A '''character''' (or '''fictional character''') is a [[person]] in a [[narrative]] [[The arts|work of arts]] (such as a [[novel]], [[Play (theatre)|play]], [[television series]] or [[film]]).<ref>Baldick (2001, 37) and Childs and Fowler (2006, 23). See also "character, 10b" in Trumble and Stevenson (2003, 381): "A person portrayed in a novel, a drama, etc; a part played by an actor".</ref> Derived from the [[ancient Greek]] word ''kharaktêr'', the English word dates from the [[English Restoration|Restoration]],<ref>''OED'' "character" sense 17.a citing, ''inter alia'', [[John Dryden|Dryden's]] 1679 preface to ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'': "The chief character or Hero in a Tragedy ... ought in prudence to be such a man, who has so much more in him of Virtue than of Vice... If Creon had been the chief character in ''Œdipus''..."</ref> although it became widely used after its appearance in ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'' in 1749.<ref>Aston and Savona (1991, 34), quotation: {{quotation|[...] is first used in English to denote 'a personality in a novel or a play' in 1749 (''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', s.v.).}}</ref><ref name=Harrison1998p51/> From this, the sense of "a part played by an [[actor]]" developed.<ref name=Harrison1998p51>Harrison (1998, 51-2) quotation: {{quotation|Its use as 'the sum of the qualities which constitute an individual' is a mC17 development. The modern literary and theatrical sense of 'an individual created in a fictitious work' is not attested in OED until mC18: 'Whatever characters any... have for the jestsake personated... are now thrown off' (1749, Fielding, ''Tom Jones'').}}</ref> Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the [[theatre]] or [[film|cinema]], involves "the illusion of being a human person."<ref>Pavis (1998, 47).</ref> In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Characters as Guides to Meaning | journal = The Reading Teacher | first = Nancy | last = Roser |author2=Miriam Martinez|author3=Charles Fuhrken|author4=Kathleen McDonnold | volume = 6 | issue = 6 | pages = 548–559| id = | accessdate = 2010-12-30}}</ref> Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective [[impersonation]] by an actor.<ref name=Harrison1998p51/> Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or writers, has been called [[characterisation]].<ref name=Harrison1998p51/>

A character who stands as a representative of a particular [[Social class|class]] or group of people is known as a type.<ref name=b265>Baldick (2001, 265).</ref> Types include both [[stock character]]s and those that are more fully [[individual]]ised.<ref name=b265/> The characters in [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' (1891) and [[August Strindberg]]'s ''[[Miss Julie]]'' (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the [[social relation]]s of class and [[gender]], such that the [[Conflict (narrative)|conflicts]] between the characters reveal [[Ideology|ideological]] conflicts.<ref>Aston and Savona (1991, 35).</ref>

The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the work.<ref>Aston and Savona (1991, 41).</ref> The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions (proairetic, [[Pragmatism|pragmatic]], [[Linguistics|linguistic]], [[Proxemics|proxemic]]) that it forms with the other characters.<ref>Elam (2002, 133).</ref> The relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically, often [[Mimesis|miming]] shifts in society and its ideas about human [[individual]]ity, [[self-determination]], and the [[social order]].<ref>Childs and Fowler (2006, 23).</ref>

==Classical analysis of character==

{{further|Poetics (Aristotle)}}

In the earliest surviving work of [[dramatic theory]], ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' (c. 335 BCE), the [[Classical Greece|Greek]] [[Greek philosophy|philosopher]] [[Aristotle]] deduces that character (''[[ethos]]'') is one of six qualitative parts of [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] [[tragedy]] and one of the three objects that it [[Mimesis|represents]] (1450a12).<ref>Janko (1987, 8). Aristotle defines the six qualitative elements of tragedy as "plot, character, diction, reasoning, spectacle and song" (1450a10); the three objects are plot (''[[Mythos (Aristotle)|mythos]]''), character (''[[ethos]]''), and reasoning (''[[dianoia]]'').</ref> He understands character not to denote a fictional person, but the quality of the person acting in the story and reacting to its situations (1450a5).<ref name=j984>Janko (1987, 9, 84).</ref> He defines character as "that which reveals [[Decision making|decision]], of whatever sort" (1450b8).<ref name=j984/> It is possible, therefore, to have tragedies that do not contain "characters" in Aristotle's sense of the word, since character makes the [[Ethics|ethical]] dispositions of those performing the action of the story clear.<ref>Aristotle writes: "Again, without action a tragedy cannot exist, but without characters it may. For the tragedies of most recent [poets] lack character, and in general there are many such poets" (1450a24-25). See Janko (1987, 9, 86).</ref> Aristotle argues for the primacy of [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] (''[[Mythos (Aristotle)|mythos]]'') over character (''[[ethos]]'').<ref>Aston and Savona (1991, 34) and Janko (1987, 8).</ref> He writes:

{{cquote|But the most important of these is the structure of the incidents. For (i) tragedy is a representation not of human beings but of action and life. Happiness and unhappiness lie in action, and the end [of life] is a sort of action, not a quality; people are of a certain sort according to their characters, but happy or the opposite according to their actions. So [the actors] do not act in order to represent the characters, but they include the characters for the sake of their actions" (1450a15-23).<ref>Janko (1987, 8).</ref>}}

In the ''Poetics'', Aristotle also introduced the influential tripartite division of characters in superior to the audience, inferior, or at the same level.<ref>Gregory Michael Sifakis (2001) [http://books.google.es/books?id=9GfLAlkcFYgC&pg=PA50 ''Aristotle on the function of tragic poetry''] p.50</ref><ref>Aristotle, Poetics [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0056%3Asection%3D1448a#note2 1448a]</ref> In the ''[[Tractatus coislinianus]]'' (which may or may not be by Aristotle), [[Comedy (drama)|comedy]] is defined as involving three types of characters: the [[buffoon]] (''[[bômolochus]]''), the [[Irony|ironist]] (''[[eirôn]]'') and the [[imposter]] or boaster (''[[alazôn]]'').<ref>Carlson (1993, 23) and Janko (1987, 45, 170).</ref> All three are central to [[Aristophanes]]' "[[Ancient Greek comedy|Old comedy]]."<ref>Janko (1987, 170).</ref>

By the time the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] playwright [[Plautus]] wrote his plays, the use of characters to define dramatic [[genre]]s was well established.<ref>Carlson (1993, 22).</ref> His ''[[Amphitryon (play)|Amphitryon]]'' begins with a [[prologue]] in which the speaker [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] claims that since the play contains kings and gods, it cannot be a comedy and must be a [[tragicomedy]].<ref>''Amphritruo'', line 59.</ref> Like a lot of [[Roman comedy]], it is probably translated from an earlier Greek original, most commonly held to be [[Philemon (poet)|Philemon]]'s ''Long Night'', or [[Rhinthon]]'s ''Amphitryon'', both now lost.<ref>Plautus, ed. and tr. Paul Nixon, [[Loeb Classical Library]], Vol. I, p. 1, who dates by the battle scene describing a Hellenistic battle; ''Amphitryon'', tr. Constance Carrier, intro. in Slavitt and Bovie, ed. ''Plautus'' Vol. I; Plautus, ''Amphitruo'', ed. David M. Christenson, pp. 49, 52. The ''Long Night'' is also attributed to [[Plato (comic poet)|Plato]], the comic poet.</ref>

==Types of characters==

===Round vs. flat===

In his book ''Aspects of the novel'', [[E. M. Forster]] defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: '''flat''' characters and '''round''' characters.<ref name="Hoffman">{{cite book|last=Hoffman|first=Michael J|author2=Patrick D. Murphy|title=Essentials of the theory of fiction|publisher=Duke University Press, 1996|edition=2|pages=36|isbn=978-0-8223-1823-1}}</ref> Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated. By contrast, round characters are complex figures with many different characteristics and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.<ref>{{cite book|last=Forster|first=E.M.|title=Aspects of the Novel|year=1927}}</ref>

==Dynamic vs. static==

'''Dynamic''' characters are the ones who change over the course of the story, while '''static''' characters remain the same throughout.

==Creation of characters==

In [[fiction writing]], authors create dynamic characters by many methods, almost always by using their imagination. [[Jenna Blum]] in ''The Author at Work'' described three ways of creating vivid characters:<ref name=JennaBlum1>Jenna Blum, 2013, ''The Modern Scholar'' published by Recorded Books, ''The Author at Work: The Art of Writing Fiction'', Disk 1, Tracks 4-10, ISBN 978-1-4703-8437-1, "...There are three kinds of characters ... There is the magic character who just comes to you; the borrowed character who you borrow from real life; and the made-up character ..."</ref>

* a ''magic character'' comes into the author's head and "lives there", sometimes "dictates their story" to the author.<ref name=JennaBlum1/>

* a ''borrowed character'' is created by taking an emblematic quality or character trait from a real person, plugging that trait into a fictional situation, and then the author uses imagination to transform the character into a unique construct.<ref name=JennaBlum1/>

* a ''made-up character'' is created from the "ground up", often starting from expediency as a two-dimensional creation which the author then tries to get to know better, sometimes by adding trouble and conflict.<ref name=JennaBlum1/>

==See also==

{{columns-list|5|

* [[Advertising character]]

* [[Antagonist]]

* [[Breaking character]]

* [[Character actor]]

* [[Character animation]]

* [[Character arc]]

* [[Character blogging]]

* [[Character comedy]]

* [[Character dance]]

* [[Character flaw]]

* [[Characterization]]

* [[Character piece]]

* [[Character sketch]]

* [[Composite character]]

* [[Costumed character]]

* ''[[Declamatio]]''

* [[Focal character]]

* [[Gag character]]

* [[Generic character (fiction)]]

* [[Ghost character]]

* [[Non-player character]]

* [[Out of character]]

* [[Persona]]

* [[Player character]]

* [[Protagonist]]

* [[Recurring character]]

* [[Recycled character]]

* [[Secret character (video games)]]

* [[Stock character]]

* [[Supporting character]]

* [[Sympathetic character]]

* [[Unseen character]]

}}

==Notes==

{{reflist|30em}}

==References==

{{refbegin|30em}}

* Aston, Elaine, and George Savona. 1991. ''Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance''. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04932-6.

* Baldick, Chris. 2001. ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.'' 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-280118-X.

* Burke, Kenneth. 1945. ''A Grammar of Motives''. California edition. Berkeley: U of California P, 1969. ISBN 0-520-01544-4.

* Carlson, Marvin. 1993. ''Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the Present.'' Expanded ed. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8154-3.

* Childs, Peter, and Roger Fowler. 2006. ''The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms.'' London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-34017-9.

* Elam, Keir. 2002. ''The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama''. 2nd edition. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28018-4. Originally published in 1980.

* Goring, Rosemary, ed. 1994. ''Larousse Dictionary of Literary Characters.'' Edinburgh and New York: Larousse. ISBN 0-7523-0001-6.

* Harrison, Martin. 1998. ''The Language of Theatre''. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-87830-087-2.

* Hodgson, Terry. 1988. ''The Batsford Dictionary of Drama.'' London: Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-4694-3.

* Janko, Richard, trans. 1987. ''Poetics with Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II and the Fragments of the On Poets.'' By [[Aristotle]]. Cambridge: Hackett. ISBN 0-87220-033-7.

* McGovern, Una, ed. 2004. ''Dictionary of Literary Characters.'' Edinburgh: Chambers. ISBN 0-550-10127-6.

* Pavis, Patrice. 1998. ''Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis.'' Trans. Christine Shantz. Toronto and Buffalo: U of Toronto P. ISBN 0-8020-8163-0.

* Pringle, David. 1987. ''Imaginary People: A Who's Who of Modern Fictional Characters.'' London: Grafton. ISBN 0-246-12968-9.

* Rayner, Alice. 1994. ''To Act, To Do, To Perform: Drama and the Phenomenology of Action.'' Theater: Theory/Text/Performance Ser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-10537-X.

* Trumble, William R, and Angus Stevenson, ed. 2002. ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles.'' 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-860575-7..

{{refend}}

* [http://philpapers.org/rec/SAUPPO] Paisley Livingston & Andrea Sauchelli, 'Philosophical Perspectives on Fictional Characters', ''New Literary History'', 42, 2 (2011), pp.&nbsp;337–60.

{{Fiction writing}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Character (Arts)}}

[[Category:Drama]]

[[Category:Fiction]]

[[Category:Fictional characters| ]]

[[Category:Narratology]]