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How to Write a Character Analysis

Published on: Jan 26, 2018
Updated on: Jul 21, 2023
Table of content
  • What is a character analysis
  • How to choose a character
  • Analysis outline & structure
  • Outline sample
  • Step-by-step writing guide 
  • Formatting tips
  • Finding examples

What Is a Character Analysis?

By definition, character analysis is the process of evaluating the specific traits of a literary person. It will consider additional elements, such as their role in the story and the various conflicts they experience.

When you make a character analysis, it is crucial to remain critical, ask concise analysis questions, and base your conclusions about each hero being analyzed on the three areas mentioned earlier.

Typically, an author will use great detail when describing the person’s outward appearance. As a reader, you can usually deduce the person’s age, body size, ethnicity, and many other relevant characteristics.

The writer may reveal traits like behavior, motivation, personality evaluation, or relationship habits. Taking the time to analyze these elements clearly will allow you to begin to develop the framework of the person’s inward and outward qualities.

Meaning of the Character Analysis

More often than not, experienced writers tend to avoid directly mentioning the characters’ traits in their books; it is up to the reader to be mindful of catching these traits as the storyline progresses.

Character analysis means not only picking up on the subtle hints that the author may use to develop their characters but also reading between the lines and noticing the tiny details that might initially seem insignificant. A different example may be a character who has undergone several catastrophic experiences in the storyline but ends up experiencing a proverbial happy ending.

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How to Choose a Hero for Character Analysis?

Each hero has many facets of good writers, so analyzing characters can be challenging. But it’s still an exciting assignment. You can choose yourself if your character analysis does not specify who to explore in the selected work.

To do this, read the work and find the one who pleases you the most. It may not be the main character, but the one who played an essential role in the book. Pay attention to the description of actions, texture, etc., to see if they suit your character analysis.

There are several different types of heroes, each playing a small part in one huge puzzle. Persons can be good, inadequate, insignificant, or even stereotypical.

Here are the types of personalities that you might encounter in your reading.

Type of Character Description
Protagonist The protagonist is most typically the main hero in the story. The most important trait of the protagonist is that they absolutely MUST do something – they must move the story forward. If people were merely to allow things to carry on around them, they would not be excited.
Antagonist The antagonist is the person that everyone loves to hate. They exist to cause conflict for the protagonist. It is where you would explore MOTIVATION.
Major Hero A central person will play a significant role in the story and may be classified under multiple categories. You could have a protagonist with two close friends, but only one is central – the other might be a dummy. It is up to you to explore their interactions and figure things out.
Minor Character Just as it sounds, minor personalities play smaller roles. They fade in and out of the storyline. They are often stereotypes or static heroes.
Dynamic Character A dynamic hero will expand and change. Both the protagonist and the antagonist are often found to be dynamic.
Static Character A static person will stay just as they are throughout the entire story. It isn’t to say that they are not worth analyzing. The reason for their lack of change might be what you explore.
Stereotypes Authors often use these types of personalities to fill up space. Everyone knows the typical jock, the boring housewife, the geek, so no further explanation is needed.

Character Analysis Outline and Structure

As you continue to make character analyses, you may find that they fit into one, two, or three specific categories, which is okay. Your goal is to describe the hero, their role in the story, and the value they bring.

Describe the hero. Readers are introduced to the books they read through the words the heroes use, the emotions they experience, and the things they do. It is relatively easy to determine a person based on their outward behaviors.

As the story develops, you will receive slight hints about personality through how they say, act, move, and mannerisms. Ultimately, you will discover that the heroes fit into one of the abovementioned hero categories.

Explore the role. Defining the hero’s role is also necessary when you start to do a character analysis.

Asides from expressing unique personality traits, the hero will also fit into a specific role in the story. It will either be a major role, as a vital component of the story, or a minor role, as a smaller and less significant story component.

Outline the growth and development. To complete your analysis, explain how the person matures and changes as the plot progresses.

The majority of heroes will go through several changes throughout the story. Pay attention to whether the hero becomes stronger, falls apart, enters new relationships, learns something new about themselves, etc. Note any areas or scenes where these changes occur. You may be alerted to these with cues like “it was then that he realized…” or “suddenly, for the first time in years, she…”

Useful information: How to do a research paper outline?

Characterization Essay Outline Sample

Like nearly all other reports, the character analysis will consist of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

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Introduction: A good introduction is a glue that binds the entire exploration together. It asks a question. It alerts the reader of what is to come. Briefly describe the person being analyzed to generate interest.

Body: The body paragraphs should be organized and divided to group like-minded ideas or information together but follow the sequence of the key points mentioned in the introduction. Here are some character analysis questions:

  1. What are the physical attributes of the hero? What do they look like? What is their background?
  2. What conflicts does the person experience? How do they overcome this? If they don’t, why?
  3. What can the reader learn from the hero? What are the key takeaways or essential lessons?

Summary: The conclusion is the part that summarizes your essay. It is where you will have one final opportunity to restate your thesis and highlight the most important traits or findings from your analysis of the person in question. It is good practice to paraphrase two or three of the points made in the body paragraphs and provide a couple of examples for each. You may use a quote representing the person  or speculate where they would fit into the ‘real world.’

If it still seems confusing, do not hesitate to refer to the experts in writing a character analysis.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: Step-by-step Writing Guide

Analyzing a character, particularly an exciting person, can be fun. It requires a certain degree of investigative theory and a keen desire to understand the ‘personality’ of a person who isn’t a person but rather someone else’s creative process. Luckily for most of us, deciding to characterize a character doesn’t require a strong knowledge of the human psyche or Freudian theories.

So, how to analyze a character?

Step 1. Choose a hero

Read the text and decide who you will analyze in the character analysis. Think about how they influenced the development of the plot and how detailed the chosen person is described in the character analysis. Do not choose characters mentioned in only a few sentences in the book. Such minor characters will be difficult to analyze.

Step 2. Read the story and highlight essential points for the character analysis

Here are the things to look at when completing a character analysis:

  1. Motivation: What are the underlying reasons why the character being analyzed acts the way they do? Do they act impulsively? Do they act ethically?
  2. Actions: How does the character act? How do their actions affect those around them? Are they the type to thwart wrongdoings? Or are they devious and mischievous? Similar to real life, how a character acts says much about who they are.
  3. What do they say: Does the character appear to have a firm grasp of education? Do they use a lot of slang? Do they use generational phrases? Perhaps they speak as though they are a detective or a cheerleader? Do they say ‘the bee’s knees’ or ‘blessed be’? Many books do not have the added advantage of having photos or pictures, so the author must paint the character using words.
  4. Descriptions: How do those who interact with the character describe them? How does the character describe themselves? These descriptions can be physical, judgemental, or even emotional.
  5. Names: Consider a character named “Problem Pete” or “Little Alice”. What sort of imagery does this convey? Do you find yourself making assumptions based on those names? Of course, you do. That is exactly what the author wants to happen.

Step 3. Pick a main idea

Think about what problem your analysis will develop around and what message you want to convey. For example, if you are analyzing Harry Potter, you might choose the central idea:

  • Friendship and love;
  • Problems of growing up;
  • Standing up for your beliefs;
  • Relationships in the family;
  • Confrontation of good and evil.

In one book, one person is described from different grades.

Step 4. Write a plan for the character analysis

Write a plan for your character analysis paper. What will you say first, what arguments will you give, and what will you write afterward? Make sure your plan covers all aspects of the problem you are describing.

Step 5. Write a character analysis

Following the plan, start to write a character study and describe the hero. Feel free to quote and write examples. On the contrary, this approach will increase the credibility of your character research.

After writing the character analysis, check the formatting and the absence of errors.

Character Development Analysis Formatting Tips

Regarding character analysis, formatting is vital. Here are a few tips for writing clear and organized research:

  1. Start with a clear introduction stating the character’s name, role, and other important information.
  2. Use quotes from the text to support your character analysis. Be sure to cite the page number and explain how the quote relates to your point.
  3. Organize your analysis by theme or trait. For example, you could discuss the character’s appearance, personality, motivations, and actions.
  4. Use transitions to connect your ideas and make your analysis flow smoothly. Words like “however,” “in addition,” and “furthermore” can be helpful.
  5. End with a character analysis conclusion that summarizes your analysis and offers insights into the character’s significance in the text.

Finding Examples of the Character Analysis

Now you know how to write a character description. And such an analysis will no longer bring any difficulties for you. However, seeing examples gives more transparency to this process.

If you need more ideas for inspiration to make an analysis, you can find them on educational websites like Tidewater Community College offers.

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