The characters who populate a narrative and participate in its various events are often among the most compelling elements of that\u00a0narrative. On some\u00a0occasions they may well be the primary reason we cherish that narrative so much and find ourselves returning to it\u00a0so often. Whether the character in question\u00a0is Homer\u2019s Odysseus, Cervantes\u2019s Don Quixote, Shakespeare\u2019s Lady Macbeth, John Milton\u2019s Satan, Mary Shelley\u2019s Dr. Frankenstein, Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s Heathcliff, Conan Doyle\u2019s Sherlock Holmes, Mark Twain\u2019s Huckleberry Finn, J. D. Salinger\u2019s Holden Caulfield, Harper Lee\u2019s Atticus Finch or any of the countless other literary figures who have taken up residence in our mental and emotional architecture, it is because we care so deeply about them and find them so profoundly fascinating that we almost always\u00a0prefer those narratives in which these kinds of\u00a0gripping figures appear over those which may in outline tell much the same story but by way of less memorable\u00a0characters.<\/p>\n
What we think and feel about a narrative\u2019s individual characters, then, plays an enormous role in determining how\u00a0we respond to and interpret that narrative as a whole. This is why we must \u2013 and usually do \u2013 pay them so much attention.\u00a0At the same time \u2013 and this, unfortunately, is something we\u00a0tend not<\/em> to do quite so often \u2013 it also explains why we should subject our responses to individual characters to especially careful scrutiny.<\/p>\n Before we go any further, then, let us make two\u00a0crucial points of principle crystal clear:<\/p>\n It is absolutely vital you keep these two points in mind whenever you set out to analyse a character. It is vital, too, that you never lose sight of these points during the course of your analysis. (If you wish to read more about\u00a0why<\/em> these two statements are true \u2013 and so importantly true \u2013 click on the relevant links above).<\/p>\n To conduct an analysis of a literary character accordingly requires us to do much more than merely establish what we think he or she is like, or why they think, speak or act in the way they do. It requires us long before we even reach that point to ask: how do we know what we think we know about this character? And, how is this character presented to us in the narrative? It requires us, that is, to attend to the narrative\u2019s techniques of characterisation<\/a>. If you click on that link, you will be taken to a list\u00a0of some of the most common forms of characterisation employed in works of narrative literature, along with some tips on how to analyse a particular narrative\u2019s particular enactment of those techniques.<\/p>\n\n