how to write an essay about a book character

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.

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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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.

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How to Write a Character Analysis

Last Updated: May 15, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jamie Korsmo, PhD . Jamie Korsmo is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Georgia State University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 761,962 times.

Learning how to write a character analysis requires a thorough reading of the literary work with attention to what the author reveals about the character through dialogue, narrative, and plot. A literary analyst writes about the role each character plays in the work. The protagonist is the most important character, while the character who plays the villain in the conflict with the main character is called the antagonist. Great writers create characters with many facets, so character analysis should focus on these complexities. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you write your own character analysis.

Getting Started

• For example, if you are reading Mark Twain's classic Huckleberry Finn , you might consider choosing Huck or the runaway slave, Jim, because they are dynamic characters who show a wide range of emotion, who often act in unpredictable ways, and who move the plot forward with their actions.
• It might be less effective to choose the duke or the king, the tricksters Huck and Jim meet in Arkansas, because they have fairly minor roles in the story, they don't show a wide range of emotions, and, more than anything, they're simply stock characters (the story needs a humorous detour and a way for Jim and Huck to be separated, so that Huck can have his infamous All right, then, I'll go to hell! moment, and the duke and the king fulfill that role).

• For the Huck Finn example, you might think about how Huck is described as a backwoods boy, but he clearly wrestles with larger issues that have complex social implications - like slavery and religion.
• Think about how Huck relates to runaway slave Jim, both in the beginning of the novel and at the end. Think about Huck's relationship with his drunk, abusive father and how it shaped his identity.
• Huck is the main character, so obviously his actions are important. But what, specifically, is special about the way Huck acts? How does he make different decisions than someone else in the same situation might? You could talk about how Huck decides to rescue Jim from the people who intend to return him to his owner because he decides that slavery is wrong, even though this idea contradicts everything society has taught him.
• Think about how Huck grows and learns throughout the story. In the beginning, he is more likely to get caught up in schemes (like faking his own death); but later on, he avoids the trickery he observes (like when he tries to ditch the deceptive duke and king).

• You can also keep a notebook handy while you're reading to help you keep track of your thoughts about the character as you read.

• For the Huck Finn example, you might choose something about the hypocrisy of civilized society since, in essence, the novel is about a boy who was brought up to support enslaving blacks, but decides, through his experiences with Jim on the river, to value Jim as a person and a friend rather than just as a slave. Similarly, Huck's own father captures and "enslaves" Huck, a situation that Huck eventually escapes and mirrors Jim's own quest for freedom. Society views Huck's escape as moral and just, but Jim's escape is a terrible crime to the townspeople. In this contradiction lies a major crux of the story.

• An outline will help keep your thoughts organized and maintain an effective flow as you move through the analysis.

Writing the Character Analysis

• Your introduction should provide the topic of your analysis, enough background information to inform and intrigue your reader, and your thesis idea/claim.

• Think about Huck's ragged clothes and what that says about his character. Discuss how Huck dresses up like a little girl to find out the news in town and how this altered appearance influences your analysis of Huck.

• Discuss Huck's relationship with his father and with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who take him in. How do these characters influence Huck's development? The contrast between Huck's alcoholic father and the conservative ladies who care for Huck later is an interesting continuum of social behavior to analyze and consider where Huck's own beliefs/actions fall on that continuum.

• Huck has an admittedly vulgar attitude for a little boy and often does not speak in a way that the Widow Douglas approves of. He does try hard to obey her and act appropriately in church, but he often missteps and announces himself, through his actions and words, as a person who is far less civilized than he pretends to be, or than the Widow would like him to be.

• Huck Finn tries to abide by the rules of society, but at the end of the day he acts based on emotions. He decides to rescue Jim from being returned to his master, even though it is against the law, because he believes that Jim does not deserve to be treated like a slave. Huck decides this on his own, in direct opposition to the values his society has taught him.

• Huck's external conflict relies on all of the events that take place on his journey down the river - the physical struggle of the trip, his mishaps along the way, getting caught up in various scandals and schemes, etc. His internal conflict reaches its climax when Huck decides to help Jim attain freedom from slavery. This is a crucial moment in the story where Huck follows his heart instead of his social conscience.

Using Evidence in Your Writing

• Using quotes from the text will increase your credibility as an author and will support your ideas more effectively.

• For example, you might say the following: Huck Finn garners a significant new identity from being a raftsman. He insists, "It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that." This shows the freedom and pride he associates with his raft.

• Incorrect: "It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that."
• Correct: He insists that "It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that."
• Correct: "It amounted to something being a raftsman on such a craft as that," Huck insists.

Writing Help

Community Q&A

• Write a rough draft to gather your thoughts about the analysis before polishing your work for submission. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0
• Organize the analysis carefully. Write an introduction that will attract a reader to your work. Make sure that each paragraph is unified around a central topic. Tie your work together with a polished conclusion. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Use specific details from the text to support every point. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 2

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar/writing/how-to-write-a-character-analysis.html
• ↑ https://www.germanna.edu/wp-content/uploads/tutoring/handouts/Literary-Analysis.pdf
• ↑ https://www.tcc.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/writing-center-handouts/essay-types-character-analysis-essay.pdf
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/film-analysis/
• ↑ https://examples.yourdictionary.com/character-trait-examples.html
• ↑ https://purdueglobalwriting.center/paragraph-development-with-pie-2/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/quoting-paraphrasing-summarizing

About This Article

To write a character analysis, first you'll need to come up with a main idea, or thesis statement, for your character, like "Huck Finn embodies the struggles of growing up as a young boy." Then, you'll want to write about each facet of your character, like their appearance, background, personality, relationships, and growth throughout the story, and explain how they prove your thesis. As you're writing your analysis, try to use quotes and examples from the text to back up what you're saying. To learn how to outline a character analysis, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

• An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
• A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
• A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

• Who is telling the story?
• How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

• Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
• Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
• Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

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The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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• How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: A Comprehensive Guide

By: Angelina Grin

Character analysis

Character analysis is the process of critically examining and interpreting a fictional or non-fictional character within a narrative, play, novel, film, or any work of literature or storytelling. It involves a comprehensive evaluation of the character's personality, motivations, development, and impact on the story's plot and themes.

Step 1: Choose Your Individual for Analysis

Starting with the basics: writing a character analysis overview, delving into personality traits: the core of character analysis, step 3: understanding internal vs. external traits, character arcs: transformation, growth, or regression, key events that influence the character's evolution, how challenges and conflicts shape the role, how setting influences a character's behavior and decisions, the impact of cultural, social, and historical backgrounds, how a character speaks: tone, choice of words, and mannerisms, actions that define a character: brave acts, betrayals, and sacrifices, objects or symbols associated with the character, recurring themes or patterns linked to the character, how the character stands out or blends in, the significance of character dynamics, step 9: conclude with the overall impact, pro tips for stellar character analysis essays, building the perfect character analysis, what does it mean to analyze a character, what is the purpose of a character analysis, how to write an essay about a character, can i analyze more than one character in an analysis essay, how to start a character analysis in an essay, are there any pitfalls i should avoid, how do i write a character analysis in middle school.

During a character analysis, one seeks to understand the character's internal and external traits, such as their beliefs, values, emotions, behaviors, and relationships with other characters. It aims to uncover the character's strengths, weaknesses, desires, fears, and the evolution of their personality throughout the narrative.

A well-executed character analysis not only reveals the character's multifaceted nature but also provides insights into the author's intentions, the story's underlying themes, and the broader cultural or societal context in which the character exists. Character analysis enhances the reader's or viewer's appreciation of the narrative by shedding light on the character's role in advancing the plot and conveying profound messages about human nature, society, or the human condition.

Character evaluation is the first step to a great analysis. The role or persona you choose for your analysis is crucial to its success. Primary characters are sometimes easier to write since they have well-defined personalities, and their motivations may be evident. Secondary characters can be just as interesting to write, but getting the right evidence within the text to support one's position might be challenging.

The character's significance in the story also plays a part in whether analyzing the persona will be easy or difficult. Important characters have more depth to them that's easily seen. Less significant players require a greater understanding of the background story and setting. Typically, several types show up in a story:

• Protagonist: Also known as the "main character," protagonists drive the narrative. Analyzing their development, motivations, and role in advancing the plot is often richly rewarding.
• Antagonist: The primary opposition to the protagonist, antagonists offer insights into their motivations and the reasons behind their opposition.
• Deuteragonist: These key supporting characters offer perspective and context, enriching the story's depth.
• Tertiary Characters: Smaller roles can still provide unique insights and are worth considering based on their impact on the plot.
• Romantic Interest: A romantic interest's analysis explores their influence on the protagonist and their own personality development.
• Confidant: These characters offer emotional support and guidance, shedding light on the protagonist's inner world.
• Foil: Foil characters highlight the central role's qualities and flaws, aiding in their development.

Another method of separating characters is by their quality. An individual will fall into one of these groups:

• Dynamic: A dynamic character undergoes significant internal changes during the story, and their analysis explores the events and decisions driving this transformation.
• Static: In contrast, static characters remain relatively unchanged. Analyzing them focuses on their consistency and the impact of their steadfastness on the story.
• Stock: Stock characters often adhere to familiar archetypes or stereotypes. Analyzing characters involves exploring how they conform to or subvert these expected roles.
• Symbolic: Symbolic characters represent abstract concepts, values, or themes. Their analysis delves into the deeper meaning and associations they bring to the narrative.

Each persona type offers a unique perspective, allowing you to uncover the layers of complexity that make literary and cinematic characters so fascinating. A character analysis example would offer a great format to see what each of these character types looks like.

Step 2: How to Start a Character Analysis Essay

How do you start a character analysis essay? The blank page is a difficult place for a student to start, but an outline can help arrange your thoughts. Starting your character analysis means looking at the existing work and deciding what parts of the story accentuate or support your decisions on the character's personality.

• Physical Description: Is your character short, tall, or medium-built? Does he or she have muscles? This description should be more than skin-deep; it should capture essential details, such as appearance, gestures, or personal style. These features may offer insights into the character's personality or the author's intentions.
• Role in the Story: Outline the character's role within the narrative. Are they the protagonist, antagonist, supporting role, or something more complex? Summaries of this role provide context for their actions and development.
• Relationship with Other Characters: Characters do not exist in isolation. Discuss the character's views and relationships with other key figures in the story. Take note of significant interactions, conflicts, or connections, as these relationships often influence personality development. In what directions does the character’s decisions drive the other players?

To analyze characteristics, you might be inclined to ask a few questions, such as:

• What is the Value of Your Character? Consider why the individual is essential to the story. How do they contribute to the plot's progression or thematic development? Identifying their value will help you delve into their significance.
• Is Your Character Friends with Anyone? Explore the persona's friendships, as these relationships can reveal their true nature and motivations. Analyze the dynamics of these friendships through a character summary, considering whether they're genuine or superficial.
• By the Time the Story Ends, Has Your Character Learned Anything? Investigate the role's growth and development throughout the narrative. Have they gained wisdom, overcome challenges, or evolved in any way? This transformation can be a focal point of your analysis.
• What Has Been Your Character's Main Transformation Throughout the Narrative? Beyond learning, identify the persona's primary transformation. This could be a change in beliefs, values, or traits. Understanding their journey is vital to a thorough analysis.
• What Motivates Your Character? Delve into the role's motivations and desires. What drives them to act in specific ways? Examining their inner motives can uncover deeper layers of their personality.
• How Does the Setting Influence Your Character? Sometimes, a character's surroundings significantly impact their actions and development. Assess how the story's setting interacts with your character's choices and behavior.

These questions show how to analyze a character to figure out the most critical parts of the individual under analysis and develop their report in a more well-rounded way.

What is the personality of the role you've chosen for your character analysis? Personality traits differ from person to person, and so, too, they differ from individual to individual. How to analyze characters using personality traits is pivotal to gaining a profound understanding of a person's psychological nuances.

Characterization may be divided into internal and external traits. Internal traits pertain to a character's inner qualities, such as beliefs, values, emotions, and thought processes. They influence decision-making and personal growth throughout the story. On the other hand, external traits encompass a character's outward behaviors, actions, and physical manifestations of their personality. Both dimensions play a vital role in shaping the character's identity.

Character analysis examples will show one or more of these traits as core elements of a character’s personality. By realizing a narrator has these traits, an analysis can discern what an individual is thinking as they perform an action. This makes the persona's decisions and thought process far more "real".

Step 4: Analyze Character Development: How to Do a Character Analysis Through Evolution

Analyzing character development is the most critical way we examine how a role grows and evolves over the course of the story. In a character analysis, you should look at personality arcs, the events that induce their development (or regression), and the impact of their challenges and conflicts.

Character arcs are the trajectories that characters follow, often culminating in transformation, growth, or regression. They represent the role's journey from the story's beginning to its conclusion. Understanding the type of arc a persona experiences, whether a hero's journey of self-discovery or a descent into villainy, provides a lens through which to analyze their actions and decisions.

Identifying pivotal events within the narrative is critical to character analysis. These events can be turning points that alter the role's trajectory. It's essential to scrutinize the impact of these events on the character's beliefs, values, and motivations. For instance, the loss of a loved one, a personal triumph, or a moral dilemma can all catalyze significant changes. Recognizing these moments helps chart the individual's development.

No well-rounded persona is complete without some conflict that plays on their feelings and behavior. The adversity they face can range from internal struggles to external opposition. The individual's response to these challenges, whether they overcome them, are changed by them, or succumb to them, indicates their growth or regression. Examining how characters adapt, learn, or grapple with adversity reveals their resilience, vulnerabilities, and capacity for change.

A character analysis can be built by examining these crucial elements of a persona, looking at where they start and end, and following the decisions that drive their conflict and resolution. By following the characters closely on their journey, one can gain a sense of appreciation for all they went through to get to the culmination of their arc.

Step 5: The Role of Environment in Writing Character Analysis

Whether it's a high fantasy novel or a play set in 1930s Georgia, a role's actions and decisions are driven by their environment. The prevailing social, cultural, and, at times, political climate may be more than just window dressing for a literary work or a film. It's essential to understand that characters don't exist in a vacuum, and the environment is as crucial to understanding their story as is their personalities.

The physical environment, or setting, can significantly impact a person's actions and choices. The story's location, climate, or specific places may influence a character's behavior. For instance, a character raised in a bustling city may exhibit different traits and make different decisions than one raised in a remote rural area. For instance, it's understandable that a protagonist from a poor Chicago family in the 1920s would subject himself to physical harm to ensure he could have a job during an economic depression. Yet that same decision would make no sense in a wealthy family of the same era. Analyzing the setting allows a deeper understanding of why a character behaves the way they do.

Cultural values, traditions, and norms influence their beliefs and actions. Social status, family dynamics, and community ties can determine their roles and relationships. Historical contexts, such as war, economic crises, or political movements, play a significant role in character development. For instance, a character who grew up during the Second World War may exhibit different traits and motivations than one who grew up as the child of a royal family in 17th-century Europe.

Analyzing a character's background within these contexts helps readers and viewers understand the character's identity and the constraints or opportunities that influence their decisions and evolution.

Incorporating the environment into character analysis adds depth and complexity to the examination, revealing the intricate interplay between characters and their world and providing valuable insights into the character's behavior and decisions.

Step 6: Dialogue and Actions in a Character Analysis: Unveiling the True Essence

Most well-defined characters have different layers of personality folded in on itself. To view the true essence of an individual, an analysis must examine how the persona speaks with others and the actions they take that impact other people in the setting.

A character's dialogue is a rich source of insights. Their tone—whether it's sarcastic, earnest, or timid—sheds light on their emotions and attitudes. Their choice of words, such as a formal language or slang preference, reflects their background and education. Mannerisms, like stuttering, nervous tics, or assertive body language, offer cues about their inner struggles and self-confidence. Scrutinizing these aspects of speech illuminates the character's true nature.

A character's actions, whether acts of courage, betrayal, or sacrifice, define their essence. Courageous deeds demonstrate their values and convictions. Betrayals reveal moral complexity or flaws in the persona. Sacrifices demonstrate selflessness or inner conflicts. Character analysis is the process of deducing a person's essential beliefs, their malleability, and the overarching themes of a story from their behavior.

Step 7: Symbolism and Motifs: Key Elements in How to Do a Character Analysis

Authors have always favored symbols instead of blatantly stating something about the role. "Showing, not telling" makes for compelling works, offers us commentary without being open about it, and also gives us a bit of work to unravel the symbolism each persona may carry with them.

Objects or symbols that recur throughout a character's interactions can hold deep meaning. For instance, a character's prized possession, like a family heirloom, can represent their values and connections. One of the most stunning expressions of this is the river in Huckleberry Finn as a symbol of freedom and escape from bondage. Analyzing these symbols within a paragraph or two helps unveil the character's significance in the story and their emotional attachments.

Recurring themes and patterns that revolve around a role provide a window into their role and development. These motifs can encompass elements like repeated actions, words, or situations. One of the more modern instances of this is the use of the Litany Against Fear in Frank Herbert's Dune series. By identifying and interpreting these motifs, character analysis can expose the character's personal growth, impact on others, and broader relevance to the narrative's themes and messages.

Step 8: Compare and Contrast: Enhancing Your Character Analysis Through Dynamics

The compare and contrast approach helps to make for a richer analysis, especially for college-level reports. By focusing on the characters' dynamics and their interaction with their society, we can derive particular insights into the character's mind and behaviors.

Comparing the individual to others in the story can be helpful in illuminating their uniqueness. It highlights distinctive traits, values, and behaviors that set them apart or make them blend in with the narrative's world. This distinction can reveal the character's individuality or their role as a representative of a specific group or archetype.

Exploring character dynamics—how they interact with other characters in a book or film—holds a mirror to their personality and development. Comparing these interactions can unveil power struggles, alliances, and emotional bonds. The significance of these dynamics lies in their impact on the character's evolution, their influence on the plot, and the broader thematic implications for the narrative.

The character's profound influence on the world, the plot, and the other personas should form the basis for your analysis's conclusion. Their place in driving the action forward should be highlighted. Moreover, the emotional impact on the reader or viewer should be emphasized, highlighting how the character's journey, personality, and interactions resonated. Whether it's admiration, empathy, or a sense of closure, examining the character's ability to evoke emotions and engage the audience adds a meaningful dimension to the character analysis, underscoring their enduring significance within the story.

• Provide Evidence: Back your analysis with specific examples from the text or source material to support your claims. Ideally, reference a certain scene if possible.
• Consider Conflicting Traits: Acknowledge contradictions or inconsistencies in the character's behavior, as these can reveal depth and complexity. A good character analysis paper example can help you see how this is done.
• Stay Objective: Your analysis should be done from the point of view of an impassionate researcher, even if the topic is one that is close to your heart.
• Relate to Themes: Discuss how the character's traits, actions, and development relate to broader themes in the work based on your research.
• Compare and Contrast: Compare the character to others in the narrative to highlight unique qualities and relationships.
• Maintain Focus: Stay focused on the character and their impact, avoiding excessive summary of the plot or storyline.
• Don't Overthink: Sometimes, all it takes to see a character's place in a story is to examine the story around the character.

The steps mentioned above will give you a general idea of what your character analysis should look like. However, each character is unique, and each character review will touch on different topics, themes, and interactions. A deep character analysis not only helps you understand the character but also helps to put their struggle and conflict in perspective. To truly understand the art of good character analysis, you should try with a few characters from your favorite books. Reach out to some of the genres that you don't usually read and analyze them. With practice comes perfection.

To start a character analysis in an essay, begin by introducing the character you will analyze, including their name, the work they appear in, and their role in the story. You might start with a compelling description or quote that encapsulates the character's essence. Briefly mention the context of the story and how the character fits into it, including any significant relationships or conflicts. End the introduction with a thesis statement that outlines the main traits or development of the character that you'll be exploring in your analysis.

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How to Write a Character Analysis

Learn to spot and describe character traits and development

DaniloAndjus / Getty Images

• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Being mindful of subtle hints, like mood changes and reactions that might provide insight into your character's personality, can help you write a character analysis.

Describe the Character's Personality

We get to know the characters in our stories through the things they say, feel, and do. It's not as difficult as it may seem to figure out personality traits based on a character's thoughts and behaviors:

"'Say cheese!' the exasperated photographer shouted, as she pointed her camera toward the group of squirming children. Margot displayed her broadest, most convincing fake smile as she inched ever-closer to her younger cousin. Just as the photographer's finger twitched over the shutter button, Margot leaned into her young cousin's side and pinched hard. The boy let out a yelp, just as the camera clicked."

You can probably make some assumptions about Margot from the brief segment above. If you had to name three character traits to describe her, what would they be? Is she a nice, innocent girl? Doesn't seem like it from this passage. From the brief paragraph, we can assume that she's apparently sneaky, mean, and deceptive.

Determine the Character Type of Your Protagonist

You will receive clues about personality through a character's words, actions, reactions, feelings, movements, thoughts, and mannerisms. Even a character's opinions can help you learn more about the individual, and you may discover that the person fits one of these stock character types:

• Flat character. A flat character has one or two personality traits that don't change. The flat character can play a major or a minor role.
• Round character. A round character has many complex traits; those traits develop and change in a story. A round character seems more real than a flat character because real people are complex.
• Stock or stereotype character. Stock characters are stereotypes, such as hot-tempered redheads, stingy businessmen, and absent-minded professors. They are often found in genre fiction (romance novels and mysteries, for example), and are usually flat characters. They are often used as a tool to move a plot forward.
• Static character. A static character never changes. A loud, obnoxious "background" character who remains the same throughout the story is static. A boring character who is never changed by events is also static.
• Dynamic character. Unlike a static character, a dynamic character does change and grow as the story unfolds. Dynamic characters respond to events and experience changes in attitude or outlook. The character might go through a transformation during the course of the storyline, and grow as a result of actions that took place.

Define Your Character's Role in the Work You're Analyzing

When you write a character analysis, you must define that character's role. Identifying the character type and personality traits can help you better understand what the larger role of the character is within the story. The character either plays a major role, as a central element to the story, or a minor role to support the major characters in the story.

Protagonist. The protagonist of a story is another name for the main character. The plot revolves around the protagonist. There may even be more than one main character.

• In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ," Huck Finn is the protagonist.
• In "Little Red Riding Hood," the little girl is the protagonist.

Antagonist. The antagonist is the character who represents a challenge or an obstacle to the protagonist in a story. In some stories, the antagonist is not a person but rather a larger entity or force that must be dealt with.

• In " Little Red Riding Hood ," the wolf is the antagonist.
• In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," society is the antagonist. Society, with its unfair laws and rules, represents the obstacle to Huck's development as a person.

Foil. A foil is a character who provides contrast to the main character (protagonist), in order to emphasize the main character's traits. In "A Christmas Carol," the kind nephew, Fred, is the foil to nasty Ebenezer Scrooge.

Show Your Character's Development (Growth and Change)

When you are asked to write a character analysis, you will be expected to explain how a character changes and grows. Most major characters go through some kind of significant growth as a story unfolds, often a direct result of dealing with some sort of conflict . Notice, as you read, which main characters grow stronger, fall apart, develop new relationships, or discover new aspects of themselves. Make note of scenes in which character changes become apparent or the character's opinions on a topic change. Clues include phrases such as "she suddenly realized that..." or "for the first time, he..."

Understanding the journey of your character and how it relates to the story as a whole can help you better understand that character's motives and better represent the person in your overall analysis.

Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

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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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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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How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

How many individuals do you know? We mean know ‘well’: their feelings, personality traits, behavior patterns, etc. One hundred? A few hundred? If you are not very sociable, your answer might be a few dozen, for example. However, we’ll bet that you don’t realize how many persons you actually know well.

Wonder Woman, Harry Potter, Dorian Grey, Ophelia, Sponge Bob, Batman, and Mickey Mouse – we can continue this list forever, but you’ve probably got our message. Aren’t they individuals? Do you know how they look and how they act? Now, think again about the number of individuals you know.

You may tell that these characters are not real, but does it really matter? Of course, you can’t communicate or interact with them. On the other hand, you can share their beliefs and feelings, worry about their fate, and learn important lessons from them.

We rely on analysis when we want to learn more about our favorite heroes and heroines. Everything is much easier if we are interested in analyzing. If you are not lucky enough, a strict instructor will require a character analysis essay about the hero who doesn’t awake any warm feelings in your soul. This is a common assignment for students who study literature, fine arts, and psychology. Let’s figure out how to write a character analysis essay correctly.

Where to get ideas for character analysis essay

Character analysis essay writing step 1 – identify character type

Our minds are full of stereotypes and stereotypical characters. You can often hear phrases like “he is a typical romantic” or “she is a typical rebel.” Every piece of fiction is somehow based on real life. Reality is the mother of any fantasy world. That’s why our stereotypes and evaluation reflect in literature and movies.

When we meet a new person (let’s call her Pam), we automatically try to identify her, define her “type”: party girl, housewife, romantic, princess, etc. Sure, such evaluation is biased and weak, but it’s only the first step.

The same applies to fictional characters: first of all, you need to identify character type. Check out our guide on 10 types of fictional characters!

1. Protagonist

A protagonist is a hero who stands at the epicenter of the novel or movie: Peter Pan, Frankenstein, Faust, etc. As a rule, character analysis essays about them are frequently assigned by instructors.

Usually, it is a good and amiable hero but not necessarily. For example, Macbeth is the protagonist of the Shakespearean play, but this fact doesn’t make him a good person, right. There is one secret: as you see, all names of protagonists mentioned above are at the same time the titles of books. If the character’s name is a title, he or she is almost always a protagonist. Of course, exceptions exist (e.g. Coco in the animated cartoon “Coco” is not the protagonist but his great-grandmother), so be attentive.

2. Antagonist

The pretty Greek word “ἀνταγωνιστής” (antagonist) is the antonym of the word protagonist. Consequently, the antagonist is a hero who stands against the protagonist. By analogy with the previous type, antagonists are not always bad. Still, the most famous of them are villainous: Lord Voldemort, Maleficent (the original version, not the one portrayed by Angeline Jolie), Captain Hook, etc.

ATTENTION! An antagonist is not always a concrete person. In general, it can be anything that spoils the protagonist’s life: forces of nature, fate, society, machine, and even animal.

Changes are natural. Our life is not stable, so the characters that evolve throughout the story seem more real. They’re called “dynamic characters.” A protagonist should always be a dynamic character, as the main hero who doesn’t change at all is not interesting and flat. Usually, major characters are also dynamic; they may evolve along with the protagonist. When you write a character analysis essay about dynamic character, make sure that you’ve described all stages of his or her evolution/degradation.

The classic example of dynamic character is Rodion Raskolnikov in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. He’s got a long way to go: from the murder and suffering to repentance. Another example of dynamic character is Dorian Gray in the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. In that case, the hero goes through degradation. At the beginning of the story, he is a naïve and young boy. In the end, Dorian becomes a murderer and libertine (sorry for spoilers).

Static characters are also called unchanging. As a rule, they are minor characters who interact with the protagonist or major heroes to highlight their qualities or actions. Unchanging characters are not supposed to be protagonists, as their inner world is of no interest for readers. Static heroes are typical for folklore and fairytales where they can be protagonists. Such literature is simple and not aimed at deep analysis but at homily or entertainment.

A good example of a static character is the White Rabbit in the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” written by Lewis Carroll. He is always the same: fussy, nervous, and cowardly.

There is always one protagonist in any story, but he or she can be surrounded by other major characters. Surprisingly, the majority of antagonists are major characters, as they frequently appear on the screen or on the pages of the book interacting with the protagonist. Every major character may have his or her plot line that intertwines with the line of the protagonist. When the protagonist has one or two friends, you can be sure that they are major characters, like Hermione and Ron in “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling.

Actually, stories without minor characters exist. These character types are not necessary, especially when it comes to stories about lonely journeys or self-discovery. However, they add to the development of complex stories, though they are normally static. They also may contrast with major characters to underscore their positive traits (in case the minor one is a villainous hero). Normally, you pick two or even three minor characters to write a character analysis essay as such heroes are not portrayed in detail.

Good examples of minor characters that you can easily identify are sidekicks of antagonists: hyenas in “The Lion King,” Harley Quinn in comics about Batman and Joker, or the parrot Iago in “Aladdin.”

Of course, we don’t mean their geometric shape. You must agree that would be weird. Round characters are well-developed life-like heroes. They are multi-layered, so don’t expect that you’ll understand their ideas and thoughts at once. Such heroes are interesting for readers, as it’s not always easy to predict their actions. In high-quality stories, all protagonists along with major characters should be round. Sure, that doesn’t apply to children’s literature where the characters can be simply identified as bad and good ones.

A great example of the round character is Nora Helmer in “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen. At first sight, she is a pretty small-minded housewife who can’t even raise her kids on her own. Later, we discover that Nora is not that simple. We see that she is a hard-working, caring, and strong woman who is a victim of circumstance and gender stereotypes.

The inner world of such characters is as plain as day. As a rule, they have only one major quality that determines all their actions and beliefs. If the main hero of the book is flat, there are two options: it’s either a bad book or a fairy tale. Flat characters lack depth because they are one-dimensional, and you can see them only from one perspective. Such type is good for children’s literature where every character is not a personality but a generalized idea.

Almost all villainous characters in fairy tales are flat: Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” the Evil Queen in “Snow White,” and The Shadow Man in “The Princess and the Frog.” They are bad because they are bad, and that’s all of the story.

9. Stereotypical

You can know everything about a stereotypical character from the first sight. Their actions and thoughts are determined by their appearance, job, gender, or social role. For example, a stereotypical villain of modern pop-culture is always associated with dark colors and a good sense of humor. A stereotypical crazy scientist has to wear a white lab coat, speak indistinctly, and has a messy hairstyle. There are no stereotypical characters in real life, though all of us like to label everyone with concepts like “macho man,” “princess,” “bully,” “rebel,” and so on.

Scriptwriters generally use stereotypical characters in teen movies where everything has to be simple and understandable. Any movie about school life has such heroes: captain of the football team, cheerleader, nerd, outcast, the queen of the school, etc. We don’t recommend you to pick these characters for your character analysis essay as there is actually nothing to write about.

A foil character contrasts with the major character. The only goal of such characters is to highlight and underscore some quality of the protagonist. At the same time, they are not antagonists. They don’t fight against major characters: they are just different and not necessarily bad. As a rule, a foil charactercan be considered as the protagonist’s “alter ego” or embodiment of his or her hidden side.

In the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, all Elizabeth’s sisters are her foils: Jane’s gentle nature contrasts with Lizzy’s ironical manners; Mary’s obsession with books contrasts with Elizabeth’s ability to judge things independently; Lydia’s carelessness and silliness contrasts with the wisdom and logical reasoning of her elder sister.

For our favorite readers, we’ve created a few principles that will help you to identify character types:

• If your character is a protagonist, he or she is also dynamic, major, and round (as a rule);
• If your character is flat, he or she is also minor, or stereotypical (as a rule);
• If your character is an antagonist, he or she is also a foil (as a rule).

As you see, there are always exceptions, so be accurate and attentive while identifying your character’s type.

Finally, you have enough information about every character type. Still, identifying the type is just the first stage in character analysis essay writing. Let’s take a closer look at two other stages of analysis and create a simple character analysis essay outline!

Character analysis essay writing step 2 – describe the character

We hope that the first step won’t be difficult for you. Describing character can be much more complex, though you’ll deal with it quickly using our outline! Remember that you can provide an excellent character analysis essay only if you’ve read the book or watched the movie! And don’t forget to take notes in order to include all detail in your sample. Follow this character analysis essay outline to make sure that you’ve depicted your character properly.

Character analysis essay outline:

• Name, book/movie, author/film director/ctor.
• Character type/types (one character may represent more than one identity).
• Appearance: face, stature, sight, cloth, skin, walk, posture, voice, manners.
• Major personality traits: principles, ideas, attitude, beliefs.
• Changes throughout the story (if dynamic): differences before, during, and after the turning point, motivation, speed (changes slowly or suddenly), visibility (changes obviously or discreetly), how the attitude of other characters changes.
• Symbolic meaning.
• Historical relevance.
• Portrayal in other pieces of art.

You’ve done it all, right? Let’s move on to the next and final stage of our character analysis essay writing!

Character analysis essay writing step 3 – conflict

A conflict is not necessarily something huge like war, murder, divorce, or betrayal. A difficult choice, bet, or misunderstanding are also conflicts that may reveal the hidden character traits or motivate the hero to change his or her views, behavior, or attitude.

All possible conflicts are of two types: external or internal. External conflicts take place “outside” the character’s inner world. The character can stand against another character or group of characters, whims of fate, natural forces, wild animals, artificial intellect, etc. Internal conflicts are usually focused on the ethical dilemma that the character needs to solve. Such conflicts are possible only if the character is round and dynamic.

Defining conflict can be difficult especially if there are two or more of them. However, this stage is the most significant for your character analysis essay as it reveals the meaning of the hero for the plot.

Character analysis essay structure

After we’ve figured out all nuances related to character types and steps of writing a character analysis essay, it is now the right moment to tell a few words about its structure.

Introduction

As any other essay, you’d start your character analysis essay with a catchy and relevant introduction. Don’t forget to compose an interesting hook and exhaustive thesis statement. Include general information about the character: name, author, book/movie title, character type.

This part consists of two main parts. Firstly, you describe the character in details according to the character analysis essay outline provided above. Then, define and analyze the conflict/conflicts in relation to the hero. Remember that you should divide the whole text into paragraphs to improve the readability of your essay. Include a topic sentence and a piece of evidence in each section.

Restate each section in your final paragraph. Don’t copy your thesis statement word-for-word. Use paraphrasing in order to avoid self-plagiarism. Compose a strong concluding statement on your character.

Character analysis essay writing tips

Now, our guide on how to write a character analysis essay is completed! Such assignments are much more interesting and helpful than any other ones. When you learn how to analyze fictional characters, you also develop your skills of understanding people around you. Take a closer look at your friends! Maybe, you’ll notice a real princess or knight among them.

Character analysis essay writing help from the experts

If writing a character analysis essay seems to be too difficult for you, you’re welcome to use our essay writer service , EssayShark.com. Our writers are experienced and knowledgeable, so every character analysis essay example that they produce is informative and well structured. Don’t hesitate to contact our team anytime, as we’re available 24/7! You may also use the mobile version of our custom writing service to always keep in touch with our specialists.

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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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Writing about writing. Mostly.

September 11, 2011 By Anne R. Allen 58 Comments

14 Do’s and Don’ts for Introducing Your Protagonist

by Anne R. Allen

Introducing your protagonist to your reader may be the single trickiest job for a novelist. You have to let readers get to know your character in a very short time–then entice us go on a journey with this person into a brand new world. If you tell us too much, you’ll bore us, but if you tell us too little, you’ll confuse us.

Remember these are just guidelines. Opinions about what works in an opener can be very subjective. Just last week I had an agent ask me to lop off the first third of a book before she’d consider representation—and on the same day the same opener won first place—and a request for a full ms. read—in a contest judged by an acquisitions editor at fairly big publishing house.

No. I didn’t take either offer. More on that soon. Stay tuned to this blog.

But this week an editor suggested I add a new first chapter to another book–which gave me a wonderful “aha” moment. For me, that was the perfect solution to an opener several beta readers had found difficult. We’re always told to start a book “ in media res ”—but there’s such a thing as starting in the middle of  too many  things. I was hitting readers with too much at once. And that can confuse and bore at the same time.

Writing the perfect opener is a balancing act. Not for the faint-hearted.

Thing is–when you’re first diving into a novel, you’re not introducing your characters to readers; you’re introducing them to yourself.

All kinds of information about your MC will come up. Maybe she lives in a noisy apartment building. Or her mom is a gung-ho Amway dealer. Perhaps her next door neighbor is recuperating from a terrible accident. Or she feels a deep hatred for Smurfs. This stuff will spill out in your first chapters. Let it. That’s the fun part.

But be aware you’ll want to cut most of the information or move it to another part of the book when you edit, if you’re writing for publication.

It helps to remember this formula: first drafts are for the writer; revisions are for the reader.

Even if you’re not going the agent/publisher route, you need to keep your reader in mind. Self-publishers are judged, too, and reviewers and readers can be snarkier than any agent.

Here are some do’s and don’ts that should help in the revision process.

1) don’t start with a robinson crusoe opening ..

• driving alone in a car
• sitting on an airplane
• waking up and getting ready for the day
• out on her morning jog
• looking in the mirror

2) DO open with the protagonist in a scene with other characters

Show how he interacts with the world. Two or three is ideal: not too many or the reader will be overwhelmed.

3) DON’T give a lot of physical description ,

Especially of the police report variety. All we know about Elizabeth Bennett in  Pride and Prejudice  is that she has “fine eyes.” We don’t have to be told the color of Sam Spade’s hair, or Inspector Morse’s weight. The reader’s imagination fills in the blanks.

4) DO give us a few unusual physical markers that indicate personality .

Interesting characteristics like Nero Wolfe’s size, Hercule Poirot’s mustache, and Miss Marple’s age show who these characters are and make them memorable. But if all you say is they have green eyes and curly red hair—you’ve only told us they’re identical to the MCs of 90% of all YA novels, according to one agent. We don’t need to know the hair/eye thing unless it’s important to the story—like Anne of Green Gables hating her hair and dying it green.

5) Don’t present your MC as a flawless Mary Sue.

A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) is the author’s idealized fantasy self—an ordinary person who always saves the day and is inexplicably the object of everyone’s affection. A Mary Sue will make your whole story phony, because a too-perfect character isn’t believable (and is seriously annoying.).

6) DO give your MC strong emotions we can identify with.

7) don’t start with a pov character about to be killed.

Or otherwise eliminated from the storyline. (Ditto DREAMS, or putting the MC in a play or videogame.) If you get us intrigued and then say “never mind”, the reader will feel his time and sympathy have been wasted.

8) DO introduce the MC as close to page one as possible.

Don’t waste time on weather reports or long descriptions of setting. (I did note in the thread last week that a large number of you are extremely fond of weather reports, but make sure you’re doing something emotional and original with them.)

9) Don’t start with a prologue.                   

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the agents:

Colleen Lindsay:

“In pages that accompany queries, I have only once found an attached prologue to be necessary to the story.” 

Jenny Bent:

 “ At least 50% of prologues that I see in sample material don’t work and aren’t necessary. Make sure there’s a real reason to use one.” 

Ginger Clark :

“ Prologues: I am, personally, not a fan. I think they either give away too much, or ramp up tension in a kind of “cheating” manner.”

Andrea Brown: :

 “Most agents hate prologues. Just make the first chapter relevant and well written.” 

Laurie McLean:

 “Prologues are usually a lazy way to give backstory chunks to the reader and can be handled with more finesse throughout the story. Damn the prologue, full speed ahead!”

Even usually ultra-tactful publishing guru Nathan Bransford says:

 “A prologue is 3-5 pages of introductory material that is written while the author is procrastinating from writing a more difficult section of the book.”

I know you’re all wailing. But try removing the prologue. Read chapter one. Does it make sense? Could you dribble in that backstory from the prologue into the story later—while the actual plot is going on?

A prologue is like a first draft—it’s for the writer, not the reader. It isn’t the overture: it’s the tuning-up. Like a character sketch, a prologue usually belongs in your book journal—not the finished project.

Go ahead and write one to get your writing juices flowing. Use it to get to know your book’s basic elements. It can be mined later for character sketches, backstory and world building, but try to cut it in your final revision.

10) DO put the MC in a place and time right away. 

If the MC is thinking or talking to someone—where is he? As I said, we don’t want a long description of the scenery or the weather, but do give us a few sensory details and let us know what planet we’re on.

11) DON’T start with dialogue .

Readers want to know who’s speaking before they’ll pay much attention to what they say. It’s just like real life: if strangers are shouting in the hallway, it’s noise. If you recognize the shouters as your boss and the hooker from 12B—you’re all ears

12) DO dribble in your MC’s backstory.

You can do this in thoughts, conversations and mini-flashbacks—AFTER you’ve got us hooked by your MC and her story.

13) DON’T plunge into action before introducing the characters .

The introductions can be minimal, but they have to make us feel connected enough to these people to care

Example: If you hear some stranger got hit by a car—it’s sad, but you don’t have much curiosity about it. If you hear your neighbor got hit by a car, you want to know when, where, how badly she’s injured, etc.

14) DO give your MC a goal.

All characters need goals in each scene. But the protagonist needs a compelling, over-arching goal for the whole book. He can’t be easily satisfied. He must want something very badly. This especially important for memoir writers: “I was born and then some stuff happened and I met some people and then I had a catastrophe but I pulled myself out of my misery and now I love life and God and multilevel marketing”—is not going to keep readers turning the pages.

A novel or memoir needs to be about one big thing, and the character has to have one big goal. Too many goals? You may have a series. That’s good, too.

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About Anne R. Allen

Anne writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. Oh, yes, and she blogs. She's a contributor to Writer's Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery RomCom Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Anne lives on the Central Coast of California, near San Luis Obispo, the town Oprah called "The Happiest City in America."

September 11, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Great article! I rarely bother with a prologue unless it's completely and utterly indispensible (and they're never more than about a page long anyway) However, have you ever read Game of Thrones? Bestseller with very irritating prologue – though it did intrigue me into the rest of the tale. Is there a time and place for prologues, do you think?

September 11, 2011 at 5:35 pm

Beginnings are hard. I always go back and rewrite mine when I'm "finished." I must have written the 1st chapter of Decades 50 times. Seriously. And I recall Dennis Lehane talking about how many times he had to write & rewrite the beginning of Mystic River until he got it right.

I agree with Spook about prologues. Husbands & Lovers has a brief prologue…it's a long, multi character book & there needs to be a way for the reader to understand from the beginning that the characters can and do interact—there's a gun in a Tiffany bag involved so boring it's not.

September 11, 2011 at 5:56 pm

Well, I didn't do too bad. My second book does begin with my main character alone in his shuttle, preparing for passengers, but they show up quickly. And would you believe my publisher asked for a short prologue to my first book?

September 11, 2011 at 6:16 pm

That's wierd that so many people have hate for prologues. I have to say that I read a lot and I read every prologue and have never once thought the things that you are pointing out here.

I have a question…all of your sources on prologues come from industry professionals and none of them from people that just pick up a book and actually read? Is it possible that industry professionals similar to college professors are out of touch with the normal everyday Wal-Mart reader? At the end of the day…it is not the industry professional and the college professor that make you money as a writer. It is the woman with three kids at Wal-Mart, it is the guy (me) that walks past the Barnes and Noble and grabs the latest book written by George R.R. Martin and reads everything in it happily from "Prologue" to "Author's notes" and says to himself…"what a good book" and then puts it away.

I guess I'm challenging the hoity toity snootiness of this because all you have here are testimonies from an elite who are giving advice on how to market a book to sell to the masses? How does Nathan Bransford, Stanford University graduate, know what I, University of Idaho graduate who works in a state job making a middle-class salary want to read?

I respect your opinions on most of this, however, I think you're suggestions are aimed at writing that will make the elite happy and have no real clue as to what will make a middle-class shmoe happy. Maybe that's why all books that are being pumped out by the Big Six sound the same.

September 11, 2011 at 6:41 pm

Michael, I see what you're saying, but I have to agree with Anne here. The first six or seven drafts of my MS had a prologue at the beginning, and though I loved it, it didn't bring the reader directly into the action. The reader starts off separated from what's going on, instead of being a part of it. Part of this is writing for the masses–though I personally have no problem with prologues, with the attention span of most readers these days the action needs to start right away.

I noticed that as soon as I took my prologue out of my book, my betas (who already liked my MS) were much more engaged with my MC because I started in the middle of her finding her family murdered, instead of prefacing that with her thoughts. Prologues can definitely work for some people, but the majority of the time the information can be put right into the action instead. It's not wrong to have a prologue, but it is easier to catch most (emphasis on 'most') readers' attention if you just start with chapter one.

September 11, 2011 at 7:42 pm

Spook–I did a poll on this blog last year asking how many people read prologues. About 50% said they skip them. But you're right that George RR Martin loves them. They're more accepted in high fantasy, I think.

Ruth–Nice to hear that even you and Dennis Lehane do 50 rewrites of chapter 1. Now I don't feel so bad. And yes, of course, sometimes a prologue is necessary. People are more likely to read the short ones.

Alex–Ha! Shows how subjective it all is, doesn't it?

Michael–I don't think a fondness for prologues is class-specific. (And Nathan B. comes from humble small town origins.) As I said to Spook, prologues are more acceptable in some genres than others, like high fantasy. Also literary fiction as it happens–which I think is what you mean by calling those agents "elite." Actually, most of them rep genre fiction (the kind that sells in Wal-Mart.)

Tiffany–you've said it well. A prologue makes the reader start the book twice.

jb-Good point that the reader is going to get a lot of this info in the flap copy. But with ebooks, it will be on the Amazon page, but maybe not on your download? I don't have a Kindle yet, so I don't know.

And of course one of the great things about rules is that you get to break them. If you don't know what they are, where's the fun?

September 11, 2011 at 7:59 pm

Anne, I'd say number 11 is plain wrong – it's fine to start with dialogue, as long as it's snappy and informative.

And I'm not just saying that because A, I have an aversion to Rules Of Writing, and B, I've started two books that way.

My YA fantasy begins, "I wish to acquire a dragon." Most readers read on.

September 11, 2011 at 8:22 pm

"There is no right way to write a book; therefore, every way is wrong." — Lester D. Crawford

The current draft of my current project has a 92 word prologue that contains the first mention of a recurring theme, sets an ominous tone, and foreshadows what is about to happen within the first few pages of chapter one.

A prologue seems to begin many of the books I have read. Why do prologues seem so common if they are so despised?

When I read the prologue to Ernest Cline's Ready Player One , my reaction was that my work would never compare, I am a fool for thinking I can write, and I need to find a real job. (However, regardless of how Mr. Cline made me feel, I am charging ahead.)

I like rewriting, experimenting, exploring, and looking for possibilities. My prologue and opening chapter are places where I am doing a lot of trials and tests as I seek the perfect combination of words.

I jump straight into the instigating incident as triggered by a bird who then returns at the end of the story to bring the story full circle. My protagonist is heavily flawed; I created a character sheet for him by answering the questions based upon me. When I was finished with the character sheet, I read what I had written. My reaction was, "This guy is pitiful!" When he reunites with the bird at the end of the story, the protagonist has changed. He becomes what I wish I could be.

I think I will begin chapter one with dialogue:

"Caw."

Overhead, in the pine tree, sat a beautiful black bird. I ignored him and returned to musing over my map.

"What do you want, Mister Crow?"

September 11, 2011 at 10:27 pm

I'm not a fan of prologues either. Its rare the info isn't repeated in the middle of the book, or even scattered throughout the writing, including some during the opening pages.

I've started my novels with a few of these Don'ts, but usually its just a place to start. As you say, and introduction for myself as the author. I'm very bad at beginnings, and have to just start somewhere, and work up to the "actual" introduction. Yep; I have to revise a lot before I get out of the "draft" phase.

Thanks for sharing these insights. I sure wish I was going to this conference and taking your class.

…….dhole

September 11, 2011 at 11:13 pm

I like prologues if they give us a piece of the story that will never be in the rest of the book – say the murder of the college co-ed and the rest of the book is about finding the killer and pointing fingers. If it's done well, I think they're fine.

I have written them, and pulled them out, and put them back in again. Sometimes I think a story warrants one. Sometimes not. It all depends and as we all know, this business is very subjective.

Best of luck at the conference!

September 11, 2011 at 7:18 pm

I just love-hate these lists—Love when I’m not guilty, Hate when you touch on one of my weaknesses (okay, well, I really don’t mind that either, ‘cause then I can give it some attention!)

When I’m reading, the first few pages are important when it comes to ‘meeting’ the main character, but here’s the thing—I will already have ‘met’ the character by reading the back cover blurb before I even begin the novel! Therefore, I’m already acquainted with the protagonist’s gender, age group, maybe what world she lives in, and her general dilemma. Now, I just need to know if I can relate. I’m most interested in seeing how she feels about her circumstances. A vague sketch of what she look like is fine, but I don’t need all the details. I want some bearing in her physical surroundings, but only in how they relate to the story or character. I DON’T like reams of description, as you mention.

September 12, 2011 at 3:24 am

Some great info! Thanks,

September 12, 2011 at 4:17 am

Lexi–That is a very cool opening line. It says a lot. Still, I think most people would rather have an emotional connection with the MC before they're really interested in what he/she has to say.

Lester–Yours sounds like a very edgy book. Sometimes breaking all the rules works as well as following them.

Mark–I repeat what I said above. I LOVE breaking rules. Especially if I can prove they're stupid. But what's the fun in breaking rules if you don't know what they are?

Donna–I'm with you. I don't read prologues. An old prejudice from childhood. They always seemed murky and pointless. If I'm into the book, I usually go back and read a prologue at some point, but only when I want the answer to some story question. Often it's not in the prologue, and then I'm even more annoyed by it.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all meet at a writers conference somewhere?

Anne–Lots of times that could be the first chapter. People are more likely to read the first chapter than a prologue.

BTW Thanks for your encouragement. It's been a while since I've been in front of an audience, so I'm a little nervous.

Florence–I'm a huge believer in the small press. I think the nimble small publisher is the future of publishing. Has been for a while, actually. If JK Rowling hadn't been first published by a small press, YA would still be dominated by politically correct "message" books.

E. Arroyo–Glad it's useful!

September 11, 2011 at 9:47 pm

I read a lot of commercial crime thrillers, and it's noticeable that the likes of James Patterson and Michael Connelly, with sales figures to die for, regularly use prologues.

When in the UK last month I went into several bookstores and randomly selected from the plinth best-sellers and found pretty much 50/50 books with and without prologues.

I concur with Lexi about writing rules. When you get to specifics like "don't have a prologue" or "don't open with dialogue" that's a world apart from a general guideline about writing long descriptive scenes or weather reports reports.

As for agents as "experts"… That's a debate for another time. Suffice here to quote Michael: "Is it possible that industry professionals similar to college professors are out of touch with the normal everyday Wal-Mart reader?"

A third of the Amazon top sellers are indie, because the gatekeepers are out of touch with what readers want to read.

September 12, 2011 at 7:21 am

I recently chopped a prologue and the first two scenes off my Chapter 1. Thank goodness I let the thing sit a looong time before I came back for revisions. I had been attached to my opening words. They are thankfully gone now. I appreciate your helpful insights. I now start with my MC arriving in town (driving her car, I know…sigh) but immediately gets a flat tire, and has to interact with nasties. Anyway, I feel like it jumps into the story right away now, and so does my first reader. Yay!

September 12, 2011 at 12:49 am

"It was a dark and stormy night." Just joking. Thanks for the great tips in this post.

Next week comes at a good time for me since I am about to send out my first novella and need some tips about the "little" guys out there who still value them.

Ruth will have all my attention. Robert Parker was a talented and decicated mystery writter, producing two series in books; Spencer on TV and Jesse Stone moview made for TV. It's good to know his work will continue.

Thanks as always, Anne 🙂

September 12, 2011 at 9:04 am

Great post – especially the last point… the character's goal is sometimes the hook that keeps the reader reading…

September 12, 2011 at 10:13 am

Great reminders. I often hear unpublished writers defend their prologue as absolutely necessary.

September 12, 2011 at 10:22 am

I know you won't care, but I love prologues in fantasy novels. Every single fantasy novel that I love most has a great prologue in it. Any reader who skips prologues…well to me they aren't true readers.

August 11, 2014 at 4:14 am

Reed–I've learned about fantasy prologues since I wrote this post three years ago. I never read much fantasy, and epic fantasy isn't big with agents/big 5 publishers, but now that self-publishing is so common, writers can write for readers and not agents. So if you write fantasy, go ahead and put in that prologue. Your readers probably expect it.

August 11, 2014 at 3:00 am

I think fantasy is the one medium where a prologue is acceptable. But if you're in other genres, probably shouldn't have one. But Fantasy is almost as much about the world building as it is the story, and the prologue can both introduce the themes and threats of a fantasy story as well as give some interesting world building.

September 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Anne: You do the best posts on the internet. Clear. Clean. Confident and – best of all – Actionable! Thank you. I don't mind a prologue – but I hate it when a prologue is a jazzed up scene from later in the book to hook you (ie: Water for Elephants). It works but is dishonest (imho). I'd also like to add that everyone of my favorite books has NOT had "hooking start". (ie:The Help and one no one's heard of: The Heaven Tree Trilogy (best ever book) But then, I love literary fiction and am willing to invest some chapters to build a relationship. What I look for first is good writing. Here's my current books Opening paragraph. *** Squatting on the crescent of rock jutting out from the creek’s edge, six-year-old Celeste released onto it her bundle of forest treasure while staring into the soft flowing gray-green water. Sniffing deeply, her nose filled with the scent of mud and new green as she wiggled her toes inside her shoes and looked up at grandmother with hopeful eyes. “May I today, Gamma?” she asked. Glancing at the houses on the hillcrest overlooking the creek, Gamma winced. News traveled fast in small towns. No doubt those glassy eyes would report them on the grassy slope, shoeless, sockless, skirts pulled up to their knees, splashing their feet, prompting another lecture from Myrtle on dangers to her daughter’s health. But none of that had ever stopped Gamma before, so she wrinkled her nose like a rabbit and nodded. ***

September 12, 2011 at 4:49 pm

Amalia–I think most writers tend to start the story a little too early in rough draft, so chopping some off is often a good way to start revisions. (Then there's my WIP, which I started too far into the action. I have to be different 🙂

tf–In my first version of this list, I forgot the "goal". Probably should be #1.

Jacqvern–Thanks. Yes, sometimes prologues are necessary.

Jubilee–That's the trouble. Prologues are something every beginning writer adores, because they make things easier for the writer. But not necessarily for the reader.

Ted–High fantasy does have a tradition of prologues. I said that in the thread, but I probably should have said that it in the body of the text. But it's still good to question yourself about them.

Funny. Most of the prologue defenders don't seem to have read the um, prologue to my list, where I said, "Remember these are just guidelines. Opinions about what works in an opener can be very subjective."

Laura–Thanks so much. This is me blushing. Looks like a good opening scene. No time to critique here, but I'd vary the sentence structure a little. And watch those "ing" words. We all tend to fall into repetitive patterns.

September 12, 2011 at 10:05 am

Great points.

I agree with all of them, so there is not much to comment.

I like intense, action starts in a book, depending on the genre though. I agree with the prologues issue. Although, some times they are adequate and necessary, most of the times they are redundant & boring.

Very interesting post 🙂

September 13, 2011 at 2:50 am

Anne I seem to be strangely like you because I started to far into the story with my current project. It all made sense to me as I'd been basically dreaming the whole thing fro a month before I started writing it down. Of course I didn't really know much about my MC's past until after I was through with the first part.

Thankfully after reading these tips I think my writing of a new first (and probably several chapters) is better on par with your rules.

She does start dodging rain drops on the way home to her apartment and lets down her long braided hair, but she soon greets her fiance and they get into an argument over something he read in her diary…

I'm opting for no prologue with this fantasy to allow the reader to explore and learn about the world she ends up in with her.

I have a prologue in another 'old' work of mine and I can see how it was for my use and would probably allow the reader to figure out what's going to happen pretty quickly.

Anyway enough of my ramblings. it's bedtime for me on the East Coast. I really need to start page marking these awesome tip blogs of yours.

:} Cathryn Leigh

September 13, 2011 at 6:15 am

"First drafts are for the writer; revisions are for the reader." Dang! That's why I like writing so much…and tend to get stuck on subsequent drafts. Again and again you make so much sense regarding this writing stuff. On the prologue controversy, I don't write them, but I like to read them. Just goes to show it takes all types. Keep on blogging because we need these opinions/ "rules" to think about and try on for size. And bask (or would that be basque?) in your terrific and well-deserved success. Yours, with love forever, —Rrrandy Wurst P.S. If I ever get my butt out of this sling, maybe I'll have some success, too.

September 13, 2011 at 1:48 am

Anne, these are all excellent tips! And you're so right about leading with emotion. I love an opening where I instantly care about the character and what happens to her.

September 13, 2011 at 10:00 am

As an unpublished writer – well, a couple of short stories in the local newspaper when I was a BA student last year – I find your posts very interesting – thank you:)

September 13, 2011 at 1:07 pm

Anne, Susan Quinn suggested I follow your blog, and I'm glad she did! Looks like you got a great understanding of the craft of writing.

Nice to meet you!

September 13, 2011 at 2:52 pm

Hi! I rewrote the beginning of my first novel that is currently with my agent like 15 times because I kept writing it for me, instead of the reader.

I think you listed some good tips, but sometimes the rules are meant to be broken. The first line in my novel is actually a line of dialogue. At first, I was against dialogue, for the reason you listed above, but then a contest judge recommended I move it up to immediately make the reader intrigued about the MC. Later contest judges loved it so I kept it.

I loved your one sentence pitch from your contest. Sounds like a book I'd enjoy.

September 13, 2011 at 4:57 pm

Great post! 🙂 I'm going to add it to my Friday mash-up.

I made the cardinal sin of putting a prologue in my book 2. My agent didn't cut it but I'm waiting for editor feedback. I kind of heart it. *pets shiny prologue* But I figure if my editor nixes it, then I can at least use it as bonus material on my website. *pats prologue on the head*

October 8, 2017 at 4:18 pm

This made my day. LOL

September 13, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Julie—It’s true. We just naturally care more about somebody we know than a stranger.

Catherine—I think a lot of us who learn too many of these rules tend to start the story too late. We’re so worried about giving the reader action, we forget they have to get to know the MC first. BTW—dodging raindrops is great. The point is to let the reader know who’s doing the dodging.

Mr. Wurst—Aw shucks. Thanks.

Christine—Always good to know the rules when you’re starting out. Later you can break them.

Matthew—Thanks for stopping by. I’ll have to thank Susan.

Laurel—I’ll have to thank Elle, too. It would be fun to do a post on good openings. Maybe I could get people to post their favorites.

Isis—Doing rewrites for agents can be infuriating. Sometimes they’re going for the market, not what works for your book. But I'm glad to hear you found the right opening. As I say, these are just guidelines and rules are made to be broken.

So glad you checked out the opening of my contest winner, Sherwood, Ltd. Hoping to have some good news about it soon.

Veronika—glad you found it useful. Much appreciate the linkage

September 13, 2011 at 8:42 pm

Roni–Thanks. It's an honor to make your Friday links. Great idea about putting the prologue on your website if it gets nixed by your editor!

September 13, 2011 at 2:30 pm

Hi Anne, I just found your through Elle Strauss's blog. Ditto what matthew said!

Beginnings are my Waterloo. I've rewritten mine a dozen different ways and still worry that I'm throwing too much at the reader at once. I'd love it if you'd post sometime on what it looks like to open well, especially how to create an emotional connection between reader and protagonist.

September 13, 2011 at 3:28 pm

Great stuff as always!! I'm linking to you in my next post. 🙂

September 13, 2011 at 8:50 pm

Excellent blog! I do a lot of the do's, so that's good. I have, on occasion started with my MC talking, but only if he/she is saying something interesting.

September 15, 2011 at 12:05 am

As usual, really great advice, Anne! My openings always stink and it takes multiple drafts to get it right.

"Robinson Crusoe is boring until Friday shows up." BWAHAHAHA – so funny, and so true!

September 15, 2011 at 3:01 am

That's great that you're turning this into an opportunity to teach, Anne! And it was my pleasure to share such a great article (and others) from your blog. Good luck with your workshops!

September 14, 2011 at 10:21 pm

This has got to be the most thorough list I've seen yet. And I love the quotes from the agents. Nice supporting evidence.

September 15, 2011 at 7:40 pm

Aubrie–I used to start all my books with dialogue, and I still feel the urge, but you're right that it needs to be really compelling.

Stina–When I started reading all those comments, I decided to collect them. I actually have a lot more. Didn't find any pro-prologue ones.

Jennifer–What's important is starting somewhere. Second draft is when you get to decide where.

Suzannah–Thanks for sharing the my blogposts! And thanks for the encouragement. I'm starting to get nervous now…

September 16, 2011 at 2:41 am

Thanks for the informative, practical post, Anne! Have a blast at the conference. I look forward to following your insight.

September 16, 2011 at 3:15 am

Interesting post, as always. I'm glad I learned the rules, so I knew what I was doing while breaking them. I've done a couple of the Don'ts listed here and it hasn't harmed me in terms of publication.

September 16, 2011 at 11:23 am

These are wonderful. I try and follow them. All of them except the prologue bit. In the genre I write, usually the murder happens first chapter, it's not really a prologue (although my publisher is insisting I call it that) but it's the chapter before my main character is introduced.

September 16, 2011 at 5:59 pm

Great stuff here. I'm going to copy it and paste it in a separate document for future reference. =D

September 17, 2011 at 8:08 pm

Fantastic article! Thank you. Time to look at my opening pages again, side by side with your points. I heartily agree about prologues. I don't write them and have never enjoyed reading them.

September 17, 2011 at 4:12 pm

Great topic! I especially liked your advice in #9, "Don't start with a prologue." I hope that everyone who is in the planning stages of their first novel reads your post. I wish I had read it before I wrote the first draft of my women's mystery/suspense novel, "Mixed Messages." I did eventually omit the prologue and the epilogue (yes, I had one of those too) and it definitely improved the novel. http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/

October 8, 2017 at 4:25 pm

Looks like you touched a tender nerve RE: the prologue. THIS I KNOW features a 1-page prologue that takes place in the womb, so a little difficult to sliver in later. I had also written a prologue for my WIP but got rid of it. As you mentioned, it’s so much better to filter the information in later than drop a lazy info-dump at the front of the book. We have so little time to hook the reader; why waste it on backstory? SO much gold to mine from this post.

Also, I’m stealing snoozified.

October 8, 2017 at 4:36 pm

Eldonna– We have had many, many discussions about prologues on this blog. (This one is from back in 2011.)

They are so difficult to do well that most agents reject a manuscript that has one, especially when it’s used as a crutch for poor storytelling or an infodump.

But popular, professional writers use them all the time. It’s one of those “rules” that is really a guideline for beginning writers. I’m sure your editor at Kensington made sure yours passed muster. 🙂

May 12, 2018 at 3:03 pm

I know I’m 7 years late but I also know that I haven’t even been a writer back then. I just wanted to let you know that I’m really amazed at the fact that this post is from 2011 but it’s still really true about writing. This post already grabbed my attention and I find all of it absolutely true. Without knowing, I actually did things the way I should and in the way shown in this blog which means that we maybe have similar way of thinking. I recently started to read blogs about writing and looking for ways to improve my writing more. I’m content now, and I’m confident but I believe that there’s still a long way for me to go until I reach the level I want (which can probably never happen). Since I’m a perfectionist, I keep on trying.

Your blog is simply incredible and I can’t wait until I read some of your newer posts, or even more of your older ones. I can’t believe that you’re doing this (writing and posting in this blog) for so much time, it inspires me to be persistent at what I do. I have a book that I intend to publish, once I finish it, of course, so without persistence, that would be an impossible task. Thank you for giving me motivation and useful advice! I wish you good luck with your blog!

May 12, 2018 at 3:11 pm

Stilito–Welcome to the blog! Ruth and I have been at this for a long time, haven’t we? Enjoy browsing around the blog, or you can find lots of info in the book I wrote with Catherine Ryan Hyde, HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE, and my new book on author blogging THE AUTHOR BLOG.

June 23, 2020 at 5:53 am

Good stuff here appreciate ……still working on my first thriller

His presence at the premises created a nimbus of power allover the downtown area-seven in the capital of wazalendo. His arrival had been preceded by a breviloquent call from the ministry of defence informing the hospital director that mxf002 was on his way to the facility. Minutes later a convoy of several armoured vehicles and ear hungry sirens sounds announced his arrival.

June 23, 2020 at 11:18 am

Innocent–Thanks for stopping by. Ruth and I do not offer critique services. If you want your work critiqued, I suggest CritiqueCircle.com.

May 4, 2024 at 2:18 am

Many years later (aka- your Google search foo is excellent!). I was amused by 3, given the Maltese Falcon opens with a paragraph that described Sam Spade to a V (including hair color), and Morse’s rather odd entry in his first book described him as “lightly built.”

The prologue point is much discussed as you say. Some slices of the thriller genre require them so much that chapter one is routinely described as “Prologue” even if it is actually chapter one. Given that the most commercial book of the last 25 years had a prologue (albeit described as chapter one, but it was a prologue) and JK Rowling was a newbie author, it is a bit hard to see how they are the kiss of death. tbh plenty of whodunits start by breaking two of these rules- a “prologue” where the POV character dies.

One challenge is that you often get told “learn your craft,” which suggests a significant amount of reading the masters in your genres. Then you get told the best sellers can break the unbreakable rules, because they are best sellers. But then you point out the rules are often broken by these same authors in their first or early books, at which points the critique rather moves into the stop being difficult territory [an actual conversation with one of the agents you namecheck here went exactly like this].

May 4, 2024 at 9:37 am

Simnett–As you say, this is a 13 year old post, and things have changed a good deal in the publishing business since I wrote it, including the “Kindle revolution.” Agents are not the gatekeepers they once were. The most important rule for landing an agent these days is “be famous.” Many “writing rules” have been tossed aside. There’s more head-hopping and self-indulgent description and, yes, more prologues in newly published books. (Although you still want to call it a first chapter when submitting to agents.) The truth is, beginning writing will always look like beginning writing, and both agents and readers can usually spot it even if they can’t pinpoint what the problem is.

[…] http://annerallen.com/2011/09/14-dos-and-donts-for-introducing-your.html […]

[…] now you know you need to rework the opener. Go read some articles on how to start a novel or how not to start a novel, rewrite and take it back to the group. If you’ve learned from […]

[…] 14 Do’s and Don’ts for Introducing Your Protagonist Write Better: 3 Ways To Introduce Your Main Character How to introduce characters: 6 ways to be memorable Introducing a Character: Essential steps to bring a character to life Don’t Stop the Story to Introduce Each Character […]

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Best Great Gatsby Character Analysis

Book Guides

Familiar with the characters of The Great Gatsby , but need to analyze one or more of them for an essay or class assignment? This article has got your back! In it, we'll discuss what the point of analyzing a book character is. We'll also talk about the dos and donts of writing a character analysis, essay, explaining how to go from an argument to finding evidence. Finally, we'll give you an example of how to develop an essay of this type by constructing one around the old money characters (Tom, Daisy, and Jordan). 

You'll also find links to our in-depth articles on each of The Great Gatsby 's main characters, explaining their role and significance in the novel, key quotes for each, and some ideas for essay topics, really helping you pull together your thoughts about these characters!

Why Write a The Great Gatsby Character Analysis Essay?

By assigning a character analysis, your teacher is giving you the chance to practice many different writing and analysis skills, including:

• close reading
• incorporating evidence from the novel into an essay
• building a larger argument
• tying small details you notice while reading into one of the book’s larger themes

The Great Gatsby  is the perfect book for character analysis since it features seven major characters that interact in interesting ways across gender and class lines.  Since this novel has so many beautiful and fascinating bits of character description, it will also get you to practice using evidence from the text in an argument.

So make sure that any character analysis you write builds on the skills you are learning in class! We will go over some do’s and don’t of character analysis below.

Character Analysis Do's

Here are some tips for constructing an excellent The Great Gatsby  character analysis essay.

Create an Argument, Not Just a Topic 

There is a big difference between an essay topic and an essay argument.

Most of the time, your teacher will give you an essay topic - in other words, what your essay should be about generally . Normally a topic will involve connecting the character to one of the novel’s larger themes, especially money and materialism , the American Dream , love and desire , or the relationship between upper and lower classes in society. If you design your own topic, you could explain how your chosen character illuminates one of the novel's symbols motifs.

For our example, let's take the common prompt, “Write an essay about how either Tom, Daisy, or Jordan represents old money.” This essay assignment has the topic built in: it wants you to take one of those characters and explain how their individual qualities tie them to the bigger abstract idea of the old money class.

But you still have to come up with the argument yourself. An argument is exactly what it sounds like - it's a point that you're trying to make by using reasons and evidence. There's an easy test for figuring out whether you're working with an argument. Could someone argue the opposite of what you're saying? Then yes, that's an argument. Otherwise, it's just a statement of fact. Plus, an essay anchored by a surprising assertion will immediately seem more interesting - how on earth are you going to prove this, your reader will be wondering.

In our example essay, let's say that we've decided to analyze Tom. It's tempting to use something like this as the "argument":

Tom's wealth and privilege show that he is part of the old money class.

But could anyone argue the opposite? Not at all - because this is a factual description, not a contentious statement.

Instead, an argument should make some kind of provocative, challengeable point:

Tom Buchanan is an example of Nick’s scathing depiction of the old money class as fearful and insecure despite enormous privilege.

Now, that someone could argue with! After all, Tom doesn't at first glance seem like someone who is fearful or insecure.  

Outline How You Will Prove Your Argument

Make sure each paragraph is anchored by a thesis statement - a one-sentence summary of what part of your argument this particular paragraph is going to prove. Also, loosely plan out what evidence you will use to back up each paragraph's thesis statement.

It can be helpful to create a simple outline before hand to guide how you’ll go about your essay. This will keep your essay clearly organized, and make writing easier.

In our example essay, an outline could look like:

Argument:   Tom Buchanan is an example of Nick’s scathing depiction of the old money class as fearful and insecure despite enormous privilege.

Paragraph 1: The trappings of Tom’s life show his privilege and his insecurity. Evidence:

• fancy house
• polo horses
• enormous wealth
• year in France

Paragraph 2: Tom actions constantly hint at his insecurity about his status. Evidence:

• depressed that his football glory days are behind him
• racist tirade shows he thinks the elite is about to be swept off the map
• has affairs only with lower-class women he can dominate

Paragraph 3: Tom's constant policing of other people's behavior shows how much he wants to reinforce class divisions in the face of them eroding. Evidence:

• throwing money at Myrtle to buy ten dogs
• grousing about Gatsby misinterpreting the invitation from the Sloanes and mocking the pink suit
• investigating Gatsby's criminal dealings even when already pretty sure Gatsby is a bootlegger

Paragraph 4: Tom decisions around Myrtle's murder show that he is more cowardly than his intimidating physical presence leads us to believe. Evidence:

• manipulating George to kill Gatsby rather because he was scared of George's gun
• running away with Daisy rather than sticking around to face consequences

Conclusion: Tom's privilege only heightens his sense of himself as a victim whose status is in danger of being usurped. Tom is a scathing portrait of old money royalty.

Use and Analyze Evidence to Support Your Argument

Bold arguments depend on a solid use of evidence to back them up. That means you can't just throw a quote into your writing and move on! Instead, use this rule of thumb: for each line of quoted text you insert, make sure you have 2-4 lines of your own explaining and interpreting the meaning of the quote as it relates to your argument .

To back up our example argument, we would now scour the book to find evidence of Tom being insecure or fearful. Once we've got something, though, it can't just be thrown into the essay willy nilly like this:

Nick says that Tom was "one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax" (1.16).

Instead, we have to connect this description to the larger argument, using close reading to really get at the meaning of the words Nick is choosing:

Nick is pointing out that Tom's athletic achievements happened too long ago to keep feeding Tom's ego, Instead, because nothing has ever lived up to his football glory days, Tom is spending his time trying to avoid the depressing feeling of "anti-climax."

Use Evidence to Address Counterarguments

Because you've created an actually disputable argument, you can take the time to swat away the opposite position .

In the example essay we've been constructing, we're arguing that Tom Buchanan represents Fitzgerald’s critique of old money and is essentially an antagonist. We should address the idea that Tom is the novel's sharpest observer of people. (After all, unlike Nick, Tom immediately pegs Gatsby as a bootlegger.) This seemingly positive quality could be spun to be yet another example of Tom's insecurity - he is very quick to leap to judgment rather than giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Character Analysis Don'ts

Now that we've covered what you  should  do in a  Gatsby character analysis essay, let's go over some mistakes you should avoid.

Avoid Stating the Obvious

Don’t just say what the character is like, list descriptions from the book, or summarize what the character did without adding any analysis. For example, don’t just say “Gatsby is flamboyant, throws big parties, and even wears a pink suit sometimes. He does all of this to try and win back Daisy, the love of his life.” All that does is summarize something that is obvious from the book.

Instead, tie those observations to a larger idea. For example, “the extravagance of Jay’s parties and dress marks him as a member of the newly rich, allowing Fitzgerald to satirize the newly rich in America as he also critiques the cruelty of old money” or “Jay’s obsessive pursuit of Daisy reveals an unrealistic obsession with reliving the past.”

Don’t Make All or Nothing Claims About a Character

The beauty of this novel is that the statements “Daisy is a horrible person” or “Daisy is a misunderstood martyr” are both wrong.

Instead, try and find the nuances, the good and the bad points of each character, and make them work for your bigger argument. For example, if you’re writing an essay about how Daisy represents the limited options available to women in the 1920s, you would likely be more sympathetic to some of her behavior, but you still shouldn’t excuse her hit-and-run!

Don’t Focus on Including Every Single Scene or Line That Features Your Character

Even for a short novel, Gatsby is jam-packed with meaningful dialogue, imagery, and plot events, and you couldn’t possibly analyze every single key moment for each character in one essay! (You could – and people have – write whole books on the subject!) Instead, focus on finding a few moments and analyzing them in detail, then tying them to your main point. Remember that the quality of analysis is worth more than the quantity of evidence!

Character Analysis Links

Each of our character pages has a detailed section with analysis of each character.

You can also get some helpful background information, a summary of the character’s actions in the book, and important quotes by and about them:

Nick Carraway

Daisy Buchanan

Tom Buchanan

Jordan Baker

Myrtle Wilson

George Wilson

The Bottom Line on  The Great Gatsby  Character Analysis

• Character analysis is a chance to practice many different writing and analysis skills.
• Create an argument - a debatable, provocative point that you're trying to make by using reasons and evidence. 
• Anchor each paragraph by a thesis statement - a one-sentence summary of what part of your argument this particular paragraph is going to prove.
• Loosely plan out what evidence you will use to back up each paragraph's thesis statement.
• For each line of quoted text, have 2-4 lines of your own explanation relating to your argument.
• Take the time to swat away the counterarguments.
• Avoid stating the obvious. Instead, tie observations to a larger idea.
• Don’t make all or nothing claims about a character. Instead, find the nuances in each character, and make them work for your bigger argument. 
• Don’t feel like you have to include every single scene or line that features your character. 

What’s Next?

Want to get advice about comparing and contrasting characters? Head on over to  our Compare/Contrast post to learn how to best write about common character pairings.  

Need a little more background on novel’s plot? Check out our Great Gatsby  summary , or look at a timeline of all of the events in chronological order .

Interested in getting help analyzing important symbols and motifs? Get an introduction to symbols in The Great Gatsby   and an overview of the novel's motifs to get started.

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To Kill a Mockingbird: Character Analysis

How it works

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is still a big deal in American literature. It’s not just about the story of racial injustice but also about the deep and interesting characters. The book, set in the 1930s in the racially divided South, shows a small slice of society through its characters. Each one of them shows bigger ideas about right and wrong, understanding others, and social justice. This essay’s gonna look at the main characters in the book, checking out their roles, how they change, and what they stand for.

• 1 Atticus Finch: The Moral Compass
• 2 Scout Finch: The Voice of Innocence and Growth
• 3 Tom Robinson: The Embodiment of Injustice
• 4 Boo Radley: The Misunderstood Outcast
• 5 Conclusion

Atticus Finch: The Moral Compass

Atticus Finch is Scout and Jem’s dad, and he’s the moral rock of the book. He’s all about doing the right thing and standing up for what’s fair. This really shows when he defends Tom Robinson, a Black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. Atticus believes in equality and justice, even when everyone else looks down on him. A study by the Southern Poverty Law Center says only about 25% of lawyers in the 1930s South would have defended a Black man in such a sticky case, which shows just how brave Atticus is (SPLC, 2019).

But Atticus isn’t just a good lawyer; he’s a good dad too. He teaches Scout and Jem to be kind and to see things from other people’s points of view. He tells Scout to “climb into [another person’s] skin and walk around in it” (Lee, 1960). This is a big idea in the book about being good and understanding others. Atticus isn’t just teaching his kids; he’s teaching us readers too, pushing us to think about our own sense of right and wrong.

Scout Finch: The Voice of Innocence and Growth

Jean Louise “Scout” Finch tells the story, giving us a view that’s both simple and deep. As a young girl, Scout tries to make sense of the unfairness and complicated stuff in her world. She starts off seeing things in black and white but learns to see the shades of gray as the story goes on.

You can see her growth in how she thinks about Boo Radley, the strange guy who never leaves his house. At first, Boo is like a spooky story to her and the other kids. But as she grows up, she sees Boo’s kindness and realizes that “most people are [nice], when you finally see them” (Lee, 1960). Scout’s change shows the book’s message about the importance of getting to know people and being kind.

Tom Robinson: The Embodiment of Injustice

Tom Robinson is a key character who shows the deep-rooted racial unfairness in the South. His trial and being found guilty, even though it’s clear he didn’t do it, show how strong racial bias was at that time. Historical records show that in the 1930s South, the conviction rate for Black people accused of crimes against whites was often over 90% (Equal Justice Initiative, 2020).

Tom’s story highlights the sad results of racial discrimination. Even though he’s a good person and the charges don’t make sense, he’s punished by a biased system. His story criticizes how the justice system fails to be fair, showing bigger problems in society.

Boo Radley: The Misunderstood Outcast

Arthur “Boo” Radley starts out as a scary figure in the kids’ imaginations, seen as a ghostly guy hiding in his rundown house. But Boo’s real self comes out through his kind actions, like leaving gifts for Scout and Jem and saving them from danger. Boo reminds us that people often get judged wrongly based on gossip and looks.

Critics say Boo stands for what happens when society cuts people off and the need for human connection. His change from a figure of fear to one of kindness fits with the book’s themes of understanding and compassion. Literary critic Claudia Durst Johnson says Boo represents the “mockingbird” of the title, an innocent person harmed by society (Johnson, 1994).

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” brings its characters’ lives together to show a rich mix of human experience and moral questions. Atticus Finch is like a lighthouse of integrity, guiding his kids and us readers through a messed-up society. Scout Finch’s journey from innocence to understanding is the heart of the book’s look at growing up and empathy. Tom Robinson’s sad story shows the deep racial unfairness of the time, while Boo Radley’s change from scary to kind underlines the need for understanding and compassion.

Overall, the characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird” aren’t just people in a story; they represent the book’s main ideas, teaching timeless lessons about right and wrong, justice, and connecting with others. Through their stories and growth, we readers are pushed to think about our own values and the ways society shapes our world.

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How to Develop a Fictional Character: 6 Tips for Writing Great Characters

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Sep 8, 2021 • 8 min read

Whether we’re discussing Hamlet or Harry Potter , the best stories are not just about an interesting series of events: they’re about characters. While a mastery of plot can help you develop exciting twists and turns, great character development draws readers in by giving them strong characters with whom they can identify.