How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

Introduction to Character Analysis Essay

A character analysis essay explores the depths of a persona in fictional or non-fictional artwork, such as film or novels. The analysis helps readers understand the characters at a deeper level and their significance within a story. This examination goes beyond the physical descriptions to examine a character’s actions, relationships, and motivations to reveal the reasons for their behaviors. Character analysis will provide insights into the author’s creative choices. A well-written character analysis essay will reveal a character’s complexity while exploring the author’s intentions in creating this persona. This article delves into the purpose of such essays, explores the different characters you may analyze, and discusses the steps to help you through your writing process.

 

Purpose of a Character Analysis Essay

A character analysis essay serves different purposes. Firstly, this type of essay helps the audience understand a character’s world by discussing how they interact and react to it. By examining their actions, thoughts, and motivations, you can provide a deeper understanding of the character, the story’s plot, and the significant of their role. Apart from analysis the persona’s outer world, a character analysis also discusses their inner world and how it impacts their choices.

Secondly, a character analysis essay also helps a reader understand their actions. A character will participate in different situations where they may act differently. You help the audience understand why characters made specific choices through character analysis. Alternatively, a persona’s nature can lead to them performing particular actions. By exploring their actions, readers can understand how a character has grown or transformed throughout the story.

A character analysis also reveals relationships between different characters. Characters do not exist in isolation and will often interact with other personas in the story in a way that affects them. The interactions between characters can highlight their strengths, weaknesses, and how they navigate their world. Moreover, a character analysis can allow you to understand how characters in the story influence each other.

Finally, a character analysis essay offers a reader a thorough interpretation of the overall story. By exploring a character and how they contribute to a story, a reader can understand the author’s intentions, thematic aspects, and the overall impact of the persona on the narrative. This is because a character’s journey may be intertwined with the story’s key themes. Moreover, you allow your audience to understand how the author utilizes different techniques to bring the character to life.

 

Types of Characters

A character’s significance plays a key role when analyzing the persona. Important or main characters in an art form will have more depth, while less significant players will need more background understanding. According to Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory, most stories have a certain number of purely functional characters because they exist to move the narrative forward (Agustin et al., 2023). The following types of characters will help you understand how to approach a character during an analysis.

1. Protagonist

The protagonist is also known as the main character. Most of the plot will revolve around the protagonist because they are the hero. However, an anti-hero can be a protagonist in some instances. Anti-heroes may blur the lines of morality by making questionable actions, even when they have a positive outcome. A story can have one or two main characters. For example, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the story revolves around the two characters and their desires and love for one another, making them the protagonists. In Othello, the story follows Othello’s (the protagonist) journey from a respected individual to a man consumed by jealousy. If you decide to analyze a protagonist, you can examine their development, motivations, and role in advancing the narrative.

2. Antagonist

The antagonist is the opposition to the protagonist. While the antagonist may be the villain, they also may be an individual who gets in the protagonist’s way by presenting obstacles in their path. For example, in “The Little Mermaid,” Ursula is the antagonist who tempts Ariel with a deal to become human in exchange for her voice. Ursula’s motivation is to overthrow King Triton and rule the ocean. Therefore, she creates hindrances for Ariel while manipulating the situation.

3. Deuteragonist

A deuteragonist is a secondary character who plays a vital role alongside the protagonist. The deuteragonist drives the story forward by creating conflict or supporting the protagonist’s journey.

4. Minor Characters

Minor characters do not add much to the actual plot of the narrative, but their contribution is critical in understanding the main characters. However, they help by complementing the main character’s story by interacting with them and revealing their personalities.

5. Foils, Dynamic Characters and Static Characters

Apart from the above classifications, a character can be classified depending on how they contribute to the story. Foils are characters that have traits that contrast with the main character. Their role is to draw attention to the main character to enhance their role. For example, the protagonist may be warm and caring and is best friends with a character who is cold and uncaring.

A dynamic character is an individual who changes and transforms throughout the narrative. However, the characters can also experience negative changes. For example, Anakin Skywalker is a dynamic character in the Star Wars saga. Skywalker goes from a promising young Jedi to succumbing to the dark side. Unlike a dynamic character, a static character will stay the same throughout the narrative without any growth or transformation.

 

Steps in Writing a Character Analysis Essay

1.Explore the Story and Select a Character for Analysis

The first step in writing a character analysis essay is to select a dynamic character to captivate the reader. However, to choose a character, you should read the story first. Be attentive to the characters’ words, actions, and how they interact with one another when exploring the story. The persona you select for your analysis will determine its success.

The main characters may be easier to analyze as they are well-defined and their motivations are obvious. However, your professor may assign you a specific character for analysis. In such circumstances, you will need to ensure that you find evidence within a text to support your argument, although it might be challenging when they are a secondary character. In addition, minor characters do not show significant development throughout the story.

2.Select a Main Idea

While exploring the story, you should take detailed notes on what you think will be important in your character analysis essay. Your notes should include observations about their traits, behaviors, and significant moments that impact their journey or identity. From your notes, select a key theme that resonates with the character’s journey. Explore how the character interacts with the theme to add complexity to your analysis.

3.Write your Character Analysis Essay Introduction 

The introduction to your character analysis essay should start with a catchy hook that holds the entire essay together while capturing readers’ attention. The introduction can start with a relevant and impactful quote that reflects a character’s personality. As with any other essay, remember to include a thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph that sets the tone for the rest of the paper.

4.Introduce the Character and Provide Background Information

Introduce your character by describing their traits, such as physical appearance, features, and behaviors. After the introduction, you should include critical background information about your character. Some things to include in this section include the character’s role in the story, any notable relationships that impact the character’s experiences, and the persona’s environment and how it affects their actions and decisions.

5.Write the Remaining Body Paragraphs

The length of your essay will determine the depth and number of your body paragraphs. The paragraphs should discuss the character’s journey, motivations, and challenges. Additionally, you can discuss how these aspects of the character impact the overall story depending on their roles, such as protagonists or antagonists. Apart from these aspects, explore insights and lessons the audience can derive from the story. These may be the lessons that the author intended to portray through this character.

6.Write the Conclusion

The conclusion to your essay should repeat your thesis statement using different words. You should then summarize the key points discussed in the essay by highlighting key lessons and insights that may help the audience relate to the character’s journey. You should not introduce any new information in this section.

 

As you learn how to write a character analysis essay you should also learn How To Write A Book Review since they fall under the same coursework.

Conclusion

In conclusion, writing a character analysis essay can be a challenging experience. However, using the guidelines provided in this essay will help you write a high-quality paper by selecting suitable characters to analyze. This type of essay will help your audience appreciate the story more deeply because they see the world through a character’s eyes. Therefore, writing a comprehensive character analysis that includes different aspects of a persona allows your audience to connect with them by understanding their actions and motivations. incase you find it difficult you can seek the help of our essay writing services experts online.

Reference

Agustin, V., Imam Qalyubi, & Akhmad Ali Mirza. (2023). Implementing Vladimir Propp’s theory of narratology in writing skills using Bumi Manusia movie. Scripta English Department Journal, 10(2), 219–233. https://doi.org/10.37729/scripta.v10i2.3782