Character and Characteristics - Katie, Krystal, Paige - Poetry and Poetics Year 1

A well-developed character is important in all forms of literature, movies, plays etc. especially for the narrative. The better the audience knows the character, the better the character development. [i]

In regards to the primary character, it is imperative that the audience/reader can depict some kind of personality that makes them noticeable- or if the narrative case is, unnoticeable.

However there are two ways character development can be directed into the narrative, either indirect or direct.

Direct or explicit characterisation:

The author/director/narrator literally tells the audience what a character is like.

This direct method, is usually presented within films. For example Wanted, with James Mcavoy, the character narrates his personality when he says he knows his girlfriend is having an affair but chooses to do nothing about it, saying that he is a ‘pussy’- henceforth depicting him as weak.

Indirect or implicit characterisation:

The audience must decode the character for themselves what the character is like through the character’s thoughts, actions, speech, looks and interaction with other characters.

One character I think this is presented with is Hermione Granger in HP- she is seen as being a very thoughtful girl, seen with her relationship with both Ron and Harry, but also someone who cares about her education.

           

Christopher Vogler, in his seminal book The Writer’s Journey (1998) talks about archetypes when he talks about character. The phrase archetype was initially used by the Swiss psychologist Carl G Jung to mean patterns of personality that can be found throughout history that are shared by or universal to all humans. This is what Vogler draws on when he discusses character archetypes as “personified symbols of various human qualities” [Vogler, 26].

        Continuing in this vein of thinking, Vogler says that each archetype has a psychological function and a dramatic function; the psychological function being a representation of a part of the “hero’s” personality, and the dramatic function being how the archetype advances the story. Because of this Vogler employs us to regard character archetypes as functions rather than fixed characters.

“The archetypes can be thought of as masks, worn by the characters temporarily as they are needed to advance the story” [Vogler, 26].

        McKee describes something similar when he says, “Characters are not human beings.” He goes on to say they are “a metaphor for human nature” [McKee, 375].

In The Writer’s Journey Vogler highlights many of what he considers the most common or useful archetypes as follows:

·      The Hero

·      The Mentor

·      The Threshold Guardian

·      The Herald

·      The Shapeshifter

·      The Shadow

·      The Ally

·      The Trickster

The two key archetypes, however, are the “Hero,” and the “Shadow.” Simply put the Hero represents the ego, but more importantly has the dramatic function of giving the audience “a window into the story” [Vogler, 30]. The idea is that we as the audience are able to identify with the hero in order to engage with the story and maintain interest. On the other hand the Shadow’s dramatic function is to challenge the Hero and create conflict. The Shadow is often what we would consider to be the “villain,” or the “antagonist.” On a psychological level the Shadow represents “the power of repressed feelings” [Vogler, 65]. Vogler highlights the Shadow as “a useful metaphor… for grasping the unexpressed, ignored, or deeply hidden aspects of our heros” [Vogler, 69].

Following on from archetypes is the importance of the Character Arc or “The Hero’s Journey”. The American scholar Joseph Campbell coined this term in the 20th century in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This book was a huge influence with storytelling and still has an impact on today’s cinema and literature. However, nothing about this concept is new, Campbell simple combined these ideas and named them giving us the neat 12 part structure we have today:

1. The Ordinary World – the hero is introduced, audiences are shown his background, heredity and personal history. However, struggles in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions, causing stress.
2. The Call to Adventure – something changes the situation and the hero must face the “beginnings of change”
3. Refusal of the Call – the hero turns away from the adventure briefly/another character expresses the danger that lies ahead.
4. Meeting with the Mentor – the hero is trained and helped by a more experienced traveler who he turns to for wisdom.
5. Crossing the Threshold – (the end of act one) the hero commits to leaving his home and enters a new land with unfamiliar rules/values
6. Test, Allies and Enemies – the hero is tested and finds both allies and enemies in this new world.
7. Approach – the hero and his allies prepare for the challenge/battle in the new world.
8. The Ordeal – (near the middle of the story) the hero must face a grave danger or fear (eg. Death) and from this comes new life.
9. The Reward – good triumphs over evil and takes possession of the treasure.
10. The Road Back – (3/4 through the story) the hero takes the treasure home from the new world, there is often a chase to show the urgency and danger of the mission.
11. The Resurrection – (at the climax) the hero is tested one more time at the boarder of home, there is a similar scenario to The Ordeal on a greater level resulting in the struggles from the beginning have been resolved.
12. Return with the Elixir – the hero returns with some element of treasure that has “the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed”.

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[i] http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/character2.html

FURTHER READING:

The Writer’s Journey - Mythic Structure for Writers (Third Edition) by Christopher Vogler (1998)

Story - Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting by Robert McKee

Inside Story - The Power of the Transformational Arc by Dara Marks