Who is a literary character?We devote this issue to our article. In it, we will tell you where this name came from, what literary characters and images are and how to describe them in literature lessons according to one's desire or the teacher's demand.
Also from our article you will find out what the "eternal" image is and what images are called eternal.
Literary hero or character. Who is it?
Often we hear the notion of "literary character".But about what speech, can explain a few. And even schoolchildren who have recently returned from a literature lesson often find it difficult to answer the question. What is this mysterious word "character"?
This concept came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). The meaning is "personality", "person", "person".
So, the literary character is the protagonist of the literary work. It is mostly about prose genres, since the images in poetry are usually called "lyrical hero."
Without actors write a story or a poem,novel or story is impossible. Otherwise, it will be an unreasonable set if not words, then, perhaps, events. Heroes of literary genres are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, a staunch tin soldier from Andersen, historical figures and even entire nations.
Classification of literary heroes
Literary characters can confuse theirquantity of any connoisseur of literature. And the students of secondary schools are especially hard. And especially the fact that they prefer to play your favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify the characters, if the teacher or, worse, the examiner demands it?
The most win-win option:classify the characters according to the degree of their importance in the work. On this basis, literary heroes are divided into main and secondary. Without the protagonist, the work and its plot will be a set of words. But with the loss of secondary characters, we will lose a certain branch of the storyline or the expressiveness of events. But in general the work will not suffer.
The second option is more limited andwill suit not all works, but fairy tales and fantastic genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, the poor Cinderella herself is a positive hero, she evokes pleasant emotions, she sympathizes with it. But the sisters and the wicked stepmother are clearly heroes of a completely different kind.
Characteristic character. How to write?
Heroes of literary works sometimes (especiallyat the lesson of literature in school) need a detailed description. And how to write it? The option "I lived was such a hero." He is obviously not suitable for a fairy tale about that and that, if the evaluation is important. We will share with you a win-win variant of writing the characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.
- Introduction. Name the work and the hero, about which you will tell. You can also add here why you want to describe it.
- The place of the hero in the story (novel, story, etc.).Here you can write whether he is the main or secondary, positive or negative, a person or a mythical character, a fictional or historical person.
- Appearance. It is not superfluous to describe the exterior, you can with quotations, which will show you as an attentive reader, moreover, will add volume to your description.
- Character. Everything is clear.
- Actions and their characteristics in your opinion.
- Conclusions.
That's all. Keep this plan for yourself, and it will come in handy.
Famous literary characters
Although the very concept of a literary hero canseem like a complete stranger to you, but if you give the name of the hero to you, you will most likely remember a lot. This is especially true of well-known characters of literature, such as Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, Assol or Cinderella, Alice or Peppy Long Stocking.
Such heroes are called famous literarycharacters. These names are familiar to children and adults from many countries and even continents. They do not know - a sign of the near and the lack of education. Therefore, if you have no time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell about these heroes.
The concept of image in the literature
Along with the character you can often hear the concept"form". What is it? The same as the hero, or not? The answer will be both positive and negative, because a literary character may well be a literary image, but the image itself does not have to be a character.
Часто того или иного героя мы называем образом, but in the same way nature can appear in the work. And then the subject of the examination sheet can be "the image of nature in the story ...". How to be in this case? The answer in the question itself: if it’s about nature, its place in the work is what you need to characterize. Start with a description, add character elements, such as "the sky was frowning," "the sun was mercilessly thick," "the night frightened its darkness," and the characteristic is ready. Well, if you need characterization of the image of the hero, then how to write it, see the plan and tips above.
What are the images?
Our next question. Here we will highlight several classifications. Above we examined one - the images of heroes, that is, people / animals / mythical creatures and images of nature, images of peoples and states.
Also images can be so-called "eternal".What is the "eternal image"? This concept calls the hero, once created by the author or folklore. But he was so "characteristic" and special that after years and eras other authors write their characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but the essence of this does not change. These heroes include the windmill fighter Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan and many others.
Unfortunately, modern fantastic charactersdo not become eternal, despite the love of fans. Why? The better this funny Don Quixote Spider-Man, for example? It is difficult to explain in two words. Just reading the book will give you the answer.
The concept of "proximity" of the hero, or My favorite character
Sometimes the hero of a work or movie becomesso close and loved that we try to imitate him, to be like him. This happens for a reason, and for good reason the choice falls on this character. Often the image becomes the favorite hero, something already reminding us the most. Perhaps the similarity is in character, or experienced by both the hero and you. Or this character is in a situation like yours, and you understand and sympathize with him. In any case, this is not bad. The main thing is that you imitate only worthy heroes. And they abound in the literature. We wish you to meet only good characters and imitate only the positive traits of their character.
