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Characters in Stories

Characters in Stories. ASL Literature in English. Characters: Definitions. An imagined person who inhibits a story An object with recognizable human personalities Acting in a reasonably consistent manner Provided with motivation: sufficient reason to behave as they should do.

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Characters in Stories

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  1. Characters in Stories ASL Literature in English

  2. Characters: Definitions • An imagined person who inhibits a story • An object with recognizable human personalities • Acting in a reasonably consistent manner • Provided with motivation: sufficient reason to behave as they should do

  3. Characters: Definitions • Sudden and unexpected behaviours of a character: general trust that there is a reason behind • Example: Ebenezer Scrooge In “Christmas Carol ”(Charles Dickens) • Changes within one night - after the visits of four ghostly visitors

  4. Stock characters • Often known by some outstanding trait(s) • Little detailed portraiture • Examples: • the bragging soldiers in Greek and Roman comedy • Prince Charming in fairy tales

  5. Characters: Flat or Round? • Flat characters: • characters with only one outstanding trait or feature, or at most a few distinguishing marks • Example: Mad scientist – lust for absolute power + crazily gleaming eyes • Stay the same throughout the story - Static

  6. Characters: Round or Flat? • Round characters: • Presented with portraits in greater depth and more details • Personalities to be realized through his thoughts, feelings and perceptions • Often Change (become enlightened, grow or deteriorate) - dynamic

  7. Characters: Names • An indicator of character’s natures • Allusion: a reference to a famous person, place, or thing in history, in fiction, or in actuality • Example (Charles Dickens) • Mr. Jingle: something jingly, light, and superficially pleasant

  8. Antiheros • A common feature in recent novels • A protagonist conspicuously lacking in one or more of the usual attributes of a traditional hero (bravery, skill or idealism) • Usually ordinary and unglorious • Loners without perfections, just being able to survive

  9. Antiheros • Lack characters – a person’s conduct / persistence and consistency in seeking to realize his long-term aims • Example: • Meursault (The Stranger by Albert Camus) – so alienated that he was unmoved at his mother’s death

  10. Changing in Attitudes towards Characters • 18th Century: • Nature of an individual is fixed and unalterable • Characters always behave in a predictable fashion • Their actions should be consistent with their personalities

  11. Changing in Attitudes towards Characters • Nowadays: • People do not even have definite selves to alter • The impact of Sigmund Freud and other psychologists • A large part of human behaviour is shaped in the unconscious

  12. Changing in Attitudes towards Characters • Personality: more vulnerable to change from age, disease, neurosis, psychic shock or brainwashing • Shifting bundles of impulses: Characters spurred to act by incomprehensible passions and urges • Gratuitous act: a deed without cause and motive

  13. Thank you!

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