Character Types

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Character Types

• Fourth Grade
• By Jennie Mons

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Introduction

• This lesson is about the different types of
  characters found in literature. The different
  types I will cover in this lesson are the
  protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, static, and
  dynamic characters. I will explain what each of
  these entail so that you can identify types of
  characters in stories that you read.

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Protagonist/Antagonist

• It is easiest to think of the protagonist and
  antagonist characters as the "good guy" and the
  "bad guy" respectively. In order to understand
  protagonist and antagonist, you can think of the
  protagonist as the hero and the antagonist as the
  villain. To remember which is which, remember
  that the prefix pro means good, or positive, and
  the prefix ant means bad, or negative. Now let's
  discuss the real meanings of protagonist and
  antagonist more in depth and more literary
  correct.

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Protagonist

• The protagonist is the central character of a
  story. The protagonist can be male or female, and
  is written as being "good" most of the time, but
  in some instances can be "bad." The plot of the
  story is often written in the protagonist's point
  of view. Consider the story The Three Little
  Pigs. In the original story, the three pigs are
  the protagonists and the wolf is the antagonist.
  A new book titled The Real Story of The Three
  Little Pigs is written in the wolf's point of
  view and he becomes the protagonist and the pigs
  are the antagonists.

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Antagonist

• The character that causes or leads the conflict
  against the protagonist is called the antagonist.
  The antagonist is not always human, but can be a
  group or force as well. The antagonist is the
  mirror of the protagonist. Whatever the
  protagonist does that is good, the antagonist
  will work to counteract. Usually the antagonist
  attempts to disguise him/her/itself. This usually
  creates the suspense in a story.

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Protagonist/Antagonist

• The protagonist and antagonist are distinctly
  different, and in most cases, complete opposites.
  They can both be very complex though. Just
  because the protagonist is the central character
  in the story does not mean that he/she/it is any
  more complex than the antagonist. When trying to
  identify the protagonist and antagonist in a
  story, think about which character is central to
  the story and which character (or what force) is
  acting against that central character. Usually
  you can consider which character is good and
  which is bad. In most instances, the good
  character is the protagonist and the bad, or
  opposing character, is the antagonist.

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Round/Flat

• Let's begin by thinking about round and flat
  characterization like a painting. If you're an
  artist, you must decide how much detail to put
  into a painting. Do you want many lines and many
  colors, or just an outline and only black and
  white? As an author, you must decide how much
  detail to include about each character. Which
  characters are most important how will giving
  detail, or not giving detail, affect the story?

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Round

• Characters that are described in depth, with many
  details, are well-rounded characters. They are
  called round characters. If you're reading a
  story and you feel like you know a character
  extremely well, then most likely the character is
  round. The main character in a story is almost
  always round, but there are exceptions.

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Flat

• Characters that are not described well, that
  you're not given much information about, are flat
  characters. Consider a drawing a three
  dimensional drawing gives more detail than a one
  dimensional drawing. If you draw a flat picture
  of a house, for example, you can only see one
  side of it. You cannot see three of the four
  sides. This is how a flat character is you can
  only see a few characteristics of the character.
  There are many things you cannot "see", or many
  details you are not given by the author.

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Round/Flat

• As a reader, judge whether or not the character
  is round or flat by trying to write down
  characteristics of the character. Answer the
  question What do you know about the character?
  If your list is long, with many characteristics,
  then the character is round. If your list is
  short, or there's not many characteristics at
  all, then the character is flat.

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Static/Dynamic

• The key word when dealing with the difference
  between static and dynamic characters is
  "change." The type of change, though, is
  specific. We are only concerned with internal
  changes changes which occur within the
  character. These would include a major change in
  their personality, or a change in their outlook
  on life. Another important change that a
  character may undergo is a change in values, or
  it could be an overall change in the nature of
  the character. Do not focus on changes that
  happen TO a character, but rather, changes that
  happen WITHIN a character. Think about it this
  way Does the event affect the character by
  changing the character internally?

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Static

• In order for a character to be considered a
  static character, the character must remain
  basically the same throughout the entire story.
  The character does not undergo any internal
  changes. Think of static characterization like
  plastic surgery. The character may change in
  looks, but unless their personality is affected,
  the character is static.

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Dynamic

• A dynamic character is a character that undergoes
  an internal change sometime between the beginning
  and end of the story. The change in the character
  is usually crucial to the story itself. Say a
  main character goes through a life-altering
  experience, such as a race car driver getting
  into an accident. If the driver's personality
  changes and he is no longer willing to take on
  the risk of driving a race car, the character
  would be dynamic.

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Static/Dynamic

• In order to distinguish static characters from
  dynamic characters, write down a description of
  the inner character at the beginning of the
  story, in other words, what do you initially
  learn about the character's personality? Answer
  these three questions How does the character
  feel about his/her/itself? How does the character
  act towards others? What is the characters goal?
  Do the same thing and answer the same questions
  at the end of the story. Usually, if you're
  dealing with a dynamic character, you will be
  able to notice a difference between your
  personality descriptions as well as between the
  answers to the three questions. If there is no
  major difference, the character is static.

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Character Types Assignment

• Visit Project Gutenberg and read one of the
  stories out of The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew
  Lang.
• Visit ReadWriteThink to create a character map
  for all the characters in the story you chose to
  read. You can use these character maps to help
  you determine what type of character each of them
  are.

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Character Types Assignment

• Now fill out this worksheet on how and why the
  characters changed throughout the story you read.