Lesson 9 — Activity 1: Types of
Characters
in Stories
When we read stories, watch TV shows or movies, we can categorize the characters or people in the stories or shows in several different ways.
One way that we can classify characters is by whether they change over the course of the story or movie. There are two terms that we use when we talk about the effect of events on a character: a static character and a dynamic character.
A
static character is one whose personality does not change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.
Another name for this type of character is stereotype. This is a character that is identified with a particular group and there is an automatic assumption as to how this person will perform. For example, a spoiled rich girl, an athlete, a street
punk, or someone who only cares about himself and how much money he has!
A
dynamic character is one who does change in some way due to the events of the story.
The famous actress Marilyn Monroe often played dynamic characters in films.
Usually, the main character in a story will be a dynamic character. As the conflict or struggle continues, the main character may be required to make some changes in his or her behaviours and feelings. For example, in "The Sniper," the short story in
Lesson 8 — Activity 2, the sniper undergoes a huge change — or so we can safely assume — at the end of the story when he realizes that he has killed his own brother. The sniper is not likely to regard his actions with the happiness he first felt when
he killed his opponent, because he wasn't thinking of the other gunman as a person he could care about.
A second way that we can classify characters in stories is by how much we know about the character. There are two terms that we use when we look at how much we know about a character: a flat character and a round character.
A flat character is one about whom we know or learn very little. For example, Mrs. Everdeen (Katniss' mother) would be considered a flat character in The Hunger Games as we don't learn much about her.
A round character is one who is very clearly and completely described. For example, Katniss Everdeen would be a round character in The Hunger Games because you know almost everything about her.
If we feel as though we know quite a lot about a character and understand something about the character's thoughts, feelings, words, or actions, that character is a round character. Again, we often find that the main character in a story is a round character.
If we consider the story of "The Sniper" again, we can see that there is quite a difference in the amount we know about the sniper and the amount we know about any of the other characters — the soldier in the armored car, the informant, or the sniper's
brother. In this case, we could say that the sniper is the only round character in the story and the rest are flat characters.
Another classification of character that we can sometimes use is whether the character is a familiar type of person or an original or unusual person. There are two terms that we may use for either of these types of characters: a stock character and a
unique character.
A stock character is one we are familiar with although he or she may not be fully described in the story — this is a stereotyped character who has the traits and behaviours that we expect, such as the handsome prince in fairy tales. We
never learn much about him, but we assume that he is brave, kind, and noble.
To keep our interest, it often helps if we care about the characters. Perhaps it is the brave hero facing a terrible struggle that we hope the hero will overcome. Perhaps it is the evil villain that we cannot stand and have to keep reading or watching
to find out if he can be stopped. There are also terms we use to describe our heroes and villains: protagonist and antagonist.
The protagonist is usually the main character of the story; the protagonist is the one who must deal with the conflict in the
plot.
The antagonist is the character (or characters) causing problems for the protagonist.
If we consider the story, "The Sniper," we can identify the sniper as the protagonist and his brother as the antagonist.
Images
courtesy of www.pixabay.com
Click on the Play button below to view a video about the different types of characters in a story.
