Lit Terms Quiz #2: Character

Antagonist

person or force working against the protagonist

Anthropomorphism

an animal that takes on human characteristics

Antihero

a protagonist in a modern work who does not exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero

Archetype

a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to be considered universal

Aside

in drama, a convention by which the actors speak briefly to the audience, supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage

Bildungsroman

a novel that recounts the development (psychological and sometimes spiritual) of an individual from childhood to maturity, to the point at which the protagonist recognizes his or her place and role in the world

Caricature

the exaggeration of specific features of appearance or personality

Catharsis

the emotional effect a tragic drama has on its audience; a “cleansing”; Aristotle said tragedy provided the audience with the opportunity to purge the emotions of pity and fear

Character

a figure in a literary work

Flat character

defined by a single idea/quality

Round character

has the 3-dimensional complexity of real people

Static character

don’t change significantly over the course of a work

Dynamic character

change in response to circumstance and experience

Characterization

various means by which an author describes and develops the characters in a literary work

direct characterization

narrator’s description

indirect

characters’ actions, dialogue, other characters’ comments about them

dialogue

conversation between two or more characters in a literary work

epiphany

a moment of sudden revelation or insight

foil

a character who, by his contrast with the main character, serves to accentuate that character’s distinctive qualities or characteristics

hubris

excessive pride that constitutes the protagonist’s tragic flaw and leads to his/her downfall

narrator

a speaker through whom an author presents a narrative, often but not always a character in the work

protagonist

character around which the action is centered

soliloquy

a speech in which a character, alone on a stage, addresses him/herself; it is a “thinking out loud”, a dramatic means of letting an audience know a character’s thoughts/feelings or some other important information

tragic hero

the central character in a tragedy who experiences a tragic downfall. The tragic hero has a tragic flaw which is the error, misstep, frailty, or flaw that causes the downfall of the tragic hero (also referred to as hamartia)

hamartia

the error, misstep, frailty, or flaw that causes the downfall of the tragic hero