What is a Character Analysis?
A character analysis is when you break down the traits of a character. It involves figuring out what a character is like and why they act the way they do in a story. You would use this to understand a book, play, or poem better.
For example, suppose you are doing a character analysis of Hamlet from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Here, you would talk about how Hamlet's personality affects the entire play.
A character analysis can be hard because the writer often doesn't tell you everything directly. They might leave subtle hints in the story that you have to find.
A character analysis includes looking at and understanding things that are not mentioned directly. Sometimes, events in the story seem unimportant. However, when you put them all together, they give you a good idea of what the character is like.
Analyzing characters is important because it helps the readers understand them better. It also helps students learn how to ask important questions and identify character traits. This can help them understand the story better.
How to Do a Character Analysis?
When analyzing a character, the following are some things you should look at. These aspects can help you understand and analyze the character easily and quickly.
- What is the character's motivation for their actions? What influences their choices? Are they acting out of self-interest, impulsively, or ethically?
- What are the character’s actions? How do their actions affect other people around them? Are their actions are good or bad for other people?
- How someone talks can tell you a lot about them. What are the words and vocabulary they use? What does that indicate about their education level and their social group?
- How do the other characters talk about that particular character you’re analyzing? How does the character describe himself?
- What is the character’s name or some titles he goes by? The name of a character can give you an idea about that character's personality and role in the story. Imagery in a name can give an idea about what kind of traits a character might have.
How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?
“How to write character analysis in easy steps?”
Below are the simple steps you should follow to write a character analysis essay:
1. Choose a Character
Many times your teacher assigns a character for you to analyze. However, sometimes, you have the autonomy to choose your own.
If you choose your own character, try to pick a dynamic character. It’s not necessary to choose a protagonist or the main character in the story. However, make sure that the character is prominent enough for you to gather enough material to work with.
2. Study the Character
Once you’ve decided on your character, read the story, poem, or narrative you’ve taken the character from, again and again.
This is so you can understand the personality of the character better. Take notes while reading so you have enough information to analyze the character with.
While reading, identify what type of character you’ve chosen. There are several kinds of characters in a story. They are as follows:
| Character Type | Description |
| Protagonist | The protagonist is the main character in a story. They are the most important character because they push the story forward. |
| Antagonist | The antagonist is the character who creates problems for the protagonist and is often going against him. |
| Major Character | A major character is someone important other than the protagonist. He plays a big role in the story and is majorly involved in the plot as well. |
| Minor Character | Minor characters have little importance in the story and are not developed very well. They have a minor role to play. They come and go without making much of an impact. |
| Dynamic Character | Dynamic characters keep changing and keep the story moving. The protagonist and antagonist are often dynamic. |
| Static Character | Static characters stay the same throughout the story. |
| Stereotypes or Stock Characters | These are the types of characters that are used to fill space in a story. |
3. Create an Essay Outline
Now it’s time to create an outline for your essay. An outline will help you plan and organize your content into different paragraphs.
The character analysis essay outline has three sections:
- The introduction introduces the character.
- The main body has three paragraphs, each paragraph describing a different characteristic of the character.
- The conclusion wraps up the essay.
4. Write Your Character Analysis Essay
With your outline in front of you, you can easily start writing your essay/character analysis.
- Introduction:
Start with a strong and engaging essay introduction. Give some background information on the character. Introduce the character and his important personality traits briefly. Write a thesis statement that concisely explains the main idea of your essay. - Main Body:
The body of the essay will provide in-depth information about the character. This includes discussing the character's physical attributes, the conflicts and challenges he faces, triumphs over these conflicts, and moral values associated with him.
Your character analysis should cover three important aspects:
- The personality of the character
- The role of the character
- Character development and growth throughout the story
Divide your main body into several paragraphs where each paragraph discusses a specific aspect of the character in detail. Support your claims with strong evidence from the story.
- Conclusion:
Lastly, reiterate your thesis statement and summarize the main points you’ve discussed in your entire essay. Leave your readers with a thought-provoking remark to wrap up your essay effectively.
5. Proofread
It is extremely important to proofread your essay once you’re done writing. Check your essay for plagiarism, grammatical errors, and punctuation mistakes. Make sure your information is coherent by using transition words for a smooth flow of ideas from one point to another.
Here’s a guide on how to analyze a character in your essay. Check it out to get a better idea of how to do it on your own.
Character Analysis Suggestions
Are you assigned to choose your own character for your analysis?
There are so many great characters in literature to choose from. It can get confusing just to select one.
It is a good idea to choose a dynamic character for your essay. This is a character that goes through a lot of changes and grows throughout the story. This will make your paper more interesting and engaging for the reader.
If you choose a character that is not very dynamic, your essay might seem boring because this character will not be very involved in the story.
Below are a few suggestions of dynamic characters you can analyze. Try to study a few and choose one to write about.
- Character analysis of Robinson Crusoe
- Character analysis of Macbeth
- Character analysis of King Lear
- Character analysis of Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth
- John Proctor from The Crucible character analysis
- Character analysis of Waiting for Godot’s Vladimir
- Character analysis of Changez in Reluctant Fundamentalist
- Antigone character analysis
- Banquo character analysis
- Mr. Birling character analysis
Character Analysis Examples
We’ve compiled expertly written examples of character analysis essays for your guidance. Check them out below to learn how to write one of your own.
What is a character analysis? How do you go about writing one? We hope this blog has provided some answers to these questions.
We’ve discussed the basics of what a character analysis is and how to write an essay that does your chosen character justice. We’ve also provided some character analysis examples from literature so that you can see just how it’s done.
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