personality traits they have when they are put to the test within the narrative.

4. What are the character’s motivations?

Another thing you might want to examine are the character’s motivations . What do they desire most in the world? Some common motivations for characters in stories are:

• A simple life
• To serve others

This list really could be endless, but I hope the above examples give you a bit of an idea of the sorts of traits to look out for. By mentioning and examining the motivations of the character, we will come closer and closer to learning exactly what moral message this character might be able to tell us.

5. What are the character’s key conflicts?

Stories tend to have a beginning, a complication, and a resolution.

The complication involves conflicts and challenges that need to be overcome. For Edmund in Narnia, it’s cowardice. For Romeo and Juliet, it’s the conflict between love and family loyalty. Here’s some other common conflicts for characters:

• Whether to stay loyal to a friend;
• To overcome obstacles to love;
• To seek a way out of a challenging situation;
• To escape war or poverty;
• To persevere through imprisonment;
• To overcome personal fear

Again, this list is endless.

Knowing the character’s core conflict gets us even closer to knowing the moral that the character is trying to teach us.

For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the challenge of Romeo and Juliet being together despite their families’ objections teaches us something. Personally, I believe it teaches us the importance of letting go of old grudges in order to let love bloom.

This moral lesson was taught to us through conflict: namely, the conflict that Romeo and Juliet were right in the center of.

6. What are the character’s epiphanies?

Sometimes a character has an epiphany. This often happens towards the end of the story and helps the character overcome the challenge or conflict that we discussed in the point above.

Here’s an example of an epiphany:

• In the Lion King, Simba runs away from his tribe to live in exile. After a chance encounter with his childhood friend Nala, he has an epiphany that he has a duty to his tribe. This leads him back home to fight Scar and return freedom to Pride Rock.

Not all characters have an epiphany. But, if they do, I strongly encourage you to write about it in your character analysis.

7. Examine the moral message the character teaches us.

Finally, conclude by examining the moral message behind the character. Nearly every character has something to teach the reader. Authors put a lot of thought into creating complex characters with whom we can relate. We relate to the character and say “wow, they taught me a lesson about something!”

The lesson might be something like:

• Money doesn’t buy happiness;
• Loyalty to family comes above all else;
• Love gives life meaning;
• Honesty is always the best policy

This is the core of your character analysis essay. If you can pick out exactly what moral message the character teaches you, you’ll be well on your way to writing a strong character analysis.

Below I’m going to give you some examples to help you out. I know it can be hard to really get your head around a character, so sometimes the best thing is to look at some samples!

3. Here’s 13 Example Character Analysis Essay Ideas.

Most times when we create a character analysis, we’re exploring the deeper moral stories / aspects of humanity. Here’s some example ideas. I’ve tried to outline in less than a paragraph exactly what your key point will be about each character:

• Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird: A character who teaches us a lesson about standing up for what’s right, even if you know you’re likely to lose.
• Huckleberry Finn from Huckleberry Finn: A character who reveals our inner desire for freedom from the elements of society that constrain us.
• Dudley from Harry Potter: A character whose personality tells us a cautionary tale of the perils of middle-class narcissism, parents’ desire to wrap their children in cotton wool, and the lack of discipline we perceive in contemporary childhoods.
• Jack from Lord of the Flies: A character who represents the innate desire for power that seems to lurk not too far from the surface of the human condition. When social structures are stripped away, he quickly reverts to violence and superstition to assert control over his peers.
• Lady Macbeth from Macbeth: Lady Macbeth teaches us a valuable lesson about the perils of contravening our own morality. She starts out a cutthroat killer but is increasingly consumed by the guilt of her own actions. While we may be able to escape full punishment from outside forces, it is the inner guilt that might eat us away to our last.
• The Boy who Cried Wolf: The boy who cried wolf is a character whose fatal flaw is his desire for attention and adulation. His repeated attempts at gaining the attention of others leads the townspeople to no longer take him seriously, which causes him harm when he actually needs the villagers to take him seriously to save his life. He teaches us the virtue of honest and humility.
• Nick Carraway from the Great Gatsby: Nick shows us all the inner conflict between the trappings of wealth, glamor and spectacle; and the desire for simplicity, honesty and community. He is drawn by the dazzling world of East Egg, New York, but by the end of the novel sees live in East Egg as shallow and lacking the moral depth of his former life in small town Minnesota.
• Alice from Alice in Wonderland: In many ways, Alice represents the child within all of us. She is a character of goodwill to all and who looks upon the world (or, rather, Wonderland) with awe. Travelling with a cadre of flawed characters, she learns with them the importance of seeking strength from within.
• The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet: Like many Shakespearian characters, the nurse’s role is both as loyal confidante to a central character and comic relief. Shakespeare uses minor characters to regale his crowd and sustain viewer interest between scenes.
• Lucy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy represents a surprising character whose youthfulness and small stature make her an underrated character by all around her. Nonetheless, she possesses within the bravery and loyalty necessary to carry out the quest for Aslan. Lucy represents the goodness in children and, by extension, all of mankind.
• Anne in Anne of Green Gables: Anne occupies the typical literary role of young girls in many classical novels: she represents innocence and wonder, and her contraventions of rules are seen through a prism of childhood innocence. This frames Anne not as a deviant but as a precious soul.
• Simba from The Lion King: Simba’s story follows his struggle with growing up, embracing his destiny and duty to his family, or fleeing towards freedom and a ‘no worries’ lifestyle. Simba flees Pride Rock and goes through an existential crisis with his existentialist friends Timon and Pumba. When he runs into an old childhood friend, he realizes how shallow his new carefree life has become and reflects upon his obligation to his community back home.
• Woody from Toy Story: Woody starts out Andy’s favorite toy, but when Andy gets a new flashier toy, Woody’s status amongst the toys falls apart. Woody’s key character challenge is to learn to be humble and inclusive living within the group. By the end of the movie, Woody realizes his duty to love and serve Andy is more important than his own status within the group.

4. Here’s an Example Template for your own Character Analysis Essay

Feel free to use this brainstorming template to get you started with your character analysis essay. I recommend filling out as many of these key points as you can, but remember sometimes you might have to skip some of these points if they’re not relevant to your character.

Once you’ve brainstormed the ideas in Table 1, follow the character analysis essay outline in Table 2 to stay on track for your character analysis essay. Do remember though that each assignment will be different and you should adjust it based on your teacher’s requirements.

Here’s Table 1, which is a brainstorming template for your character analysis essay:

And here’s Table 2, which is an example character analysis essay outline. This is for a 1500 word character analysis essay. Change the word count according to how long your essay should be:

Read Also: 39 Better Ways to Write ‘In Conclusion’ in an Essay

Character analyses can be really tough. You need to know your character really well. You might even need to re-read (or watch) your book or movie a few times over to get to know the character really well.

I recommend when you re-read or re-watch the text before you write your character analysis, have the checklist I provided above handy and take notes. Then, use the essay outline I provided above to put all of those notes together into a clear and thorough final character analysis essay.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
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How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

A character analysis essay is a challenging type of essay students usually write for literature or English courses. In this article, we will explain the definition of character analysis and how to approach it. We will also touch on how to analyze characters and guide you through writing character analysis essays.

Typically, this kind of writing requires students to describe the character in the story's context. This can be fulfilled by analyzing the relationship between the character in question and other personas. Although, sometimes, giving your personal opinion and analysis of a specific character is also appropriate.

Let's explain the specifics of how to do a character analysis by getting straight to defining what is a character analysis. Our term paper writers will have you covered with a thorough guide!

What Is a Character Analysis Essay?

The character analysis definition explains the in-depth personality traits and analyzes characteristics of a certain hero. Mostly, the characters are from literature, but sometimes other art forms, such as cinematography. In a character analysis essay, your main job is to tell the reader who the character is and what role they play in the story. Therefore, despite your personal opinion and preferences, it is really important to use your critical thinking skills and be objective toward the character you are analyzing. A character analysis essay usually involves the character's relationship with others, their behavior, manner of speaking, how they look, and many other characteristics.

Although it's not a section about your job experience or education on a resume, sometimes it is appropriate to give your personal opinion and analysis of a particular character.

What Is the Purpose of a Character Analysis Essay

More than fulfilling a requirement, this type of essay mainly helps the reader understand the character and their world. One of the essential purposes of a character analysis essay is to look at the anatomy of a character in the story and dissect who they are. We must be able to study how the character was shaped and then learn from their life. 

A good example of a character for a character analysis essay is Daisy Buchanan from 'The Great Gatsby.' The essay starts off by explaining who Daisy is and how she relates to the main character, Jay Gatsby. Depending on your audience, you need to decide how much of the plot should be included. If the entire class writes an essay on Daisy Buchanan, it is logical to assume everyone has read the book. Although, if you know for certain that your audience has little to no knowledge of who she is, it is crucial to include as much background information as possible. 

After that, you must explain the character through certain situations involving her and what she said or did. Make sure to explain to the reader why you included certain episodes and how they have showcased the character. Finally, summarize everything by clearly stating the character's purpose and role in the story. 

We also highly recommend reading how to write a hook for an essay .

Still Need Help with Your Character Analysis Essay?

Different types of characters.

To make it clear how a reader learns about a character in the story, you should note that several characters are based on their behaviors, traits, and roles within a story. We have gathered some of them, along with vivid examples from famous literature and cinema pieces:

Types of Characters

• Major : These are the main characters; they run the story. Regularly, there are only one or two major characters. Major characters are usually of two types: the protagonist – the good guy, and the antagonist: the bad guy or the villain. 
• Protagonist (s) (heroes): The main character around whom most of the plot revolves. 

For example, Othello from Shakespeare's play, Frodo from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and Elizabeth Bennet from 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen.

• Antagonist (s): This is the person that is in opposition to the protagonist. This is usually the villain, but it could also be a natural power, set of circumstances, majestic being, etc. 

For example, Darth Vader from the Star Wars series by George Lucas, King Joffrey from Game of Thrones, or the Wicked Queen from 'Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.'

• Minor : These characters help tell the major character's tale by letting them interact and reveal their personalities, situations, and/or stories. They are commonly static (unchanging). The minor characters in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien would be the whole Fellowship of the ring. In their own way, each member of the Fellowship helps Frodo get the ring to Mordor; without them, the protagonist would not be a protagonist and would not be able to succeed. In the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, minor characters are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. They consistently help Harry Potter on his quests against Voldemort, and, like Frodo, he wouldn't have succeeded without them.

On top of being categorized as a protagonist, antagonist, or minor character, a character can also be dynamic, static, or foil.

• Dynamic (changing): Very often, the main character is dynamic.

An example would also be Harry Potter from the book series by J.K. Rowling. Throughout the series, we see Harry Potter noticing his likeness to Voldemort. Nevertheless, Harry resists these traits because, unlike Voldemort, he is a good person and resists any desire to become a dark wizard.

• Static (unchanging): Someone who does not change throughout the story is static.

A good example of a static character is Atticus Finch from “How to Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. His character and views do not change throughout the book. He is firm and steady in his beliefs despite controversial circumstances. 

• Foils : These characters' job is to draw attention to the main character(s) to enhance the protagonist's role.

‍ A great example of a foil charact e r is Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle.

How to Analyze a Character 

While preparing to analyze your character, make sure to read the story carefully.

• Pay attention to the situations where the character is involved, their dialogues, and their role in the plot.
• Make sure you include information about what your character achieves on a big scale and how they influence other characters.
• Despite the categories above, try thinking outside the box and explore your character from around.
• Avoid general statements and being too basic. Instead, focus on exploring the complexities and details of your character(s).

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?

To learn how to write a character analysis essay and gather a more profound sense of truly understanding these characters, one must completely immerse themself in the story or literary piece.

• Take note of the setting, climax, and other important academic parts.
• You must be able to feel and see through the characters. Observe how analysis essay writer shaped these characters into life.
• Notice how little or how vast the character identities were described.
• Look at the characters' morals and behaviors and how they have affected situations and other characters throughout the story.
• Finally, observe the characters whom you find interesting. 

Meanwhile, if you need help writing a paper, leave us a message ' write my paper .'

How Do You Start a Character Analysis Essay

When writing a character analysis essay, first, you have to choose a character you'd like to write about. Sometimes a character will be readily assigned to you. It's wise to consider characters who play a dynamic role in the story. This will captivate the reader as there will be much information about these personas.

Read the Story

You might think that if you already have read the book, there is no need to do so again; however, now that you know the character you would like to focus on, reading it again will have plenty of benefits. It will give you an opportunity to be more precise while reading the scenes that relate directly to your character and are important for his/her analysis. While reading the book, pay attention to every tiny detail to make sure you grasp the whole array of your character's traits. 

Consider the following things:

• What specific descriptions does the author provide for each character?

For example, when J.K. Rowling describes Harry Potter for the first time, she describes his clothes as old and oversized, his hair untidy, and his glasses as broken. It might seem just like a simple description, but she expresses compassion and pity for an orphan neglected by his only relatives. 

• What kinds of relationships does your character have with others?

Think about how Harry builds up his friendships with others. First, he and Ron do not like Hermione because she acts like a know-it-all, but when she gets stuck in the dungeons with a horrendous troll, he rushes to save her regardless. 

• How do the actions of the character move the plot forward?

In 'The Philosopher's Stone,' Harry is very observant of any events taking place at school. He analyzes people's actions, which builds up the plot around the stone and its importance for the magical world.

Get help with your character analysis from our experts.

Choose a Dynamic Character

Choosing a dynamic character is a great idea. This does not necessarily have to be the protagonist, but a character that undergoes many changes has grown throughout the story and is not boring and/or static. This gives you a perfect advantage to fully show the character and make your paper entertaining and engaging for the reader. If you choose a character that is not very dynamic, your essay might seem monotonous because your character will not end up doing much and will not be very involved in the story.

While you are reading, it is useful to take notes or highlight/underline any of the critical elements of the story. This will add depth to your character description(s). By providing vivid and specific examples, you connect your reader to the character, and the character comes alive in their eyes. Review your notes and formulate the main idea about your character when you're finished reading with your character in mind.

Make an initial draft while taking note of the character analysis essay outline provided by your instructor. You may follow the recommended character analysis essay format if you have not been provided with a sample.

Choose a Main Idea

While reading the story, make sure you keep track of your notes. It is a good idea to look at them, choose the ones that are the most representative of your character and find patterns. This will be your thesis. Then, you must support this idea with examples and situations involving your character. 

If your character were Jem Finch from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, the main idea would be how his personal character is shaped through racial conflicts, social inequalities, and internal struggles between public opinion, his own views, and what is actually right. Essaypro offers you history essay help. Leave us a notice if you need to proofread, edit, or write your essay.

Character Analysis Questions

Now that you have jotted down some main concepts about your character, here is a list of questions that can help you fill in the blanks you might still have:

• Where do the events involving your character take place?
• What are the relationships between your character and other significant characters?
• What is the primary change your character has gone through throughout the story?
• What is your character's background?
• What is your character's occupation?
• What kind of emotions does your character go through?
• What are your character's values?
• What is your character's value?
• Does your character have friends?
• Is there a lesson your character has learned by the end of the story?
• Does the character achieve the goals he/she has set for himself/herself?

Make a Character Analysis Essay Outline

When you're unsure how to write a character synopsis, remember that creating a literary analysis outline is one of the most critical steps. A well-constructed character analysis outline will keep your thoughts and ideas organized.

Character Analysis Essay Introduction:

Make the introduction to your paper brief and meaningful. It should hold together your entire essay and spark your audience's interest. Write a short description of the character in question. Don't forget to include a character analysis thesis statement which should make a case for the character's relevance within the narrative context.

Character Analysis Essay Body:

Subdivide your body paragraphs into different ideas or areas regarding the character. Look at your professor's rubric and ensure you'll be able to tackle all the requirements. You should also be provided with questions to be answered to formulate your analysis better. The body should answer the following questions:

• What is the character's physical appearance, personality, and background?
• What are the conflicts the character experiences, and how did he/she overcome them?
• What can we learn from this character?
• What is the meaning behind the character's actions? What motivates him/her?
• What does the character do? How does he/she treat others? Is he/she fair or unjust?
• What does the character say? What is his/her choice of words? Does he/she have a rich vocabulary?
• How does the character describe themself? How do others describe him/her?
• What words do you associate with the character? Perhaps a word like 'hope,' 'bravery,' or maybe even 'freedom'?

Character Analysis Essay Conclusion:

It's time to master the secrets of how to write character analysis essay conclusions. Your ending should also hold your ideas together and shape a final analysis statement. Mention things about the character's conflicts that we could experience in real life. Additionally, you can write about how a character should've reacted to a certain situation.

Character Analysis Essay Example

Read our blogs ‘Character Analysis of Jem Finch', 'The Great Gatsby Book Through Daisy Buchanan Character,' 'Analysis of Characters in Beowulf,' or simply use these character analysis essay examples to reference your paper. You might also be interested in a synthesis essay example .

Now that you know what is character analysis, it might be time to choose a character to write about. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to type ' do my homework for me ,' you should contact our writers. You also get a free plagiarism report, formatting, and citing when  buying an essay from us!

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How To Write A Character Analysis Essay?

How to start a character analysis essay, how to write an introduction for a character analysis essay.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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Characterization

Characterization Definition

What is characterization? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Characterization is the representation of the traits, motives, and psychology of a character in a narrative. Characterization may occur through direct description, in which the character's qualities are described by a narrator, another character, or by the character him or herself. It may also occur indirectly, in which the character's qualities are revealed by his or her actions, thoughts, or dialogue.

Some additional key details about characterization:

• Early studies of literature, such as those by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, saw plot as more important than character. It wasn't until the 15th century that characters, and therefore characterization, became more crucial parts of narratives.
• Characterization became particularly important in the 19th century, with the rise of realist novels that sought to accurately portray people.

Characterization Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce characterization: kar-ack-ter-ih- zey -shun

Direct and Indirect Characterization

Authors can develop characterization in two ways: directly and indirectly. It's important to note that these two methods are not mutually exclusive. Most authors can and do use both direct and indirect methods of characterization to develop their characters.

Direct Characterization

In direct characterization, the author directly describes a character's qualities. Such direct description may come from a narrator, from another character, or through self-description by the character in question. For instance, imagine the following dialogue between two characters:

"That guy Sam seems nice." "Oh, no. Sam's the worst. He acts nice when you first meet him, but then he'll ask you for money and never return it, and eat all your food without any offering anything in return, and I once saw him throw a rock at a puppy. Thank God he missed."

Here the second speaker is directly characterizing Sam as being selfish and cruel. Direct characterization is also sometimes called "explicit characterization."

Indirect Characterization

In indirect characterization, rather than explicitly describe a character's qualities, an author shows the character as he or she moves through the world, allowing the reader to infer the character's qualities from his or her behavior. Details that might contribute to the indirect characterization of a character are:

• The character's thoughts.
• The character's actions.
• What a character says (their choice of words)
• How a character talks (their tone, dialect, and manner of speaking)
• The character's appearance
• The character's movements and mannerisms
• How the character interacts with others (and how others react to the character)

Indirect characterization is sometimes called "implicit characterization."

Indirect Characterization in Drama

It's worth noting that indirect characterization has an additional layer in any art form that involves actors, including film, theater, and television. Actors don't just say the words on the script. They make choices about how to say those words, how to move their own bodies and in relation to other character. In other words, actors make choices about how to communicate all sorts of indirect details. As a result, different actors can portray the same characters in vastly different ways.

For instance, compare the way that the the actor Alan Bates plays King Claudius in this play-within-a-play scene from the 1990 movie of Hamlet, versus how Patrick Stewart plays the role in the same scene from a 2010 version. While Bates plays the scene with growing alarm and an outburst of terror that reveals his guilt, Stewart plays his Claudius as ice cold and offended, but by no means tricked by Hamlet's little play-within-a-play into revealing anything.

Round and Flat Characters

Characters are often described as being either round or flat.

• Round characters : Are complex, realistic, unique characters.
• Flat characters : Are one-dimensional characters, with a single overarching trait and otherwise limited personality or individuality.

Whether a character is round or flat depends on their characterization. In some cases, an author may purposely create flat characters, particularly if those characters will appear only briefly and only for a specific purpose. A bully who appears in a single scene of a television show, for instance, might never get or need more characterization than the fact that they act like a bully.

But other times authors may create flat characters unintentionally when round characters were necessary, and such characters can render a narrative dull, tensionless, and unrealistic.

Character Archetypes

Some types of characters appear so often in narratives that they come to seen as archetypes —an original, universal model of which each particular instance is a kind of copy. The idea of the archetype was first proposed by the psychologist Carl Jung, who proposed that there were twelve fundamental "patterns" that define the human psyche. He defined these twelve archetypes as the:

While many have disagreed with the idea that any such twelve patterns actually psychologically define people, the idea of archetypes does hold a lot of sway among both those who develop and analyze fictional characters. In fact, another way to define round and flat character is to think about them as they relate to archetypes:

• Flat characters are easy to define by a single archetype, and they do not have unique personal backgrounds, traits, or psychology that differentiates them from that archetype in a meaningful way.
• Round characters may have primary aspects that fit with a certain archetype, but they also may be the combination of several archetypes and also have unique personal backgrounds, behaviors, and psychologies that make them seem like individuals even as they may be identifiable as belonging to certain archetypes.

Good characterization often doesn't involve an effort to avoid archetype altogether—archetypes are archetypes, after all, because over human history they've proved to be excellent subjects for stories. But successful authors will find ways to make their characters not just archetypes. They might do so by playing with or subverting archetypes in order to create characters who are unexpected or new, or more generally create characters whose characterization makes them feel so unique and individual that their archetype feels more like a framework or background rather than the entirety of who that character is.

Characterization Examples

The characters of nearly every story—whether in literature, film, or any other narrative—have some characterization. Here are some examples of different types of characterization.

Characterization in Hamlet

The famous literary critic Harold Bloom has argued in his book The Invention of the Human that "Personality, in our sense, is a Shakespearean invention." Whether or not you agree with that, there's no doubting that Shakespeare was a master of characterization. One way he achieved such characterization was through his characters delivering soliloquies . The excerpt of a soliloquy below is from Hamlet , in which Hamlet considers suicide:

To be, or not to be? That is the question— Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.

Hamlet's soliloquy is not simply him saying what he thinks. As he delivers the soliloquy, he discovers what he thinks. When he says "To die, to sleep. To sleep," he is all-in on the idea that suicide is the right course. His words "perchance to dream" flow directly out of his thoughts about death as being like "sleep." And with his positive thoughts of death as sleep, when he first says "perchance to dream" he's thinking about having good dreams. But as he says the words he realizes they are deeper than he originally thought, because in that moment he realizes that he doesn't actually know what sort of dreams he might experience in death—they might be terrible, never-ending nightmares. And suddenly the flow of his logic leaves him stuck.

In showing a character experiencing his own thoughts the way that real people experience their thoughts, not as a smooth flow but as ideas that spark new and different and unexpected ideas, Shakespeare gives Hamlet a powerful humanity as a character. By giving Hamlet a soliloquy on the possible joy of suicide he further captures Hamlet's current misery and melancholy. And in showing how much attention Hamlet pays to the detail of his logic, he captures Hamlet's rather obsessive nature. In other words, in just these 13 lines Shakespeare achieves a great deal of characterization.

Characterization in The Duchess of Malfi

In his play the The Duchess of Malfi , John Webster includes an excellent example of direct characterization. In this speech, the character Antonio tells his friend about Duke Ferdinand:

The Duke there? A most perverse and turbulent nature; What appears in him mirth is merely outside. If he laugh heartily, it is to laugh All honesty out of fashion. … He speaks with others' tongues, and hears men's suits With others' ears; will seem to sleep o’th' bench Only to entrap offenders in their answers; Dooms men to death by information, Rewards by hearsay.

Ferdinand directly describes the Duke as deceitful, perverse, and wild, and as a kind of hollow person who only ever laughs for show. It is a devastating description, and one that turns out to be largely accurate.

Characterization in The Great Gatsby

Here's another example of direct characterization, this time from The Great Gatsby . Here, Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, describes Tom and Daisy Buchanan near the end of the novel.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

But The Great Gatsby, like essentially all other literature, doesn't solely rely on direct characterization. Here is Nick, earlier in the novel, describing Gatsby:

He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.

This is an example of indirect characterization. Nick isn't describing Gatsby character directly, instead he's describing how Gatsby is behaving, what Gatsby is doing. But that physical description—Gatsby reaching out with trembling arms toward a distant and mysterious green light—communicates fundamental aspects of Gatsby's character: his overwhelming yearning and desire, and perhaps also the fragility inherent such yearning.

Why Do Writers Use Characterization?

Characterization is a crucial aspect of any narrative literature, for the simple reason that complex, interesting characters are vital to narrative literature. Writers therefore use the techniques of characterization to develop and describe characters':

• Motivations
• History and background
• Interests and desires
• Skills and talents
• Self-conception, quirks, and neuroses

Such characteristics in turn make characters seem realistic and also help to drive the action of the plot, as a plot is often defined by the clash of actions and desires of its various characters.

Other Helpful Characterization Resources

• Wikipedia entry on characterization: A brief but thorough entry.
• Archetypal characters: The website TV tropes has built a vast compendium of different archetypal characters that appear in film and television (and by extension to books).
• Encyclopedia Britannica on characters: A short entry on flat and round characters.

• Flat Character
• Round Character
• End-Stopped Line
• Climax (Plot)
• Antimetabole
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Common Meter
• Slant Rhyme
• Alliteration
• Figure of Speech
• Formal Verse
• Protagonist
• Antanaclasis
• Parallelism
• Colloquialism

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay Like a PRO

Mark Bradford

Have you ever wondered how to tackle a character analysis essay without breaking a sweat? Well, you're in the right place! In the realm of literature and English courses, these essays can be a bit tricky. But fear not, because, in this article, we're going to break down what character analysis is all about and show you the ropes on how to handle it.

We'll explore the nuances of character analysis, from understanding the character's context in the story to dissecting their relationships with other folks in the narrative. There's room for your personal take, too! Consider this your go-to resource, providing a thorough guide. And hey, if you ever find yourself in need of a professionally crafted essay, we've got you covered – just check out our platform, where you can pay for essays online !

What Is A Character Analysis Essay?

A character analysis essay goes deep into exploring the distinctive traits of a character found in literature or sometimes in other art forms like movies. Its main purpose is to help readers understand who the character is and their role in the story. Even though you might have personal opinions, it's crucial to approach the analysis objectively, using critical thinking skills. You'll be looking at various aspects, such as how the character interacts with others, their behavior, how they speak, and even their physical appearance.

For instance, think about how Harry Potter's courage and loyalty define his character throughout the series. In a character analysis essay, you'd explore these traits and their impact on the overall narrative. It's not like writing a resume, but there are moments where you can share your personal insights into the character, like why you think a certain trait makes them memorable or how it contributes to the story.

Why Write a Character Analysis Essay?

The purpose of a character analysis essay is to provide a detailed exploration of a character's attributes and their role within a narrative. By scrutinizing their actions, thoughts, and interactions with others, readers gain insight into the character's growth or transformation over the course of the story.

Another purpose is to uncover the underlying motivations and personality traits of a character. By examining their behaviors, decisions, and relationships, the essay aims to reveal the psychological and emotional makeup of the character, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the character's role in the story.

A character analysis essay contributes to a more comprehensive interpretation of the literary work as a whole. By dissecting the characters and their significance, readers can better appreciate the author's intentions, thematic elements, and the overall impact of the characters on the narrative structure. This analysis enriches the reader's experience and allows for a more profound engagement with the text.

Types of Characters

Characters in literature come in various types, each serving a unique role in shaping the narrative. Let's explore a few common character archetypes:

• Protagonist: The protagonist is the central character driving the story forward. Often, they face challenges or conflicts that form the core of the narrative. Examples include Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's series or Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collins' 'The Hunger Games.'
• Antagonist: The antagonist opposes the protagonist, creating conflict and tension in the story. Iconic antagonists include Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series or the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's 'The Wizard of Oz.'
• Round characters: These characters undergo significant development and change throughout the story. An excellent example is Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' who transforms from a miserly figure to a generous and compassionate person.
• Flat characters: Unlike round characters, flat characters do not undergo substantial development. They serve a specific role or function in the plot without significant change. A classic example is Shakespeare's Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet.'
• Dynamic characters: Dynamic characters experience internal transformation or growth during the story. Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' is a prime example, evolving from a mysterious and enigmatic figure to a tragic character driven by love.
• Static characters: In contrast, static characters remain unchanged throughout the narrative. Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations' is a static character, trapped in her jilted state and unable to move on.
• Foils: Foil characters contrast with the protagonist, highlighting specific traits or characteristics. Dr. John Watson serves as a foil to Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, accentuating Holmes' exceptional deductive abilities.
• Stock characters: These are stereotypical characters embodying conventional traits. The sidekick or the wise old mentor often falls into this category. Think of Samwise Gamgee as Frodo's loyal sidekick in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings.'

How to Analyze a Character?

When analyzing a character, keep these tips in mind:

• Identify the character's key traits—both physical and psychological—to understand their personality, motivations, and conflicts.
• Analyze the character's relationships with others, considering how these interactions shape their development and reveal aspects of their personality.
• Consider the character's role in advancing the plot and conveying the author's themes or messages.
• If the character evolves throughout the story, track key moments that contribute to their development.
• Identify foil characters that contrast with the one you're analyzing, providing additional insights into their traits.
• Reflect on the author's intent in creating the character and how they contribute to the overall narrative.
• Share your personal insights on what makes the character stand out or resonate with you.

Character Analysis Essay Outline

Here's a comprehensive outline for a character analysis essay:

I. Introduction

A. Hook: - Engage readers with a captivating quote, question, or anecdote related to the character.

B. Introduction of the character: - Provide basic information about the character, including their name, the work they appear in, and the author.

C. Thesis statement: - Present a concise thesis statement that outlines the key traits and significance of the character in the story.

II. Background and setting

A. Context: - Briefly describe the setting and context in which the character exists.

B. Introduction of other key characters: - Introduce characters who play significant roles in the character's life or influence their development.

III. Physical and psychological traits

A. Physical traits: - Detail the character's physical appearance, highlighting any distinctive features.

B. Psychological traits: - Explore the character's personality, motivations, fears, desires, and any internal conflicts.

IV. Relationships and interactions

A. Family and friends: - Analyze the character's relationships with family and friends, exploring how these dynamics shape their identity.

B. Romantic relationships (if applicable): - Examine any romantic relationships and their impact on the character's development.

C. Interaction with other characters: - Discuss key interactions with other characters, identifying conflicts or alliances.

V. Character development

A. Evolution throughout the story: - Track the character's development, identifying key moments that contribute to their growth or transformation.

B. Turning points: - Highlight significant turning points in the character's journey.

VI. Role in the plot

A. Protagonist or antagonist: - Clarify whether the character is the protagonist, antagonist, or a supporting figure.

B. Contribution to themes: - Explore how the character contributes to the overarching themes of the narrative.

VII. Symbolism

A. Symbolic representations: - Investigate whether the character embodies symbolic meanings or represents broader ideas.

VIII. Foils and contrasts

A. Identify foil characters: - Discuss any foil characters that contrast with the character under analysis.

IX. Conclusion

A. Restate thesis: - Recap the key traits and significance of the character.

B. Summary of analysis: - Provide a brief summary of the main points discussed in the essay.

C. Closing thoughts: - Conclude with final thoughts on the character's impact and significance within the narrative.

X. Personal reflection (optional)

A. Share your perspective: - Optionally, include a brief personal reflection on what makes the character memorable or significant to you.

How to Start a Character Analysis Essay?

Starting a character analysis essay is like taking a closer look at your favorite characters from books or movies. It's about understanding what makes them interesting. But how do you begin? Let's get into the details and talk about the basic steps. Whether you choose to buy an essay or tackle it yourself, knowing these will help you uncover the important aspects of those fictional characters and make your essay stand out with insights.

Explore the Story

Before diving into character analysis or poetry analysis essay , fully immerse yourself in the story. Whether it's a novel, a movie, or a TV series, pay close attention to the characters' actions, words, and how they relate to others. In George Orwell's '1984,' exploring Winston Smith's journey in a dystopian society adds depth to understanding the character. Take note of pivotal moments and the overall plot to grasp the character's role within the narrative.

Pick a Dynamic Character

Select a character who undergoes significant changes or growth. Dynamic characters provide rich material for analysis as they navigate challenges and evolve. Take Scout Finch from Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as an example. Scout starts as an innocent child and matures through exposure to prejudice and injustice. Dynamic characters like Scout offer a wealth of material to explore, shedding light on the story's themes and the character's personal development. Focus on those who go through transformative journeys, as they often offer the most profound insights.

As you delve deeper into the story, make detailed notes about the character. Document their traits, behaviors, and key moments that shape their identity. Consider both the obvious and subtle aspects, such as speech patterns, relationships, and how they respond to challenges. For instance, in William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies,' notes on Jack's descent into savagery and power struggles with Ralph provide essential insights. Organize your observations to build a comprehensive profile, serving as the foundation for your analysis.

Select a Central Theme

Identify a central theme that resonates with the character's journey. Themes can range from love and sacrifice to power and redemption. For example, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby,' the theme of the American Dream is central to Jay Gatsby's character. Understanding how the character embodies or challenges the chosen theme adds a layer of complexity to your analysis. By focusing on a central theme, you can unravel deeper meanings behind the character's actions and contribute to a more nuanced exploration in your essay.

Make Questions for Analyzing Characters

Pose thoughtful questions to guide your analysis and delve into the nuances of the character. Consider questions that touch on different aspects of their personality, motivations, and relationships. Here are some examples:

What motivates the character?

• Explore the driving forces behind their actions and decisions.

How does the character interact with others?

• Examine their relationships and how they contribute to the character's development.

What challenges does the character face?

• Identify obstacles that shape the character's journey and resilience.

How does the character evolve throughout the story?

• Track the changes in their beliefs, values, and behaviors.

What symbolic elements represent the character?

• Look for symbols or motifs associated with the character that carry deeper meaning.

How does the character contribute to the overall themes of the story?

• Connect the character's experiences to broader themes explored in the narrative.

What role does the character play in the resolution of conflicts?

• Analyze their impact on the storyline's resolution and outcomes.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?

Step 1: open with a character quote.

Begin your character analysis essay by setting the stage with a relevant and impactful quote that encapsulates the essence of the character you're exploring. Choose a quote that highlights key aspects of their personality, motivations, or role in the story. For instance, if you're analyzing Sherlock Holmes, you might open with a quote like, 'Elementary, my dear Watson,' to capture Holmes' deductive prowess and confident demeanor.

Questions to consider:

• Why did you choose this specific quote?
• What does the quote reveal about the character's personality or mindset?
• How does the quote connect to the broader themes of the story?
• Does the quote foreshadow events in the character's journey?

Step 2: Give Background Info

Following the impactful quote about Sherlock Holmes ('Elementary, my dear Watson'), it's essential to give readers the background information they need. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, known for his brilliant deductive reasoning and keen observation skills. Placing Holmes in late 19th-century London, the stories typically involve him solving intricate mysteries with his trusted companion, Dr. John Watson.

Questions to Consider:

• How does the character's background contribute to their skills or traits?
• What is the character's role in the story's setting?
• Are there any notable relationships or connections that shape the character's experiences?
• How does the character's environment influence their actions and decisions?

Step 3: Present the Character

Now that we've set the stage with the quote and background information let's take a closer look at the character. In the case of Katniss Everdeen, beyond her skills as an archer and her protective instincts, explore her internal struggles and emotional complexities. Describe how her initial reluctance to embrace a leadership role transforms as the story unfolds, making her a multidimensional character.

• What challenges or conflicts does the character face internally and externally?
• How do the character's relationships with others contribute to their development?
• Are there moments that reveal vulnerability or hidden strengths in the character?
• In what ways does the character's journey resonate with universal themes or experiences?

By presenting a comprehensive view of the character, you invite readers to connect with their humanity and understand the intricacies that make them compelling. This step forms the basis for a thorough analysis, as it captures the character's essence and sets the stage for exploring their role in the broader narrative landscape.

Character Analysis Essay Example

Here, we'll walk through a practical example to show you how to analyze a character in a story. By breaking down their traits, motivations, and journeys, we'll demonstrate the steps we discussed earlier.

If you want a tailor-made essay crafted with expertise, simply let us know by asking, ' Write an essay for me .' We'll handle the task professionally, ensuring a unique and thoughtful exploration of your chosen character. Now, get ready to explore the ins and outs of character analysis through a simple and concrete example.

Title: 'Jane Eyre: A Woman's Quest for Independence'

Introduction:

In the haunting halls of Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë introduces us to Jane Eyre, a character whose indomitable spirit and unwavering independence defy the societal norms of Victorian England. 'I am no bird, and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will,' echoes Jane, setting the stage for a character analysis that delves into the complexities of her journey towards self-discovery and autonomy.

Body Paragraphs:

Jane Eyre's journey towards independence begins in the stifling confines of Lowood School. Enduring hardship and injustice, young Jane displays resilience and a thirst for knowledge. Her defiance against the oppressive system foreshadows her future pursuit of independence.

At Thornfield, Jane encounters the enigmatic Mr. Rochester. Despite their complex relationship, Jane's decision to leave Thornfield when faced with moral dilemmas showcases her commitment to maintaining personal integrity and independence.

The revelation of Jane's true identity and her unexpected inheritance doesn't sway her from her path. Instead, it provides her with the means to secure financial independence, reinforcing her determination to shape her destiny on her terms.

Brontë challenges traditional gender roles through Jane's relationship with Rochester. Despite the power imbalance, Jane asserts her equality in love, refusing to compromise her principles. This dynamic reflects Jane's unwavering commitment to maintaining her independence, even in matters of the heart.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Jane Eyre's quest for independence is a testament to her strength of character and refusal to conform to societal expectations. From her challenging early years to her pursuit of love and self-discovery, Jane's journey resonates as a timeless exploration of a woman's autonomy in the face of societal constraints. Through her trials and triumphs, Jane Eyre emerges as a literary icon, inspiring readers to embrace their independence and carve their own paths in the world.

Mark Bradford , a passionate and talented artist, utilizes his innovative spirit to support academic pursuits. In partnering with EssayHub, he leverages his artistic insights to assist students as a professional essay writer, helping them navigate and complete their academic assignments at every level of difficulty.

• Plagiarism Report
• Unlimited Revisions
• 24/7 Support

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?

14 August, 2020

14 minutes read

Author:  Kate Smith

A character analysis essay is one of the most complicated academic assignments that students usually write for Literature or English classes. Generally, this kind of essay writing requires you to describe the character in the context of the story. This can be done through the analysis of the relationship between the major and secondary characters or through your personal opinion of a particular character.

So, there is something you should learn before getting down to work. What is a character analysis and how to approach it? Let’s try to find the answers in the information below.

What is a Character Analysis?

A character analysis is a kind of essay where you examine behaviors, motivations, and actions of characters. Also, a character analysis is an in-depth assignment that makes you think critically about one or more characters and make judgements after analyzing the text. In most cases, it is used for the analysis of literary works. This form of academic writing involves personalities’ descriptions and conflicts with others they experience throughout a story. This analysis aims to provide a critical assessment of characters and build up conclusions based on the storyline. You may analyze a personality through his or her behavioral patterns or internal and external conflicts.

When you’re asked to write a character analysis, you must look at that story from a different angle. How? This is not your average reading for fun. Your task is to focus on the character synopsis and everything that’s associated with the people involved in the story.

Aim of a Character Analysis

A character analysis aims to evaluate a character’s traits, their functions, and the conflicts they have to deal with throughout the story. During the analysis, you will need to think critically, ask questions, and make conclusions about the character. To make your analysis informative, you will have to go beyond available descriptions that are written by the author. To understand the meaning of every event, phrase, and action, you will have to read between the lines. Don’t be afraid of using some additional resources if you feel like knowing more about the epoch a character lives in. If you want to gain an alternative opinion about a character, do not hesitate to find out your friends’ or internet users’ thoughts. Thus, thorough research may help you develop some creative ideas that will add great value to your future paper.

General Types of Characters

You should have a deep understanding of a character before starting an in-depth analysis. While a good character has many sides, there are some standard features to be considered:

• Protagonist: Being the main figure in a story, this character has the whole plot based on their life, actions, events, and feelings.
• Antagonist: Being a villain in a story, this character is positioned as the opposite figure to the major hero. Their basic nature remains negative, which makes them even more interesting than the main character. An antagonist plays a significant role even in short stories.
• Major: This character dominates the story. While they are not the main one in the story, they are involved in all the events.
• Minor: This character appears in a story from time to time. Their role may be significant for the plot development, but then they may disappear for some time and pop up again.
• Dynamic and static characters: The existence of these two opposite characters is determined by their reflection of each other’s specifications. While one character of a story goes through an internal or external transformation, another one may have their basic characteristics unchanged. There is a common idea that an evolving character tends to be more interesting than a static one. However, you can also analyze a static character from the perspective that they are not sympathetic, smart, or deep enough to learn their lessons. Or on the contrary, they remain strong enough and can resist the system without going under it.
• Stereotypical: If you are familiar with stereotypes, you will know what type of character is meant here. Generally, this particular character serves as the representation of the social, national, as well as demographic background of the story.
• Foils: The main goal of this hero in the story is to stay in contrast with main characters and a protagonist in order to highlight the features of the main character.
• Multi-dimensional characters: This group of characters involves an unlimited number of personalities. They are one-dimensional characters in the story who usually are not particularly interesting for the reader or viewer and do not play a crucial role in the storyline.

How Do You Start a Character Analysis Essay?

Before you start writing, you may wonder how to do a character analysis. Of course, you need to select a character to describe. In some cases, your professor will give you a character to talk about. By reading a story several times, you may notice the tiniest details. Ideally, you can use a highlighter or marker to mark each spot where your character is mentioned. Here are some more details of how to start with a character analysis:

• Take notes while reading. Take notes by highlighting every significant element of the story.
• Introduce your character. Introduce your character by providing their detailed description.
• Describe your character. Provide a smooth transition from the general description of your character to the point of convergence of the story.
• Build up a thesis statement. Finish the presentation with your paper’s proposal.

Main Points of a Character Analysis

When you need to analyze one character, you can make it from the perspective of several types at once. The character’s ability to change can create an additional source of analysis. At the same time, the complex and changing personality will be more interesting for the detailed analysis. To make it easier to work with such characters, you should focus on their characteristics, namely their importance for a story, actions, events, and so on. In most cases, you have to cover three major points:

Personality

Reveal the main features of a character to provide the reader with a portrait. By adding some facts and descriptions of actions, you will enable a deeper understanding of the analyzed hero. There is no need to use some words with broad meanings like “bad,” “nice,” “honest,” etc.

Role in a story

Describe the importance of the particular character in the context of the general story. Also, you should pay attention to their actions and their ability to move the events forward.

Character development

Analyze the changes the character has gone through and what features they have now. You should focus on the progress of a person, even if it is regressive.

Character Analysis Outline

In the character analysis essay outline, you should describe two or maybe even three specific character categories. Your mission is to describe the personality of the character, their function in the story, and the value they have.

• Describe the personality of the character. The reader gets familiar with the characters of the story through the words the characters use, the emotions they express, and the actions they take. It is quite easy to build up an opinion about the personality of a character through the prism of their outward behaviors. Eventually, you will understand that the character fits into one of the character categories mentioned above.
• Explore the character’s role . While writing a character analysis, it is important to describe the role of that character in detail. Apart from expressing unique character traits, the character will also perform a specific function in the story. Whether it will be the major or minor role, the analysis should address all the aspects of the performed role.
• Outline the growth and development of the character . In order to write a professional analysis, you will explain how the character matures and transforms as the plot progresses.

The majority of characters will have to go through particular transformations until the end of the story. You should pay special attention to whether the character becomes better or worse, stronger or weaker, rich or poor. Mention any areas or scenes where these transformations occur. In the story, you will recognize them from the cues like “it was then that she understood…” or “for the first time in months, he…”

Do you need a more detailed analysis of your character?

To make your analysis essay correct, you need to explore your character deeply. If you set some points you will follow in your work, you will manage to be consequential in your analysis. So here are some crucial nuances you should remember to describe the character:

You should focus on the reasons that make the character in a story to make a particular decision or take a specific action. You have an opportunity to explore the rightfulness of those actions as well as their reasonability. While you are asked to express your thoughts about certain events and feelings, you should be objective by looking beyond the cover.

Every action taken by a character can say a lot about his/her personality. You should not skip any events because it can be important for the general story and reveal some info about the character, his/her attitude to things, etc.

You should pay attention to the words the person uses because they can say a lot about their personality. Their accents and phrases may provide you with valuable information about nationality, social status, education, or even age of a character.

Descriptions

There are two major sources of the description: from other people in a story and the author. The author can provide the reader with one attitude and description of the major character, while secondary heroes in a story may describe them from their own perspective. At that point, their conclusions may be totally different, yet they’ll provide you with an understanding of the person’s nature.

The way people refer to a person also determines the features of a character. They may have nicknames or other names that will demonstrate their background and the attitude of other characters toward them. You can also define the origin as well as other important nuances.

Character Analysis Examples

By using a readymade character analysis example, you can concentrate on the creative process itself. Here are some nice examples of written character analysis based on a couple of popular stories:

https://literatureessaysamples.com/joe-gargerys-character-analysis/

http://jmendelis.blogspot.com/p/sample-character-analysis-essay.html

Popular Topics for Character Analysis

• Hamlet Character Analysis
• The Crucible Character Analysis
• Macbeth Character Analysis
• Ophelia Character Analysis
• Iago Character Analysis
• 12 Angry Men Character Analysis
• The Great Gatsby Character Analysis
• Beowulf Character Analysis
• Lady Macbeth Character Analysis
• Atticus Finch Character Analysis
• Romeo Character Analysis
• Antigone Character Analysis
• Victor Frankenstein Character Analysis
• Pride And Prejudice Character Analysis
• Machinal By Sophie Treadwell Character Analysis
• Of Mice And Men Character Analysis
• Othello Character Analysis
• Macduff Character Analysis
• Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis
• To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis
• The Breakfast Club Character Analysis
• Charlie Brown Character Analysis
• Death Of A Salesman Character Analysis
• Hester Prynne Character Analysis
• Mr Darcy Character Analysis
• Desdemona Character Analysis
• Fahrenheit 451 Character Analysis
• Willy Loman Character Analysis
• A Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis
• The Things They Carried Character Analysis
• A Rose For Emily Character Analysis
• Nick Carraway Character Analysis
• Daisy Buchanan Character Analysis
• Boo Radley Character Analysis
• 13 Reasons Why Character Analysis
• King Lear Character Analysis
• Jay Gatsby Character Analysis
• Blanche Dubois Character Analysis
• Oedipus Character Analysis
• Claudius Character Analysis

Tips on Writing a Character Analysis from Handmadewriting Experts

Whether you follow a character analysis template yourself or ask a professional essay writer to complete this paper for you, you should not forget the common principles of work. Luckily, Handmadewriting’s specialists always follow the standard rules for character analysis writing:

• Support all your statements with evidence. Y ou should incorporate evidence for every single point you make, although it must be relevant to the story. By means of quotes taken from the story, you can easily support your ideas and increase your credibility.
• Point, illustrate, and explain. The so-called PIE method is a must for character analysis writing. Make sure to make a point, integrate quotations to support it, and explain how every quote creates the point.
• Use your own words to anchor the quote. A quotation should not be left alone in the sentence. You need to explain the eligibility of this quote and its meaning.
• Do not overuse quotes. You are allowed to use up to 10% of quotations in an academic paper, so remember this number. If you overuse quotes, you can hardly hope for a good grade.

Are you ready to proceed with your character analysis paper? Once you learn all writing rules and tips, you will be able to finish an excellent paper before the set deadline.

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Characterization

Characterization definition, types of characterization, characterization in drama, importance of characterization, everyday examples of characterization  ,  difference archetypes and characterization, difference between characterization and stereotypes, round and flat characters  , characterization in stories, examples of characterization in literature, example #1: the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald, function of characterization, synonyms of characterization, related posts:, post navigation.

Writing Characterization: A Step-By-Step Guide To Unleashing Your Inner Fitzgerald

Check out our guide to learn how writing characterization can work to your advantage for creating compelling characters your readers will connect with instantly.

Characterization is the process of providing your readers with the information they need to get to know your characters. Good characterization can help a writer develop complex characters with personality traits and a physical appearance that readers can easily picture. Bold characterization can instantly give us a sense of the character’s nature. For example, Phillip Pullman is a master at characterization.

“Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity. All his movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it.” Philip Pullman,  The Golden Compass

Whether you’re working on a screenwriting project, a short story, or a novel, flat characters are the enemy of a solid writing process. Indirect characterization and direct characterization give your reader the information they need to understand more about your character’s motivations, thoughts, and feelings.

What is Characterization?

Before you start, revealing your character’s personality, direct characterization, indirect characterization, 1. understand your character, 2. balance implicit and explicit characterization methods, 3. give all characters a purpose, 4. let your characters learn.

Before we dive into understanding the different types of characterization, it’s key that you understand the characterization definition in literature. During the characterization process, you’re explaining and revealing details about your main character (and likely your peripheral characters) to allow your readers to understand their personalities, lives, goals, relationships, feelings, and motivations.

Good characterization  happens over time. A single paragraph at the beginning of your story can be an excellent start to helping your reader get to know your main character, but character development takes place over the entire course of your novel. Check out these writing organizational patterns .

Just as it will take your readers time to get to know your character, you’ll also need to take the time to flesh out exactly who they are before you can make them appear natural. Getting to know your characters can start by picturing them in your mind and going through an imaginary interview.

Imagine how your character speaks, how they answer your questions, what they’re wearing, and how your questions make them feel emotional. Providing your readers with information on your character’s backstory can help them understand how your character’s choices align with their past experiences. Some smart questions to ask your characters in your imaginary interview can include the following:

• Describe a typical day in your life.
• Who is most important to you?
• How did you grow up? Would you say your childhood was a positive or negative experience?
• What’s your favorite book or movie? 
• Are you happy with where you’re at in life? Why or why not?
• What’s your relationship like with your parents?
• What drives you to achieve your goals?
• Tell me about a time when you felt really happy.
• Do you feel like you have someone you can count on in your life?
• Would you describe yourself as an optimist or a pessimist? 
• What’s the most challenging thing you’ve ever experienced?
• What events in your life have shaped who you are today?

If you find it tough to imagine your character speaking out loud, writing their answers to these questions—as if they were filling out a questionnaire—can be helpful. You can also save this and come back to it later when you’re unsure how your character would handle a situation they encounter in your writing.

As you go through your imaginary interview with your character, you’ll likely come across some ideas that can add to your story and help you begin the character development. Emmy-nominated author Mark Boutros, the author of  The Craft of Character , says it best. “It can sound corny to say ‘character leads the story’, but you don’t really have a story until there’s a character with a problem, and they need to do something about it.”

To understand how your character will approach their problem (and their relationships with other characters), you need to know who they are as a person. The more you develop your characters before you begin writing, the less you’ll need to revise as you move through the writing process. You might also be interested in our list of worldbuilding questions for storytellers .

As we mentioned, your character’s personality will be revealed over time. Character development needs to be an ongoing process. It isn’t something you can check off as complete when working through the creative writing process.

As you work your way through developing your characters, stop occasionally and consider why they’re making the choices to move the story forward. If your reader is confused by your character’s words or actions, take a step back and consider how to include some character development to help your reader understand your character’s motivation.

Guide to Direct Characterization and Indirect Characterization

The easiest way to think of the difference between direct and indirect characterization is to consider what you’re telling your reader versus what you’re showing your reader. Both indirect and direct characterization can have their place in high-level character development. It’s best to use a combination of the two to allow your reader to get a feel for the people you’re creating in your story.

Direct characterization consists of facts about your character that you tell your reader. Physical descriptions typically fall into this category. In this example, the author describes the character in detail, painting a picture in the reader’s mind with each word:

“Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.” J.K. Rowling,  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Immediately upon reading the passage, readers can gather some information about Harry. Readers understand what Harry looks like and would be able to differentiate between Harry and Dudley if they saw the two walking down the street based on Rowling’s description.

In indirect characterization, readers infer character traits, as the author is not making direct statements about the character’s traits. When you flat-out need to tell a reader information about a character, you can do that, but it’s often more compelling to let your reader draw their conclusions about your characters through indirect characterization. The example below shows excellent use of indirect characterization:

“Joad took a quick drink from the flask. He dragged the last smoke from his raveling cigarette and then, with callused thumb and forefinger, crushed out the glowing end. He rubbed the butt to a pulp and put it out the window, letting the breeze suck it from his fingers.” John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Characterization Tips and Tricks

As you get to know your character, thinking about the qualities you want to emulate can help you develop other characters. The development of adversaries or complimentary characters can bring out qualities in your main character that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“James Gatz–that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career–when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior. It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a row-boat, pulled out to the TUOLOMEE and informed Cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour.” F. Scott Fitzgerald,  The Great Gatsby

In the example above, Fitzgerald provides the reader with a ton of information about Gatsby. The writer shows the readers that he chose a different name and went out of his way to help others. This insight is excellent character development and shows the reader a side of the character’s personality that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

In life, we’re surrounded by people whose actions are inconsequential—our interactions with real people at the grocery store or someone dropping off a package don’t particularly further the story of our lives. This shouldn’t be the case when working to develop a story.

Every character in your story should serve a purpose. You don’t necessarily need to delve into the point of view of every character you introduce, but you should ensure that each character in your story serves a purpose or means something to the main character.

Your characters will develop over time, just like people do in real life. If your main character is brave, your reader will want to see them grow to embody that characteristic. Show how they grow over time. This is key to helping your readers view your characters as real people with real lives.

It may mean that you regularly revise your characters’ journeys, but this is normal. As you learn more about your characters and the web of their interactions, you may find that a character turns out to be more sinister than you thought or that your protagonist needs to go through some additional trials before they can finally succeed. Imagining each character’s nuances can help readers see them as individuals rather than as tried-and-true, predictable tropes. Looking for more on this topic? Check out our metaphor examples from literature !

• Scriptwriting

How to Write a Character Analysis — Tips and Techniques

A great story is often, if not always, synonymous with great characters. Crafting great characters is not an easy feat. So it’s no wonder that readers and writers alike gravitate toward the best characters in storytelling. Analyzing characters can be incredibly helpful for crafting your own characters or simply understanding your favorite story more deeply. In this article, we’ll dive into how to write a character analysis by asking the right questions, analyzing characterization, and retaining curiosity throughout the process.  

How to Write a Character Analysis

First, let’s define character analysis.

Before we dive into the details of how to write a great character analysis let’s make sure we on the same page by looking at the character analysis definition.  

CHARACTER ANALYSIS DEFINITION

What is a character analysis.

A character analysis is a written body of work that analyzes the qualities and traits of a specific character. These characters are primarily from literary works, but can also be from cinema and television. The purpose of a character analysis is to dissect the various intricacies of a character and their role within a story. A character analysis should focus on the quality and function of a character in a story rather than on personal opinions on how the writer might feel about the character. A character analysis should dissect various types of characterization from the writer of the character to form a well-rounded analysis. 

Example character analysis types:

Protagonist.

First and foremost, it’s important to identify the type of character you're writing about. To identify the character type of your analysis here are two questions that are important to address: What is their function in the story? And how do they change or not change throughout the story?

How to Do a Character Analysis

Determine the character’s function.

A character’s function in a story is incredibly important to understand because it gives context as to why the writer made specific choices around the character such as their goals, behavior, and even outward appearance. 

Depending on a character’s function in the story they will fall under one of the following types: protagonist, antagonist, foil, or mentor.

A protagonist is a character who pushes a story forward. He or she is also the central force of the story. Here's a video where break down the main types.

What is a Protagonist  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Derived from the Greek words prōtos and agōnistēs, “protagonist” quite literally translates to “first actor.” In the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter is the protagonist.

An antagonist is the force of a story that the protagonist contends with; whether it be human, natural or supernatural. Every protagonist needs an antagonistic force. Here is a quick rundown on antagonists.

What is a Antagonist  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Derived from the Greek word agonizesthai, “antagonist” literally translates to English as “to contend with.” In the Harry Potter series, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" is the antagonist. Alright we’ll say it for clarity — Lord Voldemort.

A foil character is a fictional character that serves to expose something intrinsic in another character. Oftentimes, the thing that is exposed is a character folly, like cowardice or greed. 

In the Harry Potter series, Draco Malfoy is often Harry’s foil.

A mentor is a character that serves a guide and/or teacher for the story’s protagonist. The mentor is an integral component of Joseph Cambell’s hero’s journey story structure . 

In the Harry Potter series, Albus Dumbledore is Harry’s mentor.

Analyze the character’s development

This second question will help you write a better character analysis because it addresses whether or not your character changes or does not change over the course of the story. 

Static character

A static character is a character that does not undergo any significant internal change over the course of a story. Throughout a story, a static character largely remains the same and does not grow or develop in a substantial way.

Watch our character analysis of Marty McFly and his "flat arc" for a great example of a character who doesn't change.

Dissecting a "flat" character arc  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Dynamic character.

A dynamic character is a character that undergoes significant internal change over the course of a story. This change can happen subtly and gradually throughout the story and can be a change for better or worse. This is a character who often learns a lesson or changes in beliefs or principles. 

For a few examples that will drive home the differences between dynamic and static characters, check out this video breakdown below. 

Analyzing Characters  •  Dynamic vs Static Characters 

Understanding what a character’s function is and what their development is over time will help you determine the focus point of your character development analysis

Related Posts

• What is a Character Study? →
• Character Archetypes in Literature & Movies →
• Character Development: Write Stronger Characters →

How to Write a Proper Character Analysis

Choose a point of focus.

When learning how to write a character analysis choosing a focus point is important for creating a thoughtful, and poignant analysis. Without a solid focus, you run the risk of writing a character synopsis and regurgitating facts and details the reader already knows about the character. 

To reverse engineer a focus point in your character analysis, ask yourself what the reader can learn from this character from a writer’s perspective? Is this character a complex hero ? What makes this character memorable or iconic?

In the video below, we analyze the character Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men and focus on what makes Chigurh the perfect antagonist. 

Why Anton Chigurh is the Perfect Antagonist  •   Subscribe on YouTube

It can be difficult to land on the focus point of your character analysis right away. This is why it is important to first analyze the function of your character and their development throughout the story.

In this process, you will find what makes this character unique and what readers can take away from your analysis. 

Analyzing characterization

Once you have your focus point, it’s time to gather evidence and support for your thesis. These pieces of support will derive from the characterization . 

Characterization is the process through which an artist communicates character to an audience. In writing, characterization is achieved through dialogue, actions, and descriptions. There is both direct characterization and indirect characterization. To help you analyze these two types of characterization, let’s break them down. 

Direct and Indirect Characterization  •  Analyzing Characters

Direct characterization.

Direct characterization is “surface level” characterization. It’s simply the overt information we’re given about a character, such as “what they look like, what their job is, and what they appear to others.” Many literary scholars describe this type of characterization as “what we’re told about a character.”

An example of this can be found in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway uses direct characterization to describe the main character writing “Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”

Indirect characterization

Indirect characterization , on the other hand, is a subtype of characterization that’s defined by “showing” rather than “telling.” It is an important technique used by writers for developing nuanced characters. It is primarily utilized through what the character says, thinks, and does. 

A common acronym for indirect characterization is “STEAL” which refers to speech, thinks, effect, action, and looks. These details often come from dialogue, goals, desires, and the history or background of the character. 

An example of indirect characterization can be found in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird . Harper writes, “First of all,’ he said, ‘if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

• What is a Character Arc? →
• What is a Flat Character? →
• How to Introduce Characters in a Screenplay →

Character analysis questions

As you continue to flesh out and write your character analysis you may hit some road blocks. A valuable tool to overcome these roadblocks are questions. Try to think of the character that you are analyzing as a person that actually exists that you are interviewing.

What questions would you ask them to really understand who they are? Here are a few examples of character analysis questions to get you started.

What are your values?

What is your background? How did you grow up?

How have you changed from what happened to you or through what you experienced?

Is there a lesson you learned from all of this?

While you may not be able to answer all of these questions from the characterization the author provides, it’s a great exercise to uncover what you may not have yet realized about this character. 

Character analyses are not only a dive into the craft of writing and storytelling, but an analysis of psychology and experience. When analyzing a character, it’s important to wear both hats to provide an insightful, well-rounded character analysis that is unique and thoughtfully presented.

Up Next 

What is characterization .

As we mentioned above, characterization is incredibly important to understanding the characters of a great story. In our next article, we take a deeper dive into characterization and more examples of both indirect and direct characterization. 

Up Next: Characterization Explained  →

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How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline

A character analysis is an examination of the personalities and actions of protagonists and antagonists that make up a story. It discusses their role in the story, evaluates their traits, and looks at their conflicts and experiences. You might need to write this assignment in school or college. Like any other essay, your character analysis should contain an introduction, a conclusion, and a thesis.

Want to know how to write a character analysis essay? Not sure how to start? We understand. Whichever piece you choose – Lady Macbeth, A Rose for Emily, or something else, – analyzing a character for the first time might be challenging. No worries, we are here to help! In this guide by our custom writing experts, you will find a step-by-step guide, outlining and writing tips, as well as a number of character analysis examples.

• 📔 Character Analysis Definition
• 🧙 Types of Characters
• 📝 Writing Guide
• 🖥️ Formatting Tips

📑 Character Analysis Essay Examples

📔 what is a character analysis essay.

A character analysis essay is an assignment where you evaluate a character’s traits, behaviors, and motivations. It requires critical thinking and attention to detail. Unlike descriptions, analyses focus on a character’s personality and internal drives. It explains how those factors shape the narrated events.

So, what you need to do is to see the characters as if they were real people who feel and act just as we do. Ensure there are no baseless assumptions and interpretations: the ideas you present should be supported by quotes from the text.

Character: Definition (Literature)

How do you define a character? It is a person, a creature, or an animal that makes up the story’s world. A character can be based on a real-life person, or it can be entirely fictional. It is someone who thinks, feels, and acts.

We use the word “character” in many different contexts. For instance, it can denote someone eccentric or worthy of our admiration. In both contexts, the term “character” means a distinctive personality. Similarly, in an analysis, your task is to show what makes a character stand out.

Characterization: Literary Definition & Examples

Characterization is the process by which a character’s personality is revealed. It presents characters’ traits, feelings, and motives to the reader. For this reason, characterization is closely connected to character analysis. It helps us to understand the characters better throughout the reading process.

Characterization can be direct and indirect .

• Direct characterization is when the narrator directly tells the audience what the personality of a character is.
• In contrast, indirect characterization shows things that hint at a character’s nature.

Here are some examples of direct characterization taken from Patti Smith’s Just Kids :

“But he always suppressed his real feelings, mimicking the stoic nature of his father.”

Here we see a direct description of a character. The author straightforwardly talks about Robert’s feelings. In comparison, look at the description of a woman taken from John Steinbeck’s The Snake :

“He looked around at her again. Her dark eyes seemed veiled with dust. She looked without expression at the cat’s open throat.”

These lines don’t directly reveal anything about the woman, but the reader can understand that she is cold and dangerous. It’s an indirect characterization that focuses on looks and actions to convey the message to the reader.

🧙 Types of Characters for Your Essay

When it comes to characters, they can be divided into several groups. For example, characters can be:

• Protagonists or antagonists,
• Static or dynamic,
• Flat or round.

These types define how much the characters change through the course of the story and their role in it.

Character Type: Definition

In psychology, a character type is defined by a combination of personality traits that coexist in an individual. Authors incorporate different types of characters into their works to convey the message and make the story more exciting or relatable to the reader.

There are three ways to categorize a character type:

• by archetypes,
• by their role in the narrative,
• by their ability to change throughout the story.

If you are about to write a character analysis essay, being familiar with character archetypes is essential. They have been categorized by a generation of writers, including the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and the American literary theorist Joseph Campbell. A lot of characters we see in today’s literary works are rooted in them.

Archetypes include the Trickster, the Ruler, the Lover, the Sage, and others. The Hero is one of the most notable archetypes. Hercules or Achilles can be good examples of heroic protagonists. They are strong and courageous; they meet challenges and save the day by helping others.

Main Character: Definition & Examples

The main character and the protagonist often get mixed up. Most narratives also have the figure of the antagonist , whose actions affect the plot and stimulate change. Let’s have a look at the similarities and differences between these types.

The main character is central in the narrative. We experience the story through their eyes. They don’t necessarily have to be protagonists, though it happens in many cases.

The crucial difference between the main character and the protagonist is that the protagonist goes through changes throughout the story. The main character, however, is there to guide the reader through the experience. Often they help to show a different, darker side of the protagonist.

To understand the difference better, let’s turn to some examples.

What’s a Static Character?

Now that we’ve learned about the main character and the protagonist, we will closely look at other types of character classifications. One of the ways to categorize a character is by their ability to change throughout the story.

A static or simple character is someone who undergoes little or no significant changes. They often exist for comedic purposes. Here are some examples:

Complex Character: Definition & Examples

Complex or dynamic characters are the opposite of static characters. Characters of this type change as the book progresses. They display different qualities, emotions, and motives. They become more complicated and interesting to the reader as the story unfolds.

Check out these examples of dynamic characters:

Other Kinds of Characters

You already know about several ways to define a type of character. Now, let’s go over some other types, starting with flat and round characters.

Similar to dynamic and static ones, round and flat characters represent two different ends of a spectrum. Round characters usually come with an in-depth background. They are traditionally protagonists, antagonists, or those close to them. In contrast, flat characters are two-dimensional, and there is not much depth to them.

For the examples, we will turn to the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Finally, here are some bonus character types for you:

• Stock characters have a fixed set of traits and are flat. Most of the time, they exist for comical relief.
• Symbolic characters represent a concept or a theme that goes beyond them. They can be round and flat as long as they symbolize a particular notion or phenomena.
• Sidekick is a secondary character who supports the protagonist.
• The love interest is someone with whom the main character is infatuated.
• Foil is someone who’s set in contrast with the protagonist, thus putting more emphasis on the latter’s qualities.

Characterization Essay: Which Character Type to Choose

Before you start writing a paper, it essential to decide on the character you’re going to analyze. There are different types of characters in every story, so you need to choose which one suits your essay topic the best.

Usually, it’s best to choose a dynamic and round character . With static and flat ones, there may not be enough substance for you to analyze. However, some such personalities can be interesting to work with. For instance, a flat character such as Mr. Collins can be symbolic of something. Then, you can talk about how it embodies a specific idea or notion. You can also look at how they affect other characters in the story.

📝 How to Write a Character Analysis Step by Step

Now, we’re going to discuss how to write your paper step-by-step. But first, here are some pre-writing steps for you to consider:

• Choose a character for analysis.
• Take notes while reading;
• Define the type of the character and their role in the story;
• Pay attention to their descriptions and actions.

How to Analyze a Character: Description Examples

Knowing how to organize your work is an essential skill. Certain things need special attention if you are describing a character:

• physical appearance,
• emotional state,
• how the character speaks,
• behavior and personality traits,
• relationships with other characters.

When you analyze a character, try to look at them as if they were a real-life person. You want to know their motive, learn about how they feel, and understand why they think in a certain way. Ask yourself:

• How did the character change throughout the story (if at all)?
• What do other characters say about them? Can their words be trusted?
• Where is the character physically and emotionally? What brought them here?
• What is the character ready to do to achieve their goal?

Now, let’s look at the character of Franklin from the short story Just Before the War with the Eskimos by J.D. Salinger:

Character Profile Template for Writing

When writing your essay, use this character analysis template:

In the following sections, we’ll discuss each step in detail.

Character Analysis Outline: How to Start a Character Analysis

The beginning of your essay is its crucial part. It sets the mood and grabs the reader’s attention. There are many different ways to write a character analysis introduction, but here are the most effective ones:

• Use a quotation. It’s a great way to make a catchy hook. If it relates to the character and reflects their nature, it can also help to set the tone for analysis. In case you are using a quotation from somewhere else, mention the source in parentheses.
• Talk about the book or story. Mention the author, the name of the story, and the genre. Briefly describe the main events that are taking place in the story.
• Introduce the character. State their role in the story (define whether they are a protagonist, an antagonist, etc.) Then, explain whether the character is static or dynamic. Finally, describe them in 2-3 sentences.

The final part of an introduction is a thesis statement.Read on to learn how to write one!

Character Analysis Thesis Statement & Examples

A thesis is the key component of every essay, and character analysis is not an exception. It’s crucial to develop a good and clear thesis statement that includes all the aspects of your paper. For instance, if you plan to write a 4-paragraph body, including 4 points in your thesis.

What should a character analysis thesis include? Well, try to think of any trait that the character possesses that has to do with their downfall or somehow influences the story. Think about how this trait affects the character’s relationship with others or how it contributes to their motive or aspiration.

Take a look at the following examples:

How to Write Character Analysis Paragraphs for the Main Body

The main body of your essay can include as many paragraphs as you need. In this part, you introduce the character and analyze them. We have already talked in this article about what kind of questions should be answered in these paragraphs. The most important points are:

• Describe the character and their role within the story.
• Give the audience an explanation of the character’s motives.
• Show what message the author wanted to convey through this character.

Keep in mind that every paragraph should have a topic sentence that captures its main idea.

Tsukuru Tazaki’s spiritual rebirth also affects his physical appearance.

Character Analysis Conclusion: How to Write

The conclusion part of your essay summarizes all the information you have mentioned and restates the thesis. Here is some advice for your conclusion paragraph:

🖥️ Character Analysis Essay Format

Most college assignments and essays are written according to the APA or MLA format. Both styles have the same formatting, which requires:

• a double-spaced paper with 1-inch margins,
• a page header with page numbers flush right,
• an 11-12-point font.

While writing an essay on characters, pay special attention to quotations. Here are some tips for APA in-text citations:

• When you summarize or paraphrase the information, mention the author’s name and publication date in brackets. Example: According to Collins (1997.)
• When you quote directly from the source, add the number of the page, as well. Example: “There is a view that…” (Collins, 1997, pp. 134-135.)
• If the source includes three or more authors, use the abbreviation “et al.” after the first author’s name. Example: (Collins et al., 1997)

As for MLA format:

• You can write the author’s name in the sentence. Example: As Collins mentions in his essay<…>.
• You can mention the author’s name in the parentheses at the end of the sentence. Example: (Collins, J.K.)
• The last option is to use either footnotes or endnotes.

Below you’ll find a collection of character analysis essay examples and a downloadable sample to inspire you even more.

• The Grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Character Analysis
• Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman: Character Analysis
• Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway: Character Analysis
• Prospero in The Tempest: Character Analysis
• Agamemnon in the Iliad: Character Analysis
• Lord Pococurante in Candide: Character Analysis
• Andromache in the Iliad: Character Analysis
• Character Analysis of the Knight from The Canterbury Tales
• Essay on Soldier’s Home: Analysis of the Characters

Character Analysis Example (Downloadable)

Roald Dahl’s  Matilda  is one of the most famous children’s novels of the 20th century. The protagonist of this tale is Matilda Wormwood, a five and a half-year-old girl with a brilliant and lively mind that distances her from the rest of the family. Matilda’s character is particularly interesting as she has a powerful personality with extraordinary mental abilities, and she manages to overcome all the obstacles that surround her.

Character Analysis Essay Topics

• Character analysis of Abbas from A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge .
• Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• Beowulf and Hamlet: similarity and diversity of the characters.
• Personal and social failures of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
• Character analysis of Othello.
• Analyze the characters of Stanley and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire .
• The tragedy of Mathilde Loisel from The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant.
• Character analysis of Huck Finn from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
• Moral force of Kate Lipton from Double Helix by Nancy Parker.
• Character analysis of Thorvald and Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House .
• Discuss the character of king Creon in Antigone .
• Analyze the personality of Lydia from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice .
• Compare Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• Describe the peculiarities of Lord Pococurante in Candide .
• Sarty Snopes in William Faulkner’s Barn Burning : character analysis.
• Analyze the character of Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman.
• Personality of Nora in A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen.
• Examine the main characters of The Yellow Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
• Personality change of the main character in Edgar Alan Poe’s The Black Cat .
• Analyze the characters of E. Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place .
• Describe the main characters of the novel The Overstory by Richard Powers.
• Controversial personality of Vladek in Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman.
• Character analysis of Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
• Discuss the character of Creon in Oedipus the King .
• The manipulative character of Iago in Willian Shakespeare’s Othello .
• Analyze the characters of Nil and Kristine in A Doll’s House .
• Eccentricity of Grendel’s character in Beowulf .
• Describe the main characters of Four Summers by Joyce Carol Oates.
• Examine the characters of Harold Krebs and his mother in Ernest Hemingway’s Soldier’s Home .
• Analyze common and different traits of the characters in The Monkey’s Paw .
• Character peculiarities of Rostam and Sohrab in Shahnameh by Ferdowsi Tousi.
• How does the character of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen differ from the rest of her family?
• The behavior and meaning of the characters in Nicholas Rowe’s The Tragedy of Jane Shore.
• Compare the characters of Victor Frankenstein and the monster in Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.
• Discuss the differences of main characters in Everyday Use by Alice Walker.
• Examine the character of Connie in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates.
• The influence of social pressure on the characters of Chopin’s Desirée’s Baby and Sedaris’ A Modest Proposal .
• Dynamic feminist characters of Delia and Jig in Sweat by Z. Hurston and Hills Like White Elephants by E. Hemingway.
• Analyze the personality traits of Emily in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily .
• Examine the characters of The Quiet American by Graham Greene.
• Henry ΙV by William Shakespeare : analysis of main characters.

Now you know everything necessary for writing an excellent character analysis. What character would you like to analyze? Let us know in the comments!

Further reading:

• How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Step by Step
• Literature Review Outline: Examples, Approaches, & Templates
• Library Research Paper: Example & Writing Guide [2024]
• How to Write a Critique Paper: Tips + Critique Essay Examples
• 435 Literary Analysis Essay Topics and Prompts [2024 Upd]
• How to Write a Literature Review: Actionable Tips & Links

❓ Character Analysis FAQ

A character analysis involves:

1. description of a character; 2. explanation of how they change throughout the story; 3. their role in the narrative; 4. relationships with other characters; 5. what idea the author wanted to convey through the character.

A character analysis creates a description that contains their most important qualities. It provides a new perspective of a character that reveals more about what it’s like to be human. It can also point to a moral or a lesson.

Literary analysis uses the technique of tracing the character development. This technique is usually used to understand the theme of the work better. Through tracing a character’s development, we can learn more about the story’s message and how it’s conveyed.

A summary paragraph in a character study should include answers to the questions “what,” “who,” “where,” and “why.” You should mention who narrates the story, where the story is set, its theme, and the message it conveys.

• Critical Concepts: Character and Characterization: Kansas State University
• Analyzing Novels & Short Stories: Texas A&M University
• Guidelines for Writing a Character Analysis Essay: Tidewater Communite College
• Literary Criticism: Thesis Examples: The University of Texas at Arlington
• Writing a Literary Analysis Paper: Germanna Community College
• Flat and Round Characters: Encyclopedia Britannica
• Literature: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• How to Write a Book Analysis: Kean University
• Elements of Literary Analysis: Alamo Colleges District
• Defining Characterization: Read Write Think
• APA Style: General Format: Purdue University
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Character Analysis Guide: Master Literature

What is character analysis, how to identify characteristics of a character, how to analyze character development, how to analyze character interactions, how to analyze character motivations, how to analyze character influence on plot, how to analyze character influence on theme, how to analyze character arc and transformation.

• How to write character analysis essay

Picture your favorite book. Now, think about the characters that brought that story to life. Their actions, thoughts, and words paint a vivid picture in our minds, don't they? Well, the secret to understanding those characters, as well as the heart of the story, lies in mastering the art of analyzing characterization in literature. It's like a fun detective game where you gather clues about characters to uncover the deeper layers of the story. Let's jump right in!

Character analysis is a fascinating journey into the heart of a story. It's about looking closely at each character and understanding their traits, roles, and experiences. Imagine you are a detective and the character is a puzzle waiting to be solved. You're not just reading about who they are on the surface, but you're digging into their actions, words, and thoughts to see what makes them tick. Here's how you do it:

• Identify the character's traits: These are the qualities that make a character who they are. It could be anything from being brave, clever, kind, or stubborn.
• Understand their role in the story: Every character plays a part in moving the story forward. They could be the hero, the sidekick, the villain, or even the comic relief.
• Examine the conflicts they experience: Characters often face challenges or conflicts. How they deal with these situations can reveal a lot about their personality and growth.

Remember, analyzing characterization in literature isn't just about listing facts about the character. It's about understanding them in a way that brings the story to life. It's about seeing how they change, how they interact with others, and how they influence the plot and themes of the story. There's a whole world to explore within each character, so let's get started!

So, you're ready to start analyzing characterization in literature, and the first step is to identify the characteristics of a character. But how do you do it? Here is a straightforward plan:

• Observe their actions: What a character does can tell you a lot about who they are. For example, if a character always stands up for others, they're likely brave and compassionate.
• Pay attention to their words: Dialogue can reveal a lot about a character's personality, beliefs, and relationships with others. For instance, a character who always speaks kindly to others is likely a nice person.
• Consider their thoughts and feelings: Sometimes, a character's inner world — their thoughts and feelings — can tell you more about them than their actions or words.
• Take into account their appearance: How a character dresses or looks can give you clues about their personality or their role in the story.

Identifying characteristics is like collecting puzzle pieces about a character. It's not just about noting what you see or read, but about putting those pieces together to get a fuller picture of who the character really is. So, keep those detective glasses on and let's continue our journey in analyzing characterization in literature.

Now that you've got the basics down, let's move on to analyzing character development. This involves observing how a character changes and grows throughout the story. Here's the scoop:

• Track the character's journey: Look at where the character started at the beginning of the story and where they end up. Have they grown? Have they learned something new? Have their beliefs or attitudes changed? This can give you a sense of their development.
• Analyze key events: Major events in the story often trigger changes in characters. Examine these closely and consider how the character reacted, what choices they made, and how it affected them.
• Consider relationships: Relationships can greatly influence a character's development. How a character interacts with others, their reactions, and the changes in their relationships can all signify growth or change.

Remember, not all characters will develop or change in a story—that's okay. Some characters are static, meaning they stay the same throughout the story. Others are dynamic, meaning they undergo significant changes. Both are important and understanding this is a key part of analyzing characterization in literature.

Let's dive into another important part of analyzing characterization in literature: examining character interactions. This is all about how characters relate to each other. Let's break this down:

• Observe dialogues: So much can be uncovered from the way characters talk to each other. Do they argue? Are they supportive? Do they joke around? Dialogues can reveal a lot about relationships between characters.
• Look at their actions: Actions can speak louder than words. If a character helps another in a tough situation, or perhaps the opposite, betrays them, it can tell you much about their relationship and interactions.
• Consider their influence: Characters often influence each other's decisions and behaviors. If a character changes because of another, it shows the power and effect of their interaction.

When analyzing character interactions, it's important to note that these interactions can change over time—just like in real life. Characters can start off as friends and end up as enemies, or vice versa. Understanding these changing dynamics can give you a deeper understanding of the characters and the story as a whole.

It's time to explore the driving forces behind characters' actions. Understanding character motivations is a key part of analyzing characterization in literature. Here's what you need to watch out for:

• Desires and Goals: What does the character want more than anything? This could be anything from a physical object, a relationship, a change in their life, or even the resolution of a mystery. Their ultimate goal will heavily influence their actions.
• Fears and Worries: On the flip side, what does the character want to avoid? Fears and worries can be as motivating as desires and goals. They can push the character to take risks or to make safe choices.
• Values and Beliefs: What does the character believe in? What are their morals? These deeply held values can guide a character's decisions, even when they conflict with their desires or fears.

Remember, motivations can evolve as the story progresses. Characters might change their minds, achieve their goals, or face new fears. Keeping track of these changes can help you understand not just the characters, but also the bigger themes and messages of the story.

The plot of a story isn't just something that happens—it's often driven by the actions and decisions of its characters. That's why analyzing characterization in literature includes understanding how characters influence the plot. Here's how you can do it:

• Actions: Look at the key events in the story. How many of them are caused directly by the character's actions? A character who frequently makes things happen is likely to have a significant influence on the plot.
• Decisions: Similarly, consider the character's decisions. How do they affect the story's direction? Remember, a decision isn't always about doing something—sometimes, the decision to do nothing can be equally impactful!
• Reactions: Even passive characters can influence the plot through their reactions. How do other characters and events in the story change as a result of this character's responses? This can give you clues about their indirect influence on the plot.

As you can see, a character's influence on the plot goes beyond their actions. It's about how they shape the world around them, and how the world, in turn, shapes them. This give-and-take is a vital part of analyzing characterization in literature, and it can reveal a lot about the story's deeper meanings.

When analyzing characterization in literature, one often overlooked aspect is how characters can embody and influence the theme of the story. Themes are the underlying messages or big ideas of a story, and characters play a crucial role in expressing these. So how do you analyze a character's influence on theme? Here's a simple guide:

• Beliefs: What does the character believe in? Their beliefs can often mirror the theme of the story. For instance, if a character strongly believes in forgiveness, the theme of the story may revolve around redemption.
• Speech: The way a character speaks can reflect the theme. For example, a character who frequently talks about freedom and independence might hint at a theme of personal liberty.
• Behavior: How does the character behave? Do they consistently act in a way that supports the theme? In a story themed around courage, you might find a character who consistently stands up for what they believe in, no matter the cost.

Remember, characters are often vehicles for the author's themes. By diving into a character's beliefs, speech, and behavior, you can gain a deeper understanding of the story's larger messages. And that's the beauty of analyzing characterization in literature—it's not just about understanding the characters, but also the world they inhabit and the ideas they represent.

Another fascinating aspect of analyzing characterization in literature is the character arc and transformation. A character's arc is the journey they go through, the changes they undergo from the start of the story to the end. This can provide a wealth of insight into not only the character but also the story's overall message. Let's take a look at how to analyze this aspect:

• Identify the starting point: Where does the character begin in the story? Are they timid, confident, naive, cynical? This initial characterization sets the stage for their journey.
• Track the changes: As the story progresses, how does the character change? Do they become more confident? Do they lose their innocence? Identifying these changes can help you understand the character arc.
• Understand the catalysts: What events or experiences prompt these changes in the character? The reasons behind a character's transformation can be as revealing as the changes themselves.
• Analyze the end point: Where does the character end up at the end of the story? How do they differ from the character we met at the beginning? Assessing the end point of the character's journey can provide insight into the overall theme of the story.

Character transformation is one of the most compelling aspects of a story. It's what makes us root for characters, mourn their losses, and celebrate their victories. By analyzing a character's arc, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of storytelling and the power of character development in literature.

How to write a character analysis essay

Now that we've covered the intricate process of analyzing characterization in literature, let's apply this knowledge to the final step: writing a character analysis essay. This task may seem daunting at first, but don't worry, we're in this together. Here's how you can approach it:

• Choose your character: Start by selecting the character you want to analyze. It could be a major character or a minor one—whatever sparks your interest!
• Identify key characteristics: Next, list down the key characteristics of your chosen character. Remember, these can include physical attributes, personality traits, and even their habits and quirks!
• Analyze character development: How does your character change over the course of the story? What experiences or events lead to these changes? This is where your understanding of character arcs comes into play.
• Consider character interactions: Look at how your character interacts with others. These interactions can reveal a lot about your character's motivations and their role in the story.
• Examine influence on plot and theme: How does your character influence the plot and the theme of the story? Their actions, decisions, and transformations can have significant impacts on the storyline and the underlying messages of the text.
• Organize your thoughts: Before you start writing, create an outline for your essay. This will help you structure your thoughts and ensure a smooth flow of ideas.
• Write, review, and revise: Now it's time to bring it all together! Write your essay, then take some time to review and revise it. Make sure your analysis is clear, your arguments are well-supported, and your writing is engaging.

And there you have it! With these steps, you're well on your way to writing a stellar character analysis essay. Remember, the goal is not to simply describe your character, but to delve into their personality, their changes, their motivations, and their impact on the story. So go ahead, flex those analytical muscles and dive into the wonderful world of character analysis!

If you enjoyed our Character Analysis Guide and want to dive deeper into the world of creating compelling characters, be sure to check out the workshop ' Creating Characters: The Design Process ' by Kit Buss. This workshop will provide you with valuable insights on how to design unique and memorable characters for your stories, further enhancing your understanding of literature.

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A character analysis is a type of essay that requires you to analyze and evaluate the characteristics, traits, motivations, and decisions of a literary character. It involves closely examining such aspects as their personality, thoughts, behavior, and development. You should further explain how a character contributes to the overall meaning of the work.

When writing a character analysis essay, it is important to think critically and look beyond basic understanding of the character. For example, instead of simply describing their physical traits or explaining what happens in the plot, focus on how the characters think, feel, and interact with other characters. Examine the motivations behind their decisions and actions, as well as how they reflect a larger theme or idea in the work. 

In this blog, we will explain how to write a character analysis essay. You will find a strtucture, outline and step-by-step guidelines along with examples.

If you don’t have much time for reading, we’ve got an easy solution for you. Entrust your assignment to essay writing services by StudyCrumb and get a custom paper tailored to your specific requirements.  

What Is a Character Analysis Essay?

The main task of a character analysis essay is showing in detail key characteristics and certain person’s traits. Essay includes not just ordinary situations. It shows possible occasions for describing fictives fully and circumstantial. This type of essay helps understand how a hero will act in this or that situation, why would he do so, what were his reasons for these deeds? Analysis helps in figuring out what role a person plays in a story: great one or just secondary. Moreover, knowing the needed words of an analysis essay will enlarge students’ spoken literature.  

What Is a Purpose of Character Analysis Essay?

Main purpose of a character analysis essay is helping the reader understand who's the bad one and who is among the good guys. This helps catch the idea of the story from the beginning. Knowing how a hero acts in this or that separate case, speaks a lot about his point of view. Essay divides all characters into main and minor ones. Detailed character analysis essay helps readers understand the nature of personages from an early beginning. Very often the story has several chapters, so the reader could discover much about a certain person from his doings/opinions.  

Types of Character Using in Character Analysis Essay

While writing a character analysis essay, students have to remember two central personages: protagonist (key person) and antagonist. These are the main ones. The most striking roles are divided between them. Additional (minor) figures:  

• confidante.

Each hero has special traits and behaviors. The round one is described as a person of passion having depth in feelings. Foil one is opposite one to positive, main one. Flat one is another side of round one: no vivid emotions, no changes while the story is being told. Use our  college essay writing service to turn in the best character analysis your instructor has ever seen.

Protagonist — The Main Character

Protagonist in character analysis essays is the main story’s hero. This is a person all situations revolve around. They are the bearer of truth, the spokesman for the author's ideas, the main drive behind the plot. They don't have to even be a positive hero. After all, there is also an antihero - a protagonist with morally ambiguous or straight-up negative traits. Protagonist is a key figure, all other personages are considered minor ones. For better understanding of the protagonist, consider these examples: Romeo and Juliet, Katniss («Hunger Games»), Harry Potter, MacBeth. You can also consider Walter White («Breaking Bad»), Dexter Morgan («Dexter») and Hannibal Lecter («The Silence of the Lambs») to be antiheroes. All these examples are dynamic.  

Antagonist — Character in the Opposite Position

Antagonist in character analysis essays is an opposite one to the protagonist. This type of character belongs to the dark side. Often, this can be a jealous, envious, bad, villain gossip person. They don't have to be the one ruining good protagonist’s plans, but they alway get in hero's way. Actually, there may even be more than one antagonist who may become hindrance for the protagonist. And if they are neutral in present, in the nearest future they will show their nature. Opposition between both protagonists and antagonists is clearly seen throughout the whole story. There is, of course, a catch. As with protagonists, there's more to know about antagonists' traits. After all, an anti-villain is also a thing! Basically it's when an antagonist has some heroic traits or can be sympathized with. One can also say that it's that type of person who has good intentions or their goal is pretty good, but their methods took a very wrong turn at some point. Othello, Captain Hook and Lord Voldemort — great antagonists’ examples. And those like John Silver, Khan («Star Trek») and Erik Lensherr («The X-Man») can be called anti-villain basically.  

Major Characters

Major characters in character analysis essays are those who create a story. They play main (and clearly - important) parts, and have key roles. They make a so-called key set of personages. They are close confidants to the protagonist. If some conflict appears, major figures are mentioned first. Robinson Crusoe is a bright example.

Minor Characters

Minor characters in character analysis essays are often called supporting. They are important, but rarely are described in the story as key ones. This kind of fictives is represented by Yoda, Samwise Gamgee, Jabba the Hutt. They don’t remarkably influence the actual plot. Why flat? Because of no vivid progression.

Dynamic Characters

Talking about dynamic characters in character analysis essays - Shrek is a fine example. He is a dynamic personage because he changes: becomes softer and opens his heart to people. Fictives like him influence the story and make changes in the course of events. Their main feature: they change and grow throughout the story, making the reader sympathize with them. Another good example: Aladdin, Merida, Simba, Anakin Skywalker.

Static Characters

Static characters in character analysis essays do not change throughout whole story. They remain the same with their thoughts and opinions. Static personages are best described with the likes of Indiana Jones, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes. These personages are positive ones - though, unchangeable. Their points of view and tastes remain identical until a story ends.

Foils in character analysis essays are based on stereotypes and are opposite of main heroes. They have several key characteristics: they are wicked, distracted, conniving and scrooge. At the same time main personages are principled, focused, generous, and well-meaning. Foils are depressed and pessimistic, while main heroes — optimistic, kind, and good.

How to Analyze Characters in Character Analysis Essay?

While writing a character analysis essay, you should give a hero a general picture. Description has to grab appearance peculiarities and traits. Students must depict whether personage is good or bad. Are they pessimists or optimists? Do they have negative or positive thoughts? There are 3 main steps for analysis:  

• Describing personality.
• Determining type of protagonist.
• Defining role in story.

To explore tiny personage’s quirks, all characteristics are taken into account. Just like in any  literary analysis essay , you will need to pay special attention to literary devices that help reveal the true nature of a character.  

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay Outline?

Character analysis essay outline includes 3 main parts: introduction, body, conclusion. Below you can find short description to understand some peculiarities:

• Introduction should be meaningful and brief. After reading this piece, essay’s idea should be understood.
• Main body is one that should be divided into paragraphs with described main heroes. It should give detailed answers to different questions concerning personality and appearance. Pay attention, separate paragraph depicts what we learn from hero or situation.
• Conclusion is the one where you should draw the final line of analysis. Summarize points you've given above, loop to your thesis statement or give your reader some food for thought. Just remember that this section should be brief.

Additionally, it will be good to write how a situation changed because of main hero's influence.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?

Instruction for writing character analysis essays is based on several steps. First, read a story carefully to find a person whom you are interested in. After reading the book, students should be able to completely grasp a key idea. Next steps include:

• choosing dynamic hero ;
• taking notes;
• defining main idea;
• answering analysis questions.

Concerning last point, think over next questions:

• What is hero's value?
• What kind of emotions does your hero go through?
• Does personage have a profound impact on plot?
• What are relationships between heroes and other significant figures?

Understanding an effect that main hero has on plot, it is easy to grasp the meaning the author put in their work.

How to Begin a Character Analysis Essay?

Character analysis essay introduction is the first step to start. It should describe whole essay in miniature. It's kind of a catchy hook for readers to get interested and proceed to explore chosen book. Introduction shows a completely full story in several paragraphs. To show all necessary information, make use of the thesis statement. These are rounded with text. It is fine to describe some catchy scenes and episodes to fuel readers’ interest.  

Character Analysis Essay Body Paragraphs?

While introduction is a grand way to actually introduce the hero, character analysis essay body goal is identification of main personages features. Body should depict:

• Hero’s personality and physical appearance.
• Conflicts and ways of overcoming them.
• Lessons readers should learn.
• Meaning behind hero's actions.

Dynamic figure is key personage. Separate attention is given especially to them. Additional paragraph should describe a reader's feelings: what words are associated with a hero? Brave, modest, lucky, confident? Answers are key points to create a comprehensive description.

How to End a Character Analysis Essay?

How to write a conclusion paragraph for an essay ? Character analysis essay conclusion contains author’s point of view on course of events. Main ideas should be described shortly and clearly. Final part is a kind of review but with student's opinion. Lessons learned are described. For example, a story might teach how to live honestly, help poor people, feel merciful to others, etc. Remember that sheets’ personages teach us how to behave in real life. Many situations shown will be useful in everyday life. Hero’ deeds teach us how to cope with problems and find ways from tangled situations.  

Character Analysis Essays: Final Thoughts

A character analysis essay is used for composing lines between parallel personages. It shows the present course of events that will make sense in future. Important traits and characteristics that are depicted in the book. They have a hidden idea, some kind of lesson. Comprehensive analysis helps to understand the meaning the author wanted to shed light on. Knowing main heros’ personal characteristics helps to explain their behavior and world perception. Buy essays for college in case this assignment isn't what you wanted to do this evening.  

FAQs' for Character Analysis Essay

1. what is a good thesis statement for a character analysis essay.

Character analysis essay is saturated with essential messages. It appears at the end (in last sentence) of introductory paragraph. Its task is to inform reader about information they will get acquainted with. Every sentence has hidden meaning concerning heroes. Remember, introduction must be brief but meaningful. Student’s thesis statements should be specific — include only points that will be discussed. Good thesis statement should grab readers’ attention, make them read whole story.  

2. What kind of essay is character analysis?

A character analysis essay mostly deals with certain books’ personages, though, figures from cinematography are involved. Its task is to explain in-depth key features of personages. Antagonist and protagonist are main ones. There also exist additional ones. This kind of an essay explains behavior and state of mind. Personal traits and preferences also make up whole picture described.

3. How do you write a literary character analysis essay?

Character analysis essay demands describing chosen personage in detail. Firstly though, it is needed to determine personage’s type. Next step include turning to plot for showing examples. Students have to explain why personages decide do act that way, after all.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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• Literary Terms
• Characterization
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use Characterization

I. What is Characterization?

Characterization is a writer’s tool, or “literary device” that occurs any time the author uses details to teach us about a person. This is used over the course of a story in order to tell the tale.

Aristotle first defined characterization in the 15 th century, speaking of the importance of plot over character in Poetics , “ Tragedy is representation, not of men, but of action and life.” What he means here is that “tragedy” (or drama, meaning a story) is not centered on the thoughts, and histories, and dreams of the characters . The story is centered on what happens to them (the plot), so writers employ characterization to relay information about those thoughts, histories, and dreams, without drifting away from the action.

II. Examples of Characterization

The way a character speaks can inform us of their background and personality, like how educated they are, or what they consider to be important. Even the way other characters speak to and about our characters is a form of characterization.

In the Harry Potter series, Dobby refers to Potter as “the noble Harry Potter,” or “good Harry Potter,” which shows us how the house elf adores the young wizard. It might also be a hint of how Dobby would show affection for other people he admires.

The way a character reacts to a certain scene also teaches us about them. For example, a character who snubs a beggar has is different from a character who opens their wallet and hands over a wad of hundreds, and still there are more differences from a character who works directly with the homeless population in a city. Characterization can happen in many, many ways.

III. Types of Characterization

A. direct/explicit.

This is clearly informative, and often uses the narrator, the protagonist, or the character themselves. The narration, “Clara had always been a smug, wicked little princess,” is a form of direct or explicit characterization, as is the line of dialogue, “Nicholas will never stop until he gets what he wants! He’s crazy!”

b. Indirect/Implicit

This more subtle method of characterization relies on you, the reader, to decide for yourself what it means. Indirect or implicit characterization uses behavior, speech, and appearance, as well as the opinions of other characters. Although other characters can be used to make direct characterization (“Nicholas is crazy!”), they can also be used to make indirect characterization about themselves.

Figuring out what it all means is most of the fun, and it’s the reason fans of certain books, shows, and movies can argue about whether or not a certain character is good, or evil, or in love. They’ve interpreted the characterization differently.

c. The Importance of Characterization

Modern storytelling usually emphasizes characterization even more than classical literature. This is because characterization is a major tool in the plot-driven narrative. They can quickly connect the reader to the character, without taking them out of the action. When you’re busy moving characters from one place to another, making things happen to them, it’s clumsy to suddenly stop, get inside of Tom’s head, and drift around with his thoughts for a while. On the other hand, no one is going to truly care about a story if they don’t care about its characters, whether by love or hate or even just amusement or pity.

So, it’s very useful to balance these two areas of development. Plot and character should be developing side by side and rely upon each other, which reflects the human experience. After all, how much of our own “plots” are related to our decisions (our character), and how much of it is totally random and disconnected from what we do?

IV. Characterization in Literature

Many of the most famed manuscripts are beloved for their “strong characters,” which is another way of saying characterization. Harry Potter has already been mentioned and has many beloved characters such as Hermione or Hagrid. From The Great Gatsby to A Christmas Carol , characterization is a major facet of both classical and popular fiction.

In The Great Gatsby , the location of lower upper-class characters (East Egg) compared to the location of upper upper-class characters (West Egg) serves to characterize their financial boundary.

In A Christmas Carol , Scrooge tells a charity collector that, if the poor would rather die (than go to poor-houses), they’d better do it, and “decrease the surplus population.” This line tells us a lot about how Scrooge sees both other people and his own good fortune.

V. Examples of Characterization in Pop Culture

Characterization, like many elements of storytelling technique, is an invisible tool to most casual readers. Many craft books and classes are devoted to the subject; they help build and portray strong, flawed, and realistic characters. The main source of characterization in pop culture comes from writers, actors, directors, and other types of artists that create scripts or skits. These mediums usually help the actors form the characters seen in plays, movies, TV shows, and other similar mediums. Here are a few examples:

Even Progressive commercials, which use the recurring salesperson Flo, could be said to use this skill.

Comedians can be said to use characterization for their stage personalities, because of its intentionally staged format, which details a certain personality. Comedians like Jeff Dunham actually create multiple characters. Using his ventriloquist skills and characterization, he jokes about different subjects relevant to the character.

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, we see best-known movie characters that is a product of characterization. In the excerpt from the movie, his monologue introduces us to him, his opinions, and his plan of skipping school. More than likely, the monologue was scripted this way in order to give the audience an idea of the main character and what’s to come.

Keep in mind that although sometimes real people may seem like fictional characters—for example, rock stars or those on reality television—they are not agents of characterization unless they are being featured in a written work, such as in a magazine article, or a biographical book or film. Only in this scenario would the artist then use characterization to show personality in a manner which does not detract from the narrative (plot) itself.

VI. Related Terms

Flat, or unidimensional.

These terms are used to criticize characters who are poorly characterized, or poorly developed. Oftentimes, they speak in ways that don’t sound realistic, and are considered to be stereotypes . For example, the busy housewife could easily be called unidimensional. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have characters who seem to be stereotypes, but it does mean that they need to not be stereotypes upon closer examination. Perhaps the busy housewife loves to blow off steam with hiking and camping, instead of with a “spa day” that might just reinforce the stereotype.

Coined by Carl Jung, this refers to a set of twelve character types which (supposedly) exist across cultural boundaries and eras of time. Many writers consult these archetypes , but don’t rely on them alone. The twelves archetypes are: the Hero, the Caregiver, the Explorer, the Rebel, the Lover, the Creator, the Jester, the Innocent, the Sage, the Magician, the Orphan, and the Ruler.

VII. Conclusion

Characterization is one of the main building blocks of fiction today, no matter what genre or media the story uses. Anything that teaches the audience about your character is characterization, but the most common methods are through concrete action, dialogue, description, and the actions, thoughts, and words of the other characters in regards to the characterized character.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay in 7 Steps

To analyze a character in a story (whether it’s a book or film) essentially means to discuss three things:

• What the character was like before the adventure
• How the character responded to the inevitable challenges 
• How the character transformed as a result of the adventure

It is very rare that a character in a story doesn’t change. An example of that would be the film The Remains of the Day where the main character never changes. That movie was a bit disappointing 🙂

The most interesting part of any story is what happens to its characters – how they transform as a result of facing difficulties in pursuit of a goal or while trying to solve a problem:

• Rocky faces a world champion to turn from a boxing mediocrity into a respected warrior and athlete
• Mulan helps defeat a fearsome invader to go from an awkward bride to a national heroine 
• Harry Potter must face inner and outer demons to turn from a troubled schoolboy into a real wizard

If you were to write an essay about any of these characters, these would be some of the likely central points in your paper. And in this tutorial, I will show you how to go about the process.

I’m Tutor Phil, and without further ado, let me take you through the…

7 Steps to Writing a Character Analysis Essay

Step 1. Choose the character you will write about

You may already have a pretty good idea of which character you want to write about. Or, perhaps your instructor has given you a prompt with a pre-selected character. 

If not, here are a few tips on choosing a character.

Make sure the character gets ample time and space in the story. Don’t choose a character that barely appears in the book or movie. Pick either the main character or a secondary character who gets a lot of attention from the author. 

You can choose a protagonist or an antagonist. The protagonist is the “good” guy or gal, and the antagonist is the anti-hero. You can analyze either one because both are very important characters in the story.

Choose a character who captivates your imagination. The better your emotional connection to the character, the easier it will be to write about them. If you have more than one story to choose from, pick your favorite character from any of the stories. 

These tips will ensure that you have enough material to write an essay. And let’s pick our character for the purposes of this tutorial. 

The character I’m choosing is the Beast from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (the animated feature). I absolutely love this animated film, and this also happens to be my favorite story ever.

The Beauty and the Beast as a story appears in many (almost all if not all) cultures of the world in one form or another. But we’ll focus on the Beast in Disney’s animated version because he’s a fascinating hero who undergoes an amazing transformation. 

Step 2. Read (or watch) the story again while taking notes

Even if you have already read the book or watched the movie, go through it again after picking your character. 

This time around, you’ll notice a lot more about this character than you did on the first reading or viewing. If it’s a movie, just watch the whole thing over while taking notes.

If it’s a long novel, you can reread only the key parts that are relevant to your character and what you might write about them. 

Character Qualities and Traits You Can Discuss

Let me give you a list of qualities and character traits you can notice and make notes about as you’re revisiting the story. 

Keep in mind that you can choose any one of these as your main subject in the essay. In the next step, we’ll do exactly that. We’ll also pick another one or more of these as supporting ideas.

So, make sure to take notes that are relevant to any of these aspects of character because they’ll be useful to you as you write the essay. 

Aspects of a Character

• Transformation (how the character changes)
• Strengths and special abilities
• Position/Status and how it changes
• Physical appearance and traits
• Psychological makeup
• Role in the overall message of the story

Additional elements to jot down

Quotations. Make sure to note the exact page number or time stamp in the film because you’ll need that when citing the quotation. Dialog can often reveal clues to the inner world of the character. 

Patterns of behavior. If any of the character’s behavior repeats, that is a clue to a character quality or trait. You may notice that a certain pattern of behavior occurs in more than one character. This is a possible theme you can explore in your essay.

Changes in attitude. If the character does something that is not like their typical behavior, that’s a clue to a transformation. It is interesting to learn why this character said or did something new and different. The character may be showing courage or decisiveness. 

Example of Note-taking

Here is an example of the kind of notes I would take as I’m rewatching Beauty and the Beast :

• The Beast starts out chronically angry. But he calms down as time progresses and he makes progress in his courtship of Belle. 
• The Beast is extremely strong physically
• He also proves to be generous when he gifts the library to Belle
• He is also gentle when he learns how to dance
• The Beast is under a magic spell (a curse)
• He has serious anger issues
• He seems extremely possessive
• He has all the qualities of a prince except the human form
• He exhibits extreme boundaries and prohibits Belle from visiting certain parts of the castle 
• The Beast looks like some kind of a furious animal resembling a lion
• He’s not exactly ugly. But he’s scary and intimidating. 
• He must experience real love before the last petal falls off a rose in his secret room in order to turn back into a human being
• The Beast has anger issues
• He is possessive and has strong boundaries of what is permissible and what is not
• He does not really believe that he can make the curse dispel 
• He is easily frustrated
• His curse came about as a result of arrogance and lack of kindness and compassion, so he has to deal with that, as well
• The Beast must overcome himself in order to become human. Perhaps the message of the story is that in order to be a real human being, you must overcome flaws that prevent you from experiencing real love.
• This last point sounds like a good potential main subject/idea for the essay.

Completing this step will provide you with enough ideas to write an essay of any length. 

Step 3. Choose the main and supporting aspects of the character

In this step you’re really deciding what your essay will be about. Yes, it will be about this character you’ve chosen. But now you need to narrow down your subject matter. 

If you try to write about everything about this character, your essay will seem like it’s about nothing. This is why you really want to pick your main subject, which is something about the character that is going to be the main theme of the essay.

You also want to pick several supporting (lesser) ideas that will help you discuss this character. 

A great thing about this process is that by the time you get through Step 2, you will probably already have a pretty good idea of your main and your supporting points.

Ideas begin bubbling as you take notes. You begin to notice patterns and discern the bigger and the smaller ideas. 

But this step is designed specifically for you to go over your notes and write down two things:

• The main idea you’ll probably turn into the main point in your essay
• Three or more supporting ideas

Here is how to do it in practice. All you need to do is create a simple bulleted list. In this list, the first one or more items will be the bigger ideas. And the second level will contain the smaller, supporting ideas. 

Let’s do it, using our example of the Beast:

• The Beast’s role in delivering the message of the story 
• He is under a magic spell (a curse)
• He seems very possessive
• He is scary
• He is clumsy
• He has enormous physical strength 
• He is generous deep inside 
• He can be gentle
• He lacks self-confidence
• He doubts his ability to experience love
• He has great difficulty controlling his anger

As you complete this step, don’t worry if some of your ideas overlap among these categories or if you seem to repeat some of the points. You’ll sort it all out and get total clarity in the next step.

These first steps are really a brain dump. In Step 3, you simply sift through your initial notes and attempt to bring some order your thoughts. Don’t try to be perfect. Just do it.

Step 4. Take a stand and write down your main point

This is where you must decide on what exactly you’ll be arguing in your essay. This is why it’s probably the most important step of all. Your main point is your thesis. 

A thesis is one main idea usually expressed in one sentence. 

A thesis statement is a full statement that contains the entire argument, including the thesis and the supporting ideas. 

Here’s a short video I made to explain the distinction between a thesis and a thesis statement:

In this step, we’re just writing out the main point in one sentence. We’ll write the entire thesis statement in the next step. 

And we have everything we need to write our sample thesis. We have identified the biggest ideas and the smaller, supporting ideas in the previous step.

Now, we need to focus on the bigger ideas, choose one of them or put two of them together into one, and write it down.

Let’s do it, using our example of the Beast. 

Character Analysis Thesis Example

Let’s think aloud a little:

We have our two big ideas that we identified in the previous step:

• The Beast’s transformation – he must conquer his own anger in order to regain the human form

These are just topics; they are only subjects. We must now turn them into one complete sentence. 

It looks like the Beast must overcome something within himself in order to be human again.  

Can we be a little more specific? We can borrow an idea or two from the supporting, smaller ideas to clarify the main point.

Well, the Beast is cursed, and to lift the curse, he must overcome himself. 

Okay, good. We’re getting there. Let’s add a little more specificity, and the thesis should come out great.

“The Beast must overcome his own anger, lack of compassion, and self-doubt in order to experience love that would lift the curse and turn him back into a human.”  

Bingo! I think we got it. This thesis is virtually flawless:

• The subject is clear – the essay will be about the Beast
• We know exactly what to say about him 
• The reader now has a clear idea of the overall argument of this essay
• This sentence summarizes this essay completely and perfectly.

And that’s exactly what a thesis for a character analysis is supposed to do. Now, we’re ready to write the introductory paragraph which will include the complete thesis statement. 

Step 5. Write the introductory paragraph

Note that a character analysis is really an expository essay. This means that the structure of a character analysis is that of an expository (or an argumentative) essay.

And here is a diagram that depicts the structure of an introductory paragraph:

The first sentence is purely introductory. Its job is to pull the reader into the subject matter of the essay.

The next sentence is the main point. And we just wrote it, so we have this most important part of the paragraph ready to include in the opening paragraph.

Finally, the next one or more sentences must list the supporting points in some detail while still keeping the paragraph very general. That’s because we’ll be digging into the details in the body of the essay. But the intro paragraph should be general. 

Before we get to the introductory sentence, let’s see if we have everything we need to write the rest of the thesis statement. Do we have the supporting points?

It just so happens that our thesis contains three wonderful supporting points that we’ll explore in the essay in detail. Why three?

Well, I usually recommend having three supporting ideas that will correspond with three main sections of pretty much any argumentative paper. I call this the Power of Three:

Why do I use it? Remember what we did in Steps 2 and 3? We listed all the elements of our character and enumerated all the possible ideas we could write about. 

Well, if we don’t set a limit for how many supporting ideas we’ll use, we can end up wandering forever, trying to structure this essay. 

If you go over three supporting points, then the overall structure of the essay won’t be clear to you, and you’ll waste a lot of time and effort trying to organize it.

But if you decide that you’ll have three supporting ideas – no more and no less – this makes your life so much easier. All you need to do is decide. And it’s easy – the Power of Three works!

As I was writing the main point, I already kept the Power of Three in mind because, after all, I’m the one who came up with it 🙂

I use it in almost every essay and article I write, so at this point it’s just second nature to me and will become to you as well the more you use it. 

So, what are the three supporting ideas in this essay? Here they are:

• Lack of compassion

These are three qualities, character traits, or emotional energies which the Beast must overcome in himself in order to experience love and achieve his goal of regaining humanity.

Do you see how this works? Now that we know exactly what we mean to say in the introductory paragraph, let’s write it out.

Example of a Character Analysis Introductory Paragraph

“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is a story of a miraculous transformation that must be gained through hard work. The Beast must overcome his own lack of compassion, his anger, and self-doubt in order to experience love that would lift the curse and turn him back into a human. The lack of compassion caused the initial disaster, and the Beast must get in touch with his kindness and generosity to remove the root cause of the curse. He must learn to control his anger because if he doesn’t he won’t have a chance to win Belle’s heart. And he must overcome self-doubt as the final obstacle to true love because faith in love is its ultimate test.”

Let’s Examine this Paragraph

So, what have we done here? The first sentence, just like the diagram instructs, is introductory. It doesn’t state the main point – that’s the function of the next sentence, which is the thesis.

The first sentence simply pulls the reader into the essay by stating what it is about in very general terms. We could have written an intro that would be even more general. But this sentence works. 

Remember – you can actually start your essay directly with the thesis. The only reason I teach my students to include an introductory sentence is that teachers and professors expect some sort of an introduction. So, just write it.

But immediately after the intro, we need to state the thesis – the main point. And we do it perfectly well in this paragraph. We wrote this sentence in the previous step, so we know exactly what it states.

Finally, and this is part three of the paragraph, we enumerate the three supporting points that help the reader see how we plan to go about supporting the main point.

We first talk about the lack of compassion, then about the Beast’s anger, and then about his self-doubt. And guess what – that’s exactly how we’ll structure this essay. 

In fact, our thesis statement is the outline of our essay. Let’s take a look. 

Character Analysis Sample Outline

As you can see, we have three main sections, each of which can be a paragraph or more, depending on how many words you need to write.

If you have to write up to about 600 words, then a five-paragraph structure will work great. If you have to write more, then each of the main sections will simply contain more than one paragraph.

But let’s keep things simple here and assume that we’re writing a five-paragraph essay of about 600 words. Then, we can distribute our word count this way:

• Introductory paragraph (75 words)
• Body paragraph 1 (150 words)
• Body paragraph 2 (150 words)
• Body paragraph 3 (150 words)
• Conclusion (75 words) 

If we add these up, we’ll get 600 words. Now that we have our introductory paragraph that has given us the main point and the overall structure, we’re ready to write the body of the essay.

Step 6. Write the body of the analysis

The body of a character analysis essay consists of paragraphs of a particular structure. Because we know that an analysis is an argumentative essay, each body paragraph should be structured in a certain way. 

Here’s a diagram of how to structure a body paragraph:

A body paragraph in an expository essay, just like the essay itself, must proceed from general to specific. 

The first sentence in a body paragraph is the lead sentence. It is the most general sentence in the paragraph. It functions just like a thesis does in an essay – it opens and summarizes the contents of the paragraph perfectly.

Then comes the next most general part of the paragraph – the explanation. Here, you should explain a process or describe how or why the point in the lead sentence is true. 

And finally, we have the most specific part of the paragraph, which is one or more examples. Examples are the most interesting and exciting part both for the writer and for the reader because they contain all the details.

Let’s write a body paragraph for our essay. We’ll pick the first body paragraph – the one about the lack of compassion in the Beast.

Character Analysis Body Paragraph Example

“Since the lack of compassion caused the witch to cast the spell, the Beast must discover kindness and generosity within himself to eliminate the root cause of the curse. His lack of kindness and compassion is his original sin. The animated movie opens with a sequence that reveals what happened to the prince that led to him losing his human form. An old woman asked for shelter from the rain, but the prince mocked her and refused her request. She then turned into a beautiful sorceress and punished him by casting a spell, condemning the prince to the form of a beast until he can experience reciprocated love. Unfortunately for him, the Beast retains the lack of compassion well into the middle of the story. He becomes enraged when he has another visitor – Belle’s father – while the weather outside is horrible. This echoes the initial refusal of shelter. He does the same with Belle when he gives her a number of prohibitions. He refuses her food and comfort unless she meets certain conditions. In other words, it looks like he has not learned a thing since the spell was cast.”

Body Paragraph Analysis

What have we done in this paragraph? First, we started with the lead sentence. The way you can write it is just by lifting it straight from the thesis statement and changing it around. 

That’s because the lead sentence is essentially an equivalent of one of the supporting points in the thesis statement. Just take that supporting point, change or expand it a little, and it will make a perfect lead sentence for a body paragraph.

Next, we provide an explanation. We explain why it is necessary for the Beast to conquer his lack of compassion. This was the reason he came under the spell. 

So, he must learn from that experience and eliminate this character trait. If he fails to do that, he’ll never gain Belle’s love and will never turn back into a human. 

Finally, we show that the Beast seemingly hasn’t learned a thing because he shows no hospitality or kindness to Belle and her father in the beginning. This means that he has a problem he must overcome. 

Once we’ve shown this, the paragraph has served its function, and we can move on to the next paragraph. 

To write the body of the essay, all we need to do is write it one body paragraph at a time, following the structure in the diagram. Once this is done, we’re ready for the final step. 

Step 7. Write the conclusion

The simplest and time-proven way to write a conclusion is to restate what you already wrote. In a sense, your conclusion is pretty much your thesis statement rewritten using different words.

Let’s write out our conclusion, and you’ll see what I mean:

“To conclude, the Beast is a prisoner of his own character flaws. His lack of kindness and compassion, his rage, and his self-doubt stand in his way of dispelling the curse and becoming human again. Early in the story, he displays each of these character flaws as if he never learned his lessons from what happened to him. And he must overcome each of these traits one by one in order to get in touch with the best in him, experience love, and achieve liberation from the terrible spell.”

As you can see, we’re not saying anything new here. We’re simply restating what has already been said in the essay. And it works in most cases. 

Some instructors will want you to do more in a conclusion. So, my advice is to approach your instructor and ask her what she prefers. This way you’ll know for sure. 

If you want to learn more ways to write conclusions, here’s a great tutorial I wrote . 

Guess what – we’re done, and I hope this was helpful! Now go ahead and write your own amazing character analysis essay.

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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• My Storyboards

Character Analysis Essays

Without characters, there is no story. Without depth, the characters don't always contribute enough to the story, if at all. While character maps allow readers to track information about each character while reading, a character analysis lets them go deeper into the role they play in the story, the conflicts they encounter, and their traits, whether external or internal.

Writing a Character Analysis

Usually character analyses are a more in-depth assignment or short essay that require the student to think critically about one or more characters and make inferences from a careful reading of the text. It helps to have ways to visually organize the different parts of a character analysis with storyboards, graphic organizers, or with a character analysis worksheet . From there, the student can formulate their essay!

Defining the role, or function, of a character is an important first step. Are they the protagonist? The antagonist? The mentor? Do they change? Considering why a character may or may not change and how this affects character traits and conflicts is going to be important in a final analysis. You can ask students questions to guide them through the process of in depth analysis.

• What type of role does the character play in the story?
• How do they serve the story or other characters?
• Based on your initial read of the character, do they even change at all, or do they remain exactly the same as they were at the beginning?

If asked to describe the character, what sort of words would you use to describe them? Are they well educated, impulsive, or quiet? These answers contribute to the personality of the character and how they behave. They offer insight into why a character might make a certain decision, and alert us if something seems out of character. For instance, a quiet and cowardly character might suddenly make an impulsive or brave choice in the face of something. Why would they suddenly change?

• What physical traits define the character?
• How do they behave?
• Do they often fight other characters or are they overly helpful?
• How do they speak? What insight can you gain from their words?

The Conflicts

Without conflict in a story, nothing changes. Conflicts, no matter the type, spur character development in at least one, if not all, of the characters in the story. When considering conflict in regards to an analysis, consider the following:

• What conflict(s) does the character encounter?
• What type of conflict is it?
• How does the character react?
• How is the character changed (or not changed) by the conflict?

Character Maps

Character maps are a helpful tool for students to use as they're reading, although they can also be used after completing a book. In this activity, students will create a character map of the characters in the story, paying close attention to the physical attributes and the traits of both major and minor characters . They can also provide detailed information regarding the challenges the character faces, the challenges the character imposes, and the importance of the character to the plot of the story.

To scaffold or tailor this activity, teachers can change the questions, add more questions (the character map layout can be found under "Scenes" -> "Patterns"), provide the names of characters they want students to track, or let students start from scratch! Teachers may also provide the visuals for each character or let students pick their own from the Characters tab. Be sure to update the student instructions as necessary!

• What are the Character's Physical/Character Traits?
• How does this character interact with the other characters in the story?
• What challenges does this character face?

Many elements of these three main ideas will influence each other to offer further insight into a character. By creating a template for them, students will be able to keep track of the character while actively reading instead of having to comb back through when they've finished. They'll be able to easily see what connections exist between the information, and synthesize that into a comprehensive essay. Create scaffolded digital worksheets or use the spider map templates above as a starting point. You'll be surprised at what incredible things your students will find.

Related Activities

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

Understand the role of the character.

Begin by defining the role of the character in the story. Determine whether they are the protagonist, antagonist, mentor, or another type of character. Consider how their role contributes to the overall story and other characters. Analyze whether the character undergoes any changes throughout the story or remains the same.

Identify and Describe the Character's Traits

Describe the character's traits by considering their personality, behavior, physical attributes, and speech. Use descriptive words to depict the character's qualities and explain how these traits shape their actions and decisions. Analyze any inconsistencies or changes in the character's behavior and examine the reasons behind them.

Explore the Conflicts Encountered by the Character

Examine the conflicts faced by the character and their significance in the story. Identify the type of conflicts, such as internal or external, and analyze how the character responds to these challenges. Assess the impact of the conflicts on the character's development and whether they undergo any transformations or remain unchanged.

Create a Character Map

Utilize a character map to visually organize information about the character. Include details about the character's physical attributes, traits, interactions with other characters, and challenges faced. Consider using pre-designed character map templates or creating a custom map to suit your analysis requirements. Adapt the questions and layout of the character map based on the specific needs of the assignment.

Synthesize the Analysis into an Essay

Take the gathered information from the character analysis and synthesize it into a comprehensive essay. Use the template or character map as a reference to maintain coherence and ensure all relevant connections and insights are included. Structure the essay with an introduction, body paragraphs discussing different aspects of the character analysis, and a conclusion that summarizes the key findings.

Frequently Asked Questions about Character Analysis Essays

What is a character analysis essay.

A character analysis essay is an assignment that requires the student to critically analyze one or more characters in a text and make inferences based on their traits, role in the story, and conflicts they encounter.

Why is it important to define the role of a character in a character analysis?

Defining the role of a character is important because it helps the student understand the character's purpose in the story and how they relate to other characters. It can also help identify if the character undergoes any changes and how it affects their traits and conflicts.

What are some questions to guide students in analyzing the role of a character?

Some questions to guide students in analyzing the role of a character are: What type of role does the character play in the story? How do they serve the story or other characters? Based on your initial read of the character, do they even change at all, or do they remain exactly the same as they were at the beginning?

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How to Write a Character Comparison in 8 Steps

Sometimes two characters are clearly alike, while other times it’s not as obvious. In order to write a successful character comparison, you must move beyond a description of the characters and analyze how they relate to each other. You should examine both characters’ individual roles in their respective literary works to understand how they contribute to the overall meaning of the text.

Let’s take a look at eight steps for writing a character comparison.  

1. Choose two characters

The first step to writing a character comparison is to determine two characters you want to compare. Before you start comparing, revisit parts of the text where each character appears. Take note of the various character descriptions throughout the text and become familiar with the role of each character.

A few popular choices for writing character comparisons:

• Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov , Crime and Punishment 

• Hamlet and Laertes , Hamlet

• Lucy Manette and Madame Defarge , A Tale of Two Cities 

• Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker , The Great Gatsby 


2. Establish a purpose for comparison

Why are you comparing these two specific characters? Are you comparing to find meaningful similarities and differences or is it to demonstrate your understanding of the work as a whole? By establishing a purpose, you’re laying the foundation for your comparison and can refer back to it when you start to analyze each character.

Several reasons for comparing two characters:

• Compare how each character’s actions and attributes affect the plot
• Major similarities or differences in character can show what themes the author wants to emphasize
• Explain how the relationship between the characters provides deeper understanding of the themes

3. Describe the characters

This is a good time to refer to any earlier notes you’ve taken about specific characters in the text: physical descriptions, style of dialogue, narrative elements, etc. It may be helpful to create a two column chart where you can list the traits of each character and cross reference your findings. Remember to always cite direct textual evidence!

Important points to consider:

• Physical descriptions
• Beliefs / Values
• Descriptions by narrator and other characters

4. Identify similarities and differences

Although the assignment may say “compare,” the assumption is that you will compare and contrast—consider both the similarities and differences. Once you’ve determined the traits of each character, identify the similarities and differences between them. Focus on the overarching personal qualities or nature of the two characters rather than describing their physical features.

For example, if you’re writing about Pride and Prejudice , don’t write something like, “ Darcy is a man, and Elizabeth is a woman.” Instead, write something like this: “Despite the fact that Darcy is a man and rich and Elizabeth is a woman and relatively poor, they share the following characteristics: ____.” And then finish by supplying striking examples in a way that explains the novel for your readers.

5. Formulate a thesis

Your thesis statement should reflect your purpose for comparing two characters and incorporate the effects their similarities and differences have on your essay. Refer back to your purpose for comparing characters as well as your list of similarities and differences in order to formulate the main claim you’re making in the essay.

For example:

• Though both members of the same social circles, Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker reveal the freedoms and restrictions imposed on women in The Great Gatsby .
• Though both receive prophecies from the witches. Macbeth and Banquo react differently to the news, illustrating through contrast the corrupting effects of power and pride.

6. Form a conclusion

Fill in the blanks of the following statements:

• “I am comparing these two characters in order to show ____ about the work.”
• “These characters share the following characteristics: ___.”
• “These characters differ in the following ways: ____.”
• “These similarities and differences relate to the essential meaning of the work because ____.”

Once you’re able to complete these statements, refer back to your thesis for your character comparison. Have you gathered enough information to make an accurate comparison between the two characters? Have you demonstrated your understanding of the work as a whole?

For example, If you’re writing about Shakespeare’s Hamlet and you compare Marcellus and Gertrude , you’ve pretty much demonstrated you don’t understand the play well, because there’s little meaningful connection between the two. On the other hand, if you compare Ophelia and Hamlet , as two adults following their respective fathers’ advice to their deaths, you’ve demonstrated superior comprehension.

7. Structure your comparison

Consider how you will compare the characters. Broadly speaking, there are two general ways to structure your comparison:

• You can write about both characters in each paragraph (paragraph 2: A’s appearance, B’s appearance; paragraph 3: A’s motivation, B’s motivation, etc).
• You can write all about A, then all about B, and relate both characters to each other in a following paragraph.

No matter which structure you choose, remember why you’re comparing these two characters. You must always make a larger argument about the meaning of the similarities and differences, and you must always support those arguments with specific examples from the work.

Once you’ve outlined the structure of your character comparison, you’re finally ready to write! Make sure that all of the information in your essay is accurate and can be supported by the text. Once you’ve finished writing, it’s always a good idea to proofread your work and make revisions if necessary.

For more how-to lessons, visit eNotes’ How To Series .

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