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Character analysis is the examination of physical, social, psychological and ancillary elements of a character in a fictional text. It focuses on character conflict, traits, and can incorporate different types of criticism. The scholar’s moral and ethical framework is often incorporated into the analysis.
Character analysis is the scholarly examination of the physical, social, psychological and ancillary elements of a character within a fictional text. Character analysis is one of the central elements of basic literary scholarship and is a hallmark aspect of most schools of criticism, including formalist, postmodern, deconstructionist, and Marxist theory. A character analysis can include all elements of a given character in a text, or it can focus on just one or two elements. An in-depth analysis may also include a hypothetical comment that questions aspects of a character that are not explicitly stated within a text.
Most types of character analysis focus on character conflict within the narrative of the text. The student can consider who or what the character is struggling against and whether this struggle gives the character a static or dynamic nature. A static character does not change physically or psychologically in the midst of a conflict. A dynamic character, on the other hand, is explicitly altered in some way by struggle or conflict. A character analysis will likely discuss and analyze the nature of the conflict and the changes it generates in character.
A character analysis will also focus on specific traits, such as morality, motivation, temperament, and outlook. These traits compel the character to take action. The literary scholar might examine whether the character acts morally or ethically within the context of the society presented in the narrative and how the events in that narrative shape and are shaped by the character’s actions.
A literary scholar may also incorporate a specific type of criticism into a character analysis. The same character can be examined through different critical lenses. For example, a formalist scholar might examine how a character’s dialogue and interaction with other characters shape narrative and what the language the author uses reveals about that character. A Marxist scholar, on the other hand, might look at that same character and see other character traits based on social and political elements within and outside the narrative.
While the foundations of a character analysis focus on character traits and character interactions, such an analysis is not necessarily limited to these considerations. Often, the critic’s moral and ethical framework is incorporated into the analysis, either intentionally or accidentally, in order to place the character’s story in a larger context for readers. The elements of a good character analysis invariably incorporate the judgments and biases of the scholar conducting the analysis, even as collective critical consensus evens out the disparities over time.
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