What is the description of the appearance of a literary character called? Basic concepts of literary theory: image, character, literary type, lyrical hero

At first glance, the image, the character, and literary type, And lyrical hero– the concepts are the same, or at least very similar. Let's try to understand the vicissitudes of the meanings of the concepts being studied.

Image- this is an artistic generalization of human properties, character traits in the individual appearance of the hero. An image is an artistic category that we can evaluate from the point of view of the author’s skill: we cannot despise the image of Plyushkin, since it evokes admiration for Gogol’s skill; we may not like the type of Plyushkin.

Concept "character" broader than the concept of “image”. A character is any character works, therefore it is incorrect to replace the concepts of “image” or “lyrical hero” with this concept. But we note that in relation to the minor characters of the work, we can only use this concept. Sometimes you can come across the following definition: a character is a person who does not influence the event, who is not important in revealing the main problems and ideological conflicts.

Lyrical hero- the image of the hero in lyrical work, experiences, thoughts, feelings which reflect the author’s worldview; this is the artistic “double” of the author, having his own inner world, his own destiny. This is not an autobiographical image, although it embodies spiritual world author. For example, the lyrical hero M.Yu. Lermontov is a “son of suffering”, disappointed in reality, romantic, lonely, constantly looking for freedom.

Literary type- this is a generalized image of human individuality, the most possible, characteristic, for a certain social environment in certain time. A literary type is a unity of the individual and the typical, and “typical” is not synonymous with “average”: a type always absorbs all the most bright features, characteristic of a specific group of people. The apogee of the author's skill in developing a type is the transition of the type to the category of household names (Manilov is a household image of an idle dreamer, Nozdryov is a liar and a braggart, etc.).

We often come across another concept - character. Character is human individuality, consisting of certain spiritual, moral, mental traits; this is the unity of emotional reaction, temperament, will and a type of behavior determined by the socio-historical situation and time. Each character has a dominant feature that gives living unity to the whole variety of qualities and properties.

Thus, when characterizing a hero, it is very important not to forget about the differences discussed above.

Good luck in characterizing your favorite literary characters!

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Character- type of artistic image, subject of action, experience, statement in a work. In the same sense in modern literary criticism phrases are used literary hero And character. The author of the textbook believes that the character is the most neutral of the options, because it is awkward to call someone who is devoid of heroic traits a hero, and an active person is a passive person (Oblomov).

The concept of character is the most important when analyzing epic and dramatic works, where it is the characters that form a certain system and the plot that form the basis objective world. In an epic, the narrator (storyteller) can also be a hero if he participates in the plot (Grinev in Pushkin). In lyric poetry, which primarily recreates the inner world of a person, the characters (if they exist) are depicted dottedly, fragmentarily, and most importantly - in inextricable connection with the experiences of the lyrical subject. Illusion own life characters in lyric poetry are sharply weakened in comparison with epic and drama, so it is advisable to consider the question of characters in lyric poetry separately.

Most often, a literary character is a person. The degree of concreteness of his portrayal can vary and depends on many reasons: on the place in the system of characters, on the type and genre of the work, but most importantly, on the writer’s creative method. More can be said about the secondary hero of a realistic story (about Gagina in Asa) than about the main character of a modernist novel. Along with people, animals, plants, things, natural elements, fantastic creatures, etc. can act and talk. (fairy tales, The Master and Margarita, Mowgli, amphibian man) There are genres in which such characters are mandatory or very likely: fairy tale, fable, ballad, Science fiction, animalistic liter, etc.

The center of the subject artistic knowledge make up human essences. In relation to epic and drama, this characters, that is, socially significant traits that manifest themselves with sufficient clarity in the behavior and state of mind of people, the highest degree of characteristic - type(often the words character and type are used as synonyms). Creating literary hero, the writer usually endows him with one character or another: one-sided or multi-sided, integral - contradictory, static - developing, etc. the writer conveys his understanding and assessment of the characters to the reader, conjecturing and implementing prototypes (even if this historical figures: Wed Peter in “Peter the Great” by Tolstoy and in “Peter and Alexei” by Merezhkovsky), creating fictional individuals. Character and character are not identical concepts! In literature focused on the embodiment of characters, the latter constitute the main content - the subject of reflection, and often debate between readers and critics. In the same character, critics see different characters. (controversy about Katerina, about Bazarov) thus the character appears, on the one hand, as a character, on the other, as artistic image, embodying a given character with varying degrees of aesthetic perfection. If the characters in a work are not difficult to count, then understanding the characters embodied in them is an act of analysis (in “Fat and Thin” there are four characters, but, obviously, only two characters: Thin, his wife and son form one cohesive family group). The number of characters and characters in a work usually does not coincide: there are much more characters. There are persons who have no character, fulfilling only a plot role (in Poor Liza, a friend informing her mother about the death of her daughter); there are doubles, variants of this type (the six princesses of the Tugoukhovskys, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky); the existence of characters of the same type gives critics grounds for classifications (tyrants and unrequited - Dobrolyubov, extra person in the works of Turgenev)

In accordance with their status in the structure of the work, character and character have different criteria and evaluations. Characters call ethically attitude towards oneself, characters are primarily assessed with aesthetic point of view, that is, depending on how brightly and fully they embody the characters (as the artistic images of Chichikov and Judushka Golovlev are beautiful and in this capacity provide aesthetic pleasure)

the means of revealing character are various components and details of the material world in the work: plot, speech characteristics, portrait, costume, interior, etc. images are particularly cost-effective off-stage heroes (chameleon: the general and his brother, lovers of dogs of different breeds)

The spatial and temporal scope of the work is expanded thanks to borrowing characters, obviously known to readers. This technique exposes the conventionality of art, but also contributes to the laconicism of the image: after all, the names introduced by the writer have become common nouns, the author does not need to characterize them in any way. (Eugene Onegin, the Skotinins and cousin Buyanov come to Tatyana’s name day).

The character sphere of literature consists of collective heroes(their prototype is the choir in ancient drama) (working settlement in Gorky's novel Mother)

With the formation of personality, it is characters that become the main subject of artistic knowledge. In programs literary trends(since classicism) the concept of personality is fundamental. The view of the plot as the most important way of character development, its test and stimulus for development is also affirmed. The plot functions of the characters - in abstraction from their characters - became the subject of special analysis in some areas of literary studies of the 20th century. (formalist Propp, structuralists).

The basis of the objective world of epic and dramatic works is usually character system and the plot. Even in works main topic which is a person alone with wildlife the character sphere, as a rule, is not limited to one hero (Robinson Crusoe, Mowgli) To form a system of characters, at least two subjects are needed, their equivalent can be character split, signifying various principles in a person, or transformation (Heart of a Dog), the complex dual plot in it essentially reveals one character. In the early stages of narrative art, the number of characters and connections between them were determined primarily by the logic of plot development (a single hero of a fairy tale required an antithesis, then a heroine as a reason for struggle, etc.) Here again about Propp with his seven invariants.

IN ancient Greek theater the number of actors simultaneously on stage increased gradually. Pre-Aeschylus tragedy - chorus and one actor, Aeschylus introduced two instead of one, reduced the chorus parts, Sophocles introduced three actors and scenery. Plot connections as a system-forming principle can be very complex and cover a huge number of characters (War and Peace).

However plot connection- not the only type of connection between characters; in literature it is usually not the main one. The character system is a certain ratio of characters. The author composes, builds a chain of events, guided by his hierarchy of characters depending on favorite topic. To understand the main problematic character they can play big role minor characters, highlighting the various properties of his character, as a result a whole system of parallels and contrasts arises. (Oblomov: Stolts-Oblomov-Zakhar, Olga-Agafya Matveevna)

The thread that allows us to see the character system behind the characters is, first of all, creative concept, idea of a work, it is she who creates the unity of the most complex compositions. (Belinsky saw the connection between the five parts of the Hero of Our Time in one thought - in the psychological riddle of Pechorin’s character.)

Non-participation a character in the main action of a work is often a kind of sign of his importance as an exponent of public opinion, a symbol. (In the Thunderstorm, the plays Kuligin and Feklusha, who do not participate in the intrigue, are like two poles of the spiritual life of the city of Kalinov)

The principle of “economy” in building a character system is combined, if the content requires it, with the use doubles(two characters, but one type - Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky), collective images and corresponding crowd scenes, in general with the multi-heroic nature of the works.

In the lyrics the main focus is on revealing the experience of the lyrical subject. The object of experience of the lyrical subject is often his own self, in which case it is called lyrical hero(I outlived my desires... Pushkin, That’s why I deeply despise myself... Nekrasov) this narrow understanding lyrical hero, who is just one of the types lyrical subject entrenched in modern Litved. Yesenin's poem:

Swamps and swamps,

Blue board of heaven.

Coniferous gilding

The forest flutters.

It is without a lyrical hero: nature is described. But the choice of details, the nature of the tropes indicate that someone saw this picture. Everything is not just named, but also characterized. The object of perception and experience of the lyrical subject can be other subjects(Reflections at the front entrance.. Nekrasov. Stranger. Blok). By analogy with epic and drama, they can be called characters. G.N. Pospelov identifies a special type of lyricism - character, which in particular includes poetic messages, epigrams, madrigals, epitaphs, inscriptions for portraits, etc. however, the term character can be understood more broadly - as any person who falls into the zone of consciousness of the lyrical subject. There are heroes in the lyrics different types: unlike the lyrical hero, the characters are other “I”s, therefore, 2nd and 3rd person pronouns are used in relation to them. Plot lyric poems tend to have multiple characters (on railway Blok, Orina, soldier's mother. Nekrasov) Thus, the lyrics can be divided into characterless and character. Characters in lyric poetry are depicted differently than in epic and drama. There is no plot here, so characters are rarely revealed through actions and deeds. The main thing is the attitude of the lyrical subject to the character. Pushkin, I remember wonderful moment: the image of the heroine is created with the help of metaphors, etc. words can be attributed to the ideal beloved in general, a specific image does not arise.

An important way of creating character images in lyrics is their nominations, which often characterize not so much the characters as the attitude towards them. subject. a distinction is made between primary nominations (names, nicknames, pronouns), which directly name the character, and secondary ones, indicating his qualities and attributes. Secondary can include words used in their direct meaning; tropical phrases are also secondary nominations. Nominations record permanent or situational characteristics of characters. Lyrics according to their original setting nameless. The lyrical hero does not need to name himself or any of the participants lyrical plot by name. This is why proper names are so rare in lyrics; even when using them, the author tries to include them in the title.

The question of character in lyrics remains debatable. In any case, it is created differently than in epic and drama. A poem is a small work in volume; it often only outlines a character, which is often revealed in a cycle of works. The poem may present character system(Block. About valor, about exploits, about glory), if the poem depicts characters united in a group according to common feature, then it arises collective image (in Stranger).

Analysis of characters in epic, lyric and drama reveals not only the differences, but also the similarities between literary genres.

The usual method of grouping and stringing together motives is to bring out characters, living carriers of certain motives. The attribution of a particular motif to a specific character facilitates the reader’s attention. The character is the guiding thread, making it possible to understand the accumulation of motives, an auxiliary tool for classifying and ordering individual motifs. On the other hand, there are techniques that help you understand the mass of characters and their relationships.

The method of recognizing a character is his "characteristic"By characteristic we mean a system of motives inextricably linked with a given character. In a narrow sense, characterization refers to the motives that determine the psychology of a character, his “character.”

The simplest element of characterization is to call the hero by his own name. In elementary fabular forms, sometimes simply assigning a name to the hero, without any other characteristics (“abstract hero”), is enough to fix for him the actions necessary for fabular development. In more complex constructions, it is required that the hero’s actions follow from some psychological unity, so that they are psychologically probable for a given character ( psychological motivation for actions). In this case, the hero is rewarded with certain psychological traits.

Characteristics of the hero can be straight, i.e. his character is communicated directly either from the author, or in the speeches of other characters, or in the self-characterization (“confessions”) of the hero. Common indirect characterization: character emerges from the actions and behavior of the hero. A special case of indirect or suggestive characterization is taking masks, i.e. development of specific motives that are in harmony with the psychology of the character. So, description of the hero’s appearance, his clothing, the furnishings of his home(for example, Plyushkin in Gogol) - all these are mask techniques. Not only an external description, through visual representations (images), but also anything else can serve as a mask. The very name of the hero can serve as a mask. Comedy traditions are interesting in this regard. name masks. (“Pravdins”, “Milons”, “Starodums”, “Skalozubs”, “Gradoboevs”, etc.), almost all comedic names contain a characteristic. In characterization techniques, two main cases should be distinguished: unchanging character, remaining the same in the narrative throughout the plot, and character changing when, as the plot develops, we follow the change in the very character of the character. In the latter case, the elements of characterization are closely integrated into the plot, and the very change in character (the typical “repentance of the villain”) is already a change in the plot situation. On the other side, hero's vocabulary, the style of his speeches, the topics he touches on in conversation, can also serve as a hero’s mask.

Characters are usually subject to emotional coloring. In the most primitive forms we find virtuous and evildoers. Here emotional attitude towards the hero (sympathy or repulsion) is developed on moral basis. Positive and negative “types” are a necessary element of plot construction. Attracting the reader's sympathies to the side of some and the repulsive characteristics of others evoke the reader's emotional participation ("experience") in the events presented, his personal interest in the fate of the heroes.

The character who receives the most acute and vivid emotional coloring is called a hero. The hero is the person whom the reader follows with the greatest tension and attention. The hero evokes compassion, empathy, joy and grief of the reader.

We should not forget that the emotional attitude towards the hero is given in the work. The author can attract sympathy for a hero whose character in everyday life could cause repulsion and disgust in the reader. The emotional attitude towards the hero is a fact artistic construction works.

This point was often missed by publicist-critics of the 60s of the 19th century, who assessed heroes from the point of view of the social usefulness of their character and ideology, taking the hero out of work of art, in which the emotional attitude towards the hero is predetermined. You have to read naively, being inspired by the author’s instructions. The stronger the author's talent, the more difficult it is to resist these emotional directives, the more more convincing work. This persuasiveness artistic word and serves as a source of appeal to it as a means of teaching and preaching.

The hero is not at all necessary accessory plots. The plot as a system of motives can do without a hero and his characteristics. The hero appears as a result of the plot design of the material and is, on the one hand, a means of stringing together motives, on the other hand, as if embodied and personified by the motivation of the connection of motives. This is clear in an elementary narrative form - in an anecdote.

Character (French personnage, from Latin persona - person, face, mask) is a type of artistic image, the subject of an action, experience, statement in a work. The phrases used in modern literary criticism have the same meaning literary hero, character(mainly in drama, where the list of characters traditionally follows the title of the play). In this synonymous series the word character- the most neutral, its etymology (persona - a mask worn by an actor in ancient theater) is barely noticeable. In some contexts, it is awkward to call a hero (from the gr. heros - demigod, deified person) someone who is devoid of heroic traits (“It is impossible for a hero to be petty and insignificant,” 1 wrote Boileau about the tragedy), and an active person is an inactive one (Podkolesin or Oblomov).

The concept of character (hero, protagonist) is the most important in the analysis epic and dramatic works, where exactly characters forming a certain system and a plot (system of events) form the basis of the objective world.

Most often, a literary character is a person. The degree of concreteness of its presentation can be different and depends on many reasons: on the place in the system of characters, on the type and genre of the work, etc. But most of all, the principles of the image, the very direction of detailing are determined by the concept of the work, the creative method of the writer: about a minor character in a realistic story ( for example, about Gagin in “Ace” by I.S. Turgenev) in biographical, socially more can be said than about the protagonist of a modernist novel. Along with people, animals, plants, things, natural elements, fantastic creatures, robots, etc. can act and talk in a work. (" blue bird"M. Maeterlinck, "Mowgli" by R. Kipling, "Amphibian Man" by A. Belyaev). There are genres and types of literature in which such characters are obligatory or very likely: fairy tales, fables, ballads, animal literature, science fiction, etc.

The character sphere of literature consists not only of isolated individuals, but also collective heroes (their prototype is the chorus in ancient drama). Interest in national problems social psychology stimulated in literature XIX-XX V. development of this image angle (the crowd in the “Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris» V. Hugo, the bazaar in “The Belly of Paris” by E. Zola, the workers’ settlement in M. Gorky’s novel “Mother”, “old women”, “neighbors”, “guests”, “drunkards” in L. Andreev’s play “The Life of a Man” etc.).

The variety of character types comes close to the question of the subject of artistic knowledge: non-human characters act as bearers of moral, i.e. human, qualities; the existence of collective heroes reveals the interest of writers in the general different faces. No matter how broadly interpreted subject of knowledge in fiction, its center is "human essences , i.e., first of all, social” 2. In relation to epic and drama, this characters(from gr. charakter - sign, distinguishing feature), i.e. socially significant traits that manifest themselves with sufficient clarity in the behavior and state of mind of people; highest degree of character - type(from the gr. typos - imprint, imprint). (Often words character And type used interchangeably.)

When creating a literary hero, a writer usually endows him with one character or another: one-sided or multi-sided, integral or contradictory, static or developing, respectful or contempt, etc. Your understanding, assessment life characters the writer conveys it to the reader, conjecturing and implementing prototypes, creating fictional individuals. " Character" and "character" are not identical concepts, which was noted by Aristotle:"A character will have character if<...>in speech or action will reveal any direction of the will, whatever it may be...” In literature focused on the embodiment of characters (and this is what the classics are), the latter constitute the main content - the subject of reflection, and often debate between readers and critics . Critics see different characters in the same character.

Thus, the character appears, on the one hand, as a character, on the other, as an artistic image that embodies this character with one degree or another of aesthetic perfection.

In the stories of A.P. Chekhov's “The Death of an Official” and “The Thick and the Thin” Chervyakov and “The Thin” are unique as images: we meet the first in the theater, “at the height of bliss,” the second at the station, “laden” with his luggage; the first is endowed with a surname and position, the second with a name and rank, etc. The plots of the works and their endings are different. But the stories are interchangeable when discussing the theme of veneration for rank in Chekhov, the characters’ characters are so similar: both act according to the same stereotype, not noticing the comedy of their voluntary lackey, which only brings them harm. Characters are reduced to a comic discrepancy between the characters’ behavior and an ethical standard unknown to them; as a result, Chervyakov’s death causes laughter: this is the “death of an official,” a comic hero.

If the characters in a work are usually not difficult to count, then understanding the characters embodied in them and the corresponding grouping of persons is an act of interpretation and analysis. In “The Thick and the Thin” there are four characters, but, obviously, only two characters: “The Thin”, his wife Louise, “née Vanzenbach... a Lutheran,” and his son Nathanael (the redundancy of information is an additional touch to the portrait of a funny man) form one close-knit family group. “The thin one shook three fingers, bowed with his whole body and chuckled like a Chinese: “Hee-hee-hee.” The wife smiled. Nathanael shuffled his foot and dropped his cap. All three were pleasantly stunned.” The number of characters in a work (as in the writer’s work as a whole) usually does not coincide: there are much more characters. There are persons who have no character, performing only a plot role. There are doubles, variants of the same type (six Tugoukhovsky princesses in “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboedov. The existence of characters of the same type gives critics the basis for classifications, for attracting a whole series of characters to the analysis of one type (“tyrants” and “unresponsive"in the article by N.A. Dobrolyubov" Dark Kingdom», dedicated to creativity Ostrovsky; Turgenevsky "extra person" in the articles “Literary type weak person» P.V. Annenkova, “When will the real day come?” Dobrolyubova). Writers return to the type and character they discovered, finding new facets in it, achieving aesthetic impeccability of the image.

According to their status in the structure of the work, character and character have different evaluation criteria. Unlike the characters that cause ethically colored attitude towards oneself, characters are evaluated primarily with aesthetic point of view, that is, depending on how brightly, fully and concentratedly they embody the characters.

The means of revealing character in a work are various components and details of the objective world: plot, speech characteristics, portrait, costume, interior, etc. At the same time, the perception of a character as a character does not necessarily require a detailed structure of the image. Images are particularly cost-saving off-stage heroes (for example, in the story “Chameleon” - a general and his brother, lovers of dogs of different breeds). The uniqueness of the category of character lies in its final, integral function in relation to all means of representation.

There is another way to study the character - solely as a participant in the plot, current face (but not as a character). In relation to archaic genres of folklore (in particular, to Russian fairy tale, considered by V.Ya. Propp in the book “Morphology of the Fairy Tale”, 1928), to the early stages of the development of literature, such an approach is to one degree or another motivated by the material: there are no characters as such yet or they are less important than the action. Aristotle considered the main thing in tragedy to be the action (plot): “So, the plot is the basis and, as it were, the soul of tragedy, and characters follow it, for tragedy is an imitation of action, and therefore especially of the characters” 1 .

With the formation of personality, it is characters that become the main subject of artistic knowledge. In the programs of literary movements (starting with classicism), the concept of personality is of fundamental importance, in close connection with its understanding in philosophy, social sciences. Both the view and the plot are affirmed in aesthetics as the most important way of revealing character, its testing and stimulus for development. “A person’s character can be revealed in the most insignificant actions; from the point of view of poetic evaluation, the greatest deeds are those that shed the most light on the character of an individual” 2 - many writers, critics, and aestheticians could subscribe to these words of Lessing.

The plot functions of the characters - in abstraction from their characters - became the subject of special analysis in some areas of literary criticism of the 20th century. In structuralist plot theory, this is related to the task of constructing general models(structures) found in the variety of narrative texts.

Copyright Competition -K2
The word "hero" ("heros" - Greek) means a demigod or deified person.
Among the ancient Greeks, heroes were either half-breeds (one of the parents is a god, the other is a human), or outstanding men who became famous for their deeds, for example, military exploits or travel. But, in any case, the title of hero gave a person a lot of advantages. They worshiped him and composed poems and other songs in his honor. Gradually, the concept of “hero” migrated to literature, where it has stuck to this day.
Now, in our understanding, a hero can be either a “noble man” or a “worthless man” if he acts within the framework of a work of art.

The term “hero” is adjacent to the term “character”, and often these terms are perceived as synonyms.
Person in Ancient Rome they called the mask that the actor put on before the performance - tragic or comic.

A hero and a character are not the same thing.

A LITERARY HERO is an exponent of plot action that reveals the content of the work.

A CHARACTER is any character in a work.

The word “character” is characteristic in that it does not carry any additional meanings.
Take, for example, the term “actor.” It is immediately clear that it must act = perform actions, and then a whole bunch of heroes do not fit this definition. Starting from Papa Pippi Longstocking, the mythical sea captain, and ending with the people in “Boris Godunov”, who, as always, are “silent”.
The emotional and evaluative connotation of the term “hero” implies exclusively positive qualities = heroism\heroism. And then even more people will not fall under this definition. Well, how about, say, calling Chichikov or Gobsek a hero?
And now literary scholars are fighting with philologists - who should be called a “hero” and who a “character”?
Time will tell who will win. For now we will count in a simple way.

A hero is an important character for expressing the idea of a work. And the characters are everyone else.

A little later we’ll talk about the character system in a work of fiction, we’ll talk about the main (heroes) and secondary (characters).

Now let's note a couple more definitions.

LYRICAL HERO
The concept of a lyrical hero was first formulated by Yu.N. Tynyanov in 1921 in relation to the work of A.A. Blok.
A lyrical hero is an image of a hero in a lyrical work, whose experiences, feelings, thoughts reflect the author’s worldview.
The lyrical hero is not an autobiographical image of the author.
You cannot say “lyrical character” - only “lyrical hero”.

THE IMAGE OF A HERO is an artistic generalization of human properties, character traits in the individual appearance of the hero.

LITERARY TYPE is a generalized image of human individuality, most characteristic of a certain social environment at a certain time. It connects two sides - the individual (single) and the general.
Typical does not mean average. The type concentrates in itself everything that is most striking, characteristic of an entire group of people - social, national, age, etc. For example, the type of Turgenev girl or a lady of Balzac's age.

CHARACTER AND CHARACTER

In modern literary criticism, character is the unique individuality of a character, his inner appearance, that is, what distinguishes him from other people.

Character consists of diverse traits and qualities that are not combined by chance. Every character has a main, dominant trait.

Character can be simple or complex.
A simple character is distinguished by integrity and staticity. The hero is either positive or negative.
Simple characters are traditionally combined into pairs, most often based on the opposition “bad” - “good”. The contrast accentuates the merits of positive heroes and diminishes the merits of negative heroes. Example - Shvabrin and Grinev in “The Captain’s Daughter”
A complex character is the hero’s constant search for himself, the hero’s spiritual evolution, etc.
A complex character is very difficult to label as “positive” or “negative.” It contains inconsistency and paradox. Like Captain Zheglov, who almost sent poor Gruzdev to prison, but easily gave food cards to Sharapov’s neighbor.

STRUCTURE OF A LITERARY CHARACTER

A literary hero is a complex and multifaceted person. It has two appearances - external and internal.

To create appearance heroes work:

PORTRAIT. This face, figure, distinctive features physique (for example, Quasimodo’s hump or Karenin’s ears).

CLOTHING, which can also reflect certain character traits of the hero.

SPEECH, the features of which characterize the hero no less than his appearance.

AGE, which determines the potential possibility of certain actions.

PROFESSION, which shows the degree of socialization of the hero, determines his position in society.

LIFE HISTORY. Information about the origin of the hero, his parents/relatives, the country and place where he lives, gives the hero sensually tangible realism and historical specificity.

The internal appearance of the hero consists of:

WORLDVIEW AND ETHICAL BELIEF, which provide the hero with value guidelines, give meaning to his existence.

THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES that outline the diverse life of the hero’s soul.

FAITH (or lack thereof), which determines the presence of the hero in the spiritual field, his attitude towards God and the Church.

STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS, which indicate the results of the interaction of the soul and spirit of the hero.
The hero can not only reason, love, but also be aware of emotions, analyze own activities, that is, to reflect. Artistic reflection allows the author to identify the hero’s personal self-esteem and characterize his attitude towards himself.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

So, a character is a fictional animate person with a certain character and unique external characteristics. The author must come up with this data and convincingly convey it to the reader.
If the author does not do this, the reader perceives the character as cardboard and is not included in his experiences.

Character development is a rather labor-intensive process and requires skill.
Most effective way- this is to write down on a separate sheet of paper all the personality traits of your character that you want to present to the reader. Straight to point.
The first point is the hero’s appearance (fat, thin, blond, brunette, etc.). The second point is age. The third is education and profession.
Be sure to answer (first of all, to yourself) the following questions:
- how does the character relate to other people? (sociable\closed, sensitive\callous, respectful\rude)
- how does the character feel about his work? (hardworking/lazy, creative/routine, responsible/irresponsible, proactive/passive)
- How does the character feel about himself? (has a feeling self-esteem, self-critical, proud, modest, arrogant, vain, arrogant, touchy, shy, selfish)
- how does the character feel about his things? (neat/sloppy, careful with things/careless)
The selection of questions is not random. The answers to them will give a FULL picture of the character's personality.
It is better to write down the answers and keep them before your eyes throughout the entire work on the work.
What will this give? Even if in the work you do not mention ALL QUALITIES of a personality (for minor and episodic characters it is not rational to do this), then all the same, the author’s FULL understanding of his characters will be transmitted to the reader and will make their images three-dimensional.

ARTISTIC DETAIL plays a huge role in creating/revealing character images.

An artistic detail is a detail that the author has endowed with significant semantic and emotional load.
A bright detail replaces entire descriptive fragments, cuts off unnecessary details that obscure the essence of the matter.
An expressive, successfully found detail is evidence of the author’s skill.

I would especially like to note such a moment as CHOOSING A CHARACTER NAME.

According to Pavel Florensky, “names are the essence of categories of personal cognition.” Names are not just named, but actually declare the spiritual and physical essence of a person. They form special models of personal existence, which become common to each bearer of a certain name. Names are predetermined spiritual qualities, actions and even the fate of a person.

The existence of a character in a work of fiction begins with the choice of his name. It is very important what you name your hero.
Compare the options for the name Anna - Anna, Anka, Anka, Nyura, Nyurka, Nyusha, Nyushka, Nyusya, Nyuska.
Each of the options crystallizes certain personality qualities and provides the key to character.
Once you have decided on a character name, don’t change it (unnecessarily) as you go along, as this can confuse the reader’s perception.
If in life you tend to call your friends and acquaintances diminutively and disparagingly (Svetka, Mashulya, Lenusik, Dimon), control your passion in writing. In a work of art, the use of such names must be justified. Numerous Vovkas and Tankas look terrible.

CHARACTER SYSTEM

A literary hero is a person who is clearly individual and at the same time clearly collective, that is, he is generated social environment and interpersonal relationships.

It is unlikely that your work will feature only one hero (although this has happened). In most cases, the character is at the intersection of three rays.
The first is friends, associates (friendly relationships).
The second is enemies, ill-wishers (hostile relations).
Third - others strangers(neutral relationship)
These three rays (and the people in them) create a strict hierarchical structure or CHARACTER SYSTEM.
Characters are divided by the degree of author's attention (or the frequency of depiction in the work), the purposes and functions that they perform.

Traditionally, there are main, secondary and episodic characters.

The MAIN CHARACTER(s) are always at the center of the work.
The main character actively masters and transforms artistic reality. His character (see above) predetermines events.

Axiom – main character must be bright, that is, its structure must be spelled out thoroughly, no spaces are allowed.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS are located, although next to the main character, but somewhat behind, in the background, so to speak, of the artistic depiction.
The characters and portraits of minor characters are rarely detailed, more often they appear dotted. These heroes help the main characters to open up and ensure the development of the action.

Axiom – minor character cannot be brighter than the main thing.
Otherwise, he will pull the blanket over himself. An example from a related area. Film "Seventeen Moments of Spring". Remember the girl who pestered Stirlitz in one of the last episodes? (“They say about us mathematicians that we are terrible crackers.... But in love I am Einstein...”).
In the first edition of the film, the episode with her was much longer. Actress Inna Ulyanova was so good that she stole all the attention and distorted the scene. Let me remind you that there Stirlitz was supposed to receive important encryption from the center. However, no one remembered about the encryption; everyone reveled in the bright clownery of an EPISODIC (completely passable) character. Ulyanov, of course, is sorry, but director Lioznova completely accepted right decision and cut this scene. An example to think about, though!

EPISODIC HEROES are on the periphery of the world of the work. They may have no character at all, acting as passive executors of the author's will. Their functions are purely official.

POSITIVE and NEGATIVE HEROES usually divide the system of characters in a work into two warring factions (“red” - “white”, “ours” - “fascists”).

The theory of dividing characters according to ARCHETYPES is interesting.

An archetype is a primary idea expressed in symbols and images and underlying everything.
That is, each character in the work should serve as a symbol of something.

According to the classics, there are seven archetypes in literature.
So, the main character could be:
- The protagonist – the one who “accelerates the action”, the real Hero.
- Antagonist – completely the opposite of the Hero. I mean, a Villain.
- Guardian, Sage, Mentor and Helper - those who assist the Protagonist

Minor characters are:
- A bosom friend – symbolizes support and faith in the Main Character.
- Skeptic - questions everything that happens
- Reasonable – makes decisions based solely on logic.
- Emotional – reacts only with emotions.

For example, Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.
The main character is undoubtedly Harry Potter himself. He is opposed by the Villain - Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore=Sage appears periodically.
And Harry's friends are the reasonable Hermione and the emotional Ron.

In conclusion, I would like to talk about the number of characters.
When there are many of them, this is bad, since they will begin to duplicate each other (there are only seven archetypes!). Competition among the characters will cause discoordination in the minds of the readers.
The most reasonable thing is to stupidly check your heroes by archetypes.
For example, in your novel there are three old women. The first is cheerful, the second is smart, and the third is just a lonely grandmother from the first floor. Ask yourself – what do they represent? And you will understand that a lonely old woman is superfluous. Her phrases (if there are any) can easily be conveyed to the second or first (old ladies). This way you will get rid of unnecessary verbal noise and concentrate on the idea.

After all, “The idea is the tyrant of the work” (c) Egri.

It has been this way since ancient times: heroes are not born - they are made. But time moves inexorably forward, and today a hero can be created out of the blue. Such heroes are also called the protagonists of a work of art, and it is them who will be discussed today. Well, let's try to create unique character, because theory without practice is not worth a penny.

Difference of concepts

So, in every literary work you can get acquainted with fictional people who are called characters, images and types. What is their fundamental difference and is there any?

Acting person in a work of fiction, a character is called who takes certain actions. It doesn't matter whether it is positive or negative, the whole point is that it does something. He may appear in only one or two episodes, or he may perform actions throughout the entire story - it is not so important when he is a character in a work of fiction.

Hero is another term used to describe participants in works of art. According to the literal definition, a hero is a demigod or deified person. This is how it was, for example, among the ancient Greeks. The title of hero gave a person many advantages; songs and legends were written about him, he was worshiped and supported in every possible way. Over time, this word migrated into literature, and today the reader has formed two fundamental ideas:

Positive hero- a noble man who saves the world, and along the way, everyone who finds themselves in a deplorable situation.
Negative hero- a scoundrel from whom the world needs to be saved.

Incorrect synonyms

Thus, the protagonist of a work of art is also called a hero. However, this concept is very often used as a synonym for the word “character”, which is not the same thing. Character any character can be called, while the hero is the exponent of the plot action on which all content is based.

The term "character" has no additional meaning. Like, for example, an actor who must do something. And yet the characters have their own typology:

Episodic face. The character that is the focus of a particular episode.
Genre heroes. For example, in an epic, a character will be noble both in manners and in origin, but in a comedy, his character will have a touch of some absurdity attributed to him.
Anthropomorphic characters. Talking things, animals, etc.
Collective. Participants in crowd scenes.
Group characters. The number of participants is limited and they are all named by name in the work.
Off-stage. Characters who are introduced in the story but do not appear themselves.
Borrowed. Faces taken from the works of other writers.
Double. Appears as a result of the hero’s split consciousness.
Transformed. Characters with whom various metamorphoses occur in history.

Images and types

The protagonist of a work of art is also called image. This a kind of artistic generalization of human properties and character traits in the description of the hero of the work. For example, Tatyana Larina from “Eugene Onegin” can be considered the image of a romantic and dreamy girl, smart beyond her years.

So, the characters in a work of art are called images, characters and types. By the way, about types. This is a generalized image of human individuality, which is most characteristic of social environment at a certain time. Types concentrate all the most striking and remarkable features characteristic of a certain group of people. For example, the type of Turgenev girl.

Is it easy to be a creator?

And yet, no matter what the characters in a work of fiction are called, all of them can be considered literary heroes that have character, appearance and inner world. Is it possible to the common man create a character?! It's possible, but difficult.

First, you need to give a descriptive description of these positions:

Portrait. faces and figures.
Cloth. It reflects certain character traits.
Speech. Characterizes the hero no less than his appearance.
Age. Determines the potential of opportunities.
Profession. Determines position in society.
Life story. Origin of the hero.

Secondly, it is worth paying attention inner world acting person. It is necessary to describe his worldview, ethical beliefs, faith, statements, actions, thoughts and affections. The main thing is to understand that the hero is able to reflect, that is, be aware of his emotions and analyze his actions.

Process nuances

Any character in literature is a fictional animate subject with his own character and unique appearance. The author must independently come up with these data and convincingly convey them to the reader. This process is labor-intensive and requires certain skills.

It is best to write everything down on a separate sheet. personal qualities character and describe them step by step. You will also need to answer the following questions:

How does the character relate to other people, his work, and himself?
How does he feel about his things?

By answering, you can get a complete picture of the personality. It is important to add an artistic detail - some detail that carries a semantic and emotional load. And of course, choose correct name.

Shall we practice?

Well, let's try to put this knowledge into practice. Before we begin, it is necessary to clarify that in works of fiction about the character, all information is not immediately given, it is not offered full list its characteristics. First, a general description, and then, with each new episode, the author reveals all its features, and by the end of the story the reader already has a complete idea of the hero.

You can introduce the reader to your character as follows:

“Nikko always believed that if an object cannot be explored, then its existence in this world is meaningless. He was already approaching forty, but he still looked like a seventeen-year-old teenager, and behaved like an eight-year-old child who was interested in absolutely everything. Only in his laboratory did he become calm, reasonable and dreamy.

Twelfth son, deprived parental love and guardianship, grew like tumbleweeds, having spent most of of his conscious life in the library. By the age of twenty, he had already studied all material objects and was now trying to decompose human emotions into molecules. Whether this made sense, Nikko didn’t know, but thanks to these studies, his life began to play with bright colors.”

So, what is the name of the character in a work of art? In different ways: character, hero or image. Is this the main thing? Each of them has a name and lives his own life, albeit invented by the author. This should not be forgotten.