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| CHARACTER DIAGRAM OF "ROMEO AND JULIET" |
Each
of us is the main character and the star in a novel called My
Life where
the following rules apply:
(a)
We are present in everything that happens to us from the introduction
to the conclusion (birth to death).
(b)
We have a single point of view: our own.
(c)
We have no choice as to our physical characteristics, the country we
are born in, our parents or our up-bringing and hence to what we are
when we start out.
(d)
Our reaction to outside stimulation is mostly controlled by our
subconscious so we don't know how we will react to new stimulation
until it actually happens.
(e)
We strive to be the best we can be and do the best we can for
ourselves and perhaps our close ones.
(f)
Our character does not change much. The amount of change we are
capable of largely depends on our experiences and our character.
In
a novel, life's principles are repeated.
Points
(a), (b), (c) & (d) are given to us (the readers) by the author.
With the exception that in a novel there can be hundreds of points of
view, if the author so decides.
(e)
If a character does not strive to be the best that he can be, or does
not do the best she can for herself and/or her close ones, then this
character is a plant by the author. She could be there to further the
plot (“plot device”), make us laugh (“comic relief”), excite
us, etc. If we become aware of this immediately, we are reading a bad
novel.
(f)
The author defines the appropriate characteristics of each main
character as the novel progresses. Variations
from these basic characteristics, introduced through dialogue or
action, complicate a character and make him more real, or as we say
in literature, “round”. Few novels have round characters and
invariably they are long and usually tedious.
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| GREAT EXPECTATIONS |
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| THE SUN ALSO RISES |
The
most important (and virtually unbreakable) rule that applies to all
characters who change during the course of the novel is that the
author must
always show
the events that have made this change possible. Just as a character's
hair cannot change colour unless the author specifies that it was
dyed or that a wig was worn, so an honest man cannot become a thief
or a stingy person turn generous, unless the event(s) that
facilitated this change are showed by the author. If these events are
not described, we cannot believe in, or root for, the characters
involved.
The
process in
which
a character is changed by events is known as character development.
Character development or portrayal is usually the short
story's
basic ingredient but
it is also a significant part of all good novels ever written. I
can't think of a classic without one. Carried to an extreme, a
character's journey through life and the changes it imposes, may
totally
replace the novel's plot. Such a novel tends to be a series of
anecdotes and resembles biography and real life.
We
are so accustomed to the idea that plot is more important than
character development, that we think that there is something is wrong
when the two are reversed. In my latest novel Bird
of Prey
we observe how a number of events change two people. Some of these
events take a paragraph to describe, some a chapter. The main event,
the disappearance and recovery of five valuable ancient coins,
consumes most of the novel's twenty chapters. It is obvious from the
novel's description, make-up, and even its title that this is
primarily a novel of character portrayal and development. Still, some
intelligent people failed to see this reversal. What
is the use of the
first four chapters? I have been asked. Why doesn't the book start on
chapter five and even omit a couple of chapters in between?
As
Woody Allen's Annie
Hall
might say: “Laddie Dud, laddie dud!”
See
my other articles on characters:
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