Literary hero- a person who is clearly individual and at the same time clearly collective, that is, generated by the social environment, interpersonal relationships. He is rarely presented in isolation, in a one-man show. The hero flourishes in a certain social sphere, among his own kind. He is included in the “list of characters,” in the system of characters that most often appears in works of major genres (novels). The hero can be surrounded, on the one hand, by relatives, friends, comrades-in-arms, on the other - by enemies, ill-wishers, on the third - by other people who are strangers to him.
The character system is a strict hierarchical structure. Heroes are usually differentiated based on their artistic significance(values). They are separated by the degree of authorial attention (or frequency of image), ontological purpose and the functions they perform. Traditionally, there are main, secondary and episodic characters.
The main characters are always “in sight”, always at the center of the work. They have a strong character and strong will. And therefore they actively master and transform artistic reality: predetermine events, perform actions, conduct dialogues. The main characters are characterized by a well-remembered appearance and a clear value orientation. Sometimes they express the basic, general idea of creation; become the author’s “mouthpiece”.
Number of characters in the center literary storytelling may be different. At I.A. Bunin in “The Life of Arsenyev” we see only one main character. In the Old Russian “Tale of Peter and Fevronya” there are two characters in the center. In J. London's novel “Hearts of Three” there are already three main characters.
Secondary characters are located next to the main characters, but somewhat behind them, in the background artistic image. The heroes of the second row, as a rule, are the parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and colleagues of the heroes of the first row. The personalities and portraits of minor characters are rarely detailed; rather, they appear dotted. These heroes help the main characters “open up” and ensure the development of the action.
This is, for example, a mother poor Lisa in the story of the same name by N.M. Karamzin. This is Kazbich M.Yu. Lermontov from the story “Bela”.
Episodic characters are on the periphery of the world of the work. They don’t quite have characters and act as passive executors of the author’s will. Their functions are purely official. They only appear in one select episode, which is why they are called cameos. Such are the servants and messengers in ancient literature, janitors, carters, casual acquaintances in XIX literature century.
Character system. A character (literary hero) is a character in a plot work of art.
the organization of the characters in a literary work appears as a system of characters.
The character system should be viewed from two perspectives:
1. As a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) - that is, from the point of view of the content of the work;
2. As the embodiment of the principle of composition and a means of characterizing the characters - that is, as the position of the author.
like any system, the character sphere is characterized through its constituent elements (characters) and structure (a relatively stable method = the law of connection of elements).
elements of the character sphere
the main ones are at the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work,
secondary - also quite actively involved in the plot, having their own character, but which receive less authorial attention; in some cases their function is to help reveal the images of the main characters,
episodic - appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often without their own character and standing on the periphery of the author’s attention; their main function is to give impetus to the plot action at the right moment or to highlight certain features of the main and secondary characters).
In addition, there are also so-called off-stage characters in question, but they do not participate in the action (for example, in “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov, this is Princess Marya Alekseevna, whose opinion everyone is so afraid of, or Famusov’s uncle, a certain Maxim Petrovich).
for example, Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe seems to be about the life of one person. However, the novel is densely populated. In Robinson's memories and dreams there live different persons (= off-stage characters): the father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket maker he watched as a child; a desirable companion - “a living person with whom I could talk.” The role of off-stage characters, seemingly mentioned in passing, is very important: after all, Robinson is both lonely and not alone on his island, since he personifies the total human experience, hard work and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots.
What parameters are used to determine the category of characters?
there are two of them. This:
– the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the volume of text that this character is given;
– the degree of importance of a given character for revealing sides artistic content.
most often these parameters coincide. So, in the “fathers and sons” of bazaars - main character in both respects, Pavel Petrovich, Nikolai Petrovich, Arkady, Odintsova are secondary characters in all respects, and Sitnikov or Kukshina are episodic.
an example is Pushkin’s “Captain’s Daughter”.
“It would seem impossible to imagine a more episodic character than Empress Catherine: she seems to exist only to bring the rather complicated story of the main characters to a successful conclusion. But for the problems and ideas of the story, this is an image of paramount importance, because without it it would not have received a semantic and compositional completion. the most important idea the story is the idea of mercy. Just as Pugachev, in his time, despite all the circumstances, had mercy on Grinev, so Catherine has mercy on him, although the circumstances of the case seem to point against him. Just as Grinev meets Pugachev as person to person, and only later does he turn into an autocrat, so Masha meets with Catherine, not suspecting that this is the empress in front of her, also like person to person. And if it weren’t for this image in the system of characters in the story, the composition would not be closed, and therefore, the idea of the human connection of all people, without distinction of classes and positions, would not sound artistically convincing, the idea that “giving alms” is one of the best manifestations of humanity spirit, and the solid foundation of human coexistence is not cruelty and violence, but kindness and mercy.”
and it also happens that the question of dividing characters into categories generally loses all meaningful meaning.
for example, in the composition “ dead souls“Episode characters differ from the main ones only quantitatively, and not qualitatively: in the volume of the image, but not in the degree of the author’s interest in them.
the number of characters in the poem is literally off the charts. Uncle Minyai and Uncle Mityai, son-in-law of Nozdryov Mizhuev, the boys begging Chichikov for alms at the hotel gates, and especially one of them, “a great hunter of getting on the heels,” and the captain of kisses, and a certain assessor Drobyazhkin, and Fetinya, a mistress of whipping featherbeds, some lieutenant who had come from Ryazan, apparently a big hunter of boots, because he had already ordered four pairs and was constantly trying on the fifth, and further, further, further.
These figures do not give impetus to the plot action and do not characterize Messrs. Chichikov in any way. Moreover, the detailing of these figures is clearly excessive - let us remember the men who talked about manilovka and zamanilovka, Ivan Antonovich's jug's snout, the dog's wife, the daughter of the old foreman, who had threshing peas on her face at night, the box's late husband, who loved to have someone... I would scratch his heels at night, but I couldn’t fall asleep without it.
however, this is not excess and certainly not the author’s inability to construct a plot. On the contrary, it is thin compositional technique, with the help of which Gogol created a special installation. He showed not just images of individual people, but something broader and more significant - the image of a population, a people, a nation. Peace, finally.
Almost the same composition of the character system is observed in Chekhov's plays, and the matter is even more complicated: the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. With the help of this system, the Czechs show “a certain set of ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, extraordinary heroes, on whose images one can build a play, but for the most part they are nevertheless interesting and significant. To do this, it is necessary to show a multitude of equal characters, without singling out the main and minor ones; This is the only way that something common is revealed in them, namely, the drama of a failed life inherent in everyday consciousness, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure” (c)
character sphere structure
How many characters are necessary and sufficient?
While working on “Three Sisters,” Chekhov sneered at himself: “I’m not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are a lot of characters - it’s possible that I’ll get lost and give up writing.” And upon completion he recalled: “It was terribly difficult to write “Three Sisters.” After all, there are three heroines, each should be like their own model, and all three are the general’s daughters!”
like the classic, where “red natives and natives (positive and countless hordes)” are introduced into the play “Citizen Jules Verne.” (Bulgakov. Crimson Island).
So, the number of characters.
To form a character system, at least two subjects are required.
as an option, there may be a split of the hero - Semyon Semenovich with glasses and without glasses (kharms, “cases”).
The maximum number of characters is not limited.
According to some estimates, in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” there are about 600 characters, in Balzac’s “Human Comedy” - about 2,000 (for comparison, the population of a medieval Western European city was 1-3 thousand inhabitants).
the numbers are impressive.
and the immediate question is: can you create a work with a similar number of characters? No, it’s easy to cram characters into a plot. But then you will have to manage them so that your thing does not look like a telephone directory.
characters are required to interact with each other.
some people succeed. For example, King’s multi-character things – “needful things”, “Armageddon” (another translation is “confrontation” the stand), “under the dome”
or a classic example - Homer, "Odyssey". Philologists have established more than 1,700 connections between the 342 characters in the poem. There is a connection between the characters if they meet in the story, talk to each other, quote each other’s words to a third character, or it is clear from the text that they know each other. The structure of the “odyssey” surprisingly resembles a social network - such as Facebook or Twitter. Is history repeating itself?))
So, the system of characters is the interconnections and relationships between the characters, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.
The most important property of the character system is hierarchy.
We already talked about this here:
in most cases the character is at the intersection of the 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 http://proza.ru/2013/12/17/1652
Let's continue the conversation.
“The plot in its formation is, first of all, the creation of a system of characters. An important stage is the establishment of the central figure and then the establishment of the remaining characters, who are located on a descending ladder around this figure” (G.A. Shengeli)
There are two types of connections between characters - according to the plot (thesis-antithesis) and according to the relationship of characters.
the simplest and most common case is the opposition of two images to each other.
Mozart and Salieri, Grinev and Shvabrin, Oblomov and Stolz, boy-kibalchish and boy-bad.
A slightly more complex case is when one character is opposed to all the others, as, for example, in Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit,” where even quantitative relationships are important: it was not for nothing that Griboyedov wrote that in his comedy “there are twenty-five fools for one smart person.”
“The characters in the work are grouped. The simplest case is the division of all characters into two camps: friends and enemies of the protagonist. In more complex works There may be several such groups, and each of these groups is connected by various relationships with other persons” (Tomashevsky B.V. poetics)
Thus, in Anna Karenina the main compositional grouping of characters follows the thematic principle stated at the beginning of the novel: “all happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Different families in the novel develop this theme in different ways.
In “Fathers and Sons”, in addition to the obvious and implemented in the plot contrasting Bazarov with all the other characters, another, more hidden and not embodied in the plot, compositional principle is implemented, namely the comparison by similarity of two groups of characters: on the one hand, this is Arkady and Nikolai Petrovich, on the other - Bazarov and his parents. “In both cases, these characters embody the same problem - the problem of intergenerational relationships. Turgenev shows that, no matter what individual people are, the problem remains essentially the same: this is an ardent love for children, for whom, in fact, the older generation lives, this inevitable misunderstanding, the desire of children to prove their “maturity” and superiority, dramatic internal conflicts as a result of this, and yet, in the end, the inevitable spiritual unity of generations" (c)
There are also more complex compositional connections between characters.
an example is “crime and punishment”.
“the character system is organized around the main character Raskolnikov; the other characters are in complex relationships with him, and not only plot ones; and it is in extra-plot connections that the richness of the novel’s composition is revealed.
First of all, Raskolnikov is compositionally connected with Sonya. In their life position, they are primarily opposed. But not only that. They also have something in common, primarily in pain for a person and in suffering, which is why Sonya Raskolnikova understands so easily and immediately. In addition, as the schismatic himself emphasizes, they are both criminals, both murderers, only Sonya killed herself, and the schismatics killed the other. Here the comparison ends and the contrast begins again: for Dostoevsky, these two “murders” are not at all equivalent; moreover, they have a fundamentally opposite ideological meaning. And yet, both are criminals who are united by the gospel motif of sacrifice for humanity, the cross, and atonement. It is no coincidence that Dostoevsky emphasized the strange juxtaposition of “a murderer and a harlot who came together to read the eternal book.” So, Sonya is both an antipode and a kind of double of Raskolnikov.
the remaining characters are also organized around Raskolnikov according to the same principle; it is, as it were, reflected many times in its counterparts, but reflected with distortions, or incompletely.
So, Razumikhin comes close to Raskolnikov with his rationality and confidence that life can be arranged without God, relying only on himself, but is sharply opposed to him, since he does not accept the idea of “blood according to conscience.”
Porfiry Petrovich is the antipode of Raskolnikov, but there is also something Raskolnikov in him, because he understands the main character faster and better than anyone else.
Luzhin takes the practical part of Raskolnikov’s theory about the right to crime, but completely emasculates all the sublime meaning from it. In “new trends” he sees only a justification for his boundless egoism, believing that the new morality gives him the sanction to try only for his own benefit, without stopping at any moral prohibitions. Luzhin reflects Raskolnikov’s philosophy in the distorting mirror of cynicism, and Raskolnikov himself looks with disgust at Luzhin and his theory - thus, we have before us another double, another antipodean twin.
Svidrigailov, as is typical of an ironist, brings Raskolnikov’s ideas to their logical conclusion, advising him to stop thinking about the good of humanity, about the issues of “man and citizen.” But, like everyone, Svidrigailov does not accept Raskolnikov’s theory for himself personally, being skeptical of any philosophy. And Svidrigailov disgusts Raskolnikov; they again turn out to be mismatched twins, antipodal twins.
such a composition of the character system is caused by the need to pose and resolve complex moral and philosophical questions, to consider the theory of the main character and its implementation in practice in a variety of applications and aspects. The composition here, therefore, works to reveal the problematic” (c) L.V. Chernets. Character system.
COMPOSITION. TYPES OF CONFLICTS.
CHARACTER SYSTEM
Subsection Terminology
Composition
Type of work: eventful, psychological, mixed
Conflict: external, internal, explicit, hidden
Character- character
Main characters, minor characters, episodic characters
Static character – character in development
One-dimensional character - multi-dimensional character
Positive character - negative character
Main character
Antihero
Title character
Protagonist - antagonist
Characteristics: direct – indirect
Composition (the composition, the type of the story)
Every work of art is a complex whole, an organization of its constituent elements arranged in a certain system and sequence.
Before the reader, this or that event or experience takes shape, develops, ends, and this or that character is determined as a result of the correlation and interaction of all elements of the work. This interaction is called composition.
Composition (Latin compositio - composition, connection) - joining parts of components into a whole; organization, construction of a work of art.
Composition – compound parts, but not the parts themselves. Depending on what level (layer) artistic form we are talking, distinguish between aspects of the composition: arrangement of characters, event (plot) connections of the work, installation of details (psychological, portrait, landscape and repetitions of symbolic details (forming motives and leitmotifs). Also, aspects of composition include a change in forms of speech (narration - description - dialogue - reasoning), change of subjects of speech, division of the text into parts, discrepancy between poetic rhythm and meter, and much more. Thus, it is clear that the composition is a complex structure.
Within the aspects of composition, two types of work are distinguished: event/plot type ( the plot type) and psychological/non-plot ( the psychological type). Epic storytelling and dramaturgy are plot-based in nature, i.e. belong to the event type; the lyrics are psychological, but this does not mean that there is no conflict, development, or inconsistency in the lyrics. At the same time, and in narrative work, and in the dramatic the psychological element can be clearly expressed.
Ø Psychological is aimed at revealing the inner world of a person, event sequence it is poor, almost without external action, because importance is attached not to events, but to their assessment, the attitude of the heroes themselves, as well as the author and the reader, towards them. Most works of this type belong to small form (« Dark alleys"I. Bunin, "Cat in the Rain" by E. Hemingway); however, there is also a large narrative form psychological type(“Mrs. Dalloway”, “To the Lighthouse” by W. Woolf, etc.).
There is also a mixed type ( the mixed type), which presents elements of both event and psychological, and several options are possible:
The psychological and eventual side are in balance;
The psychological side dominates (the saturation of events gives way to the revelation of the inner world of the heroes)
The event side dominates ( inner world heroes give way to events).
Examples of mixed-type works: “The Black Cat” by E. Poe, “Ten Little Indians” by A. Christie, “The Captain’s Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin.
The system of personages
The character system is one of the aspects of the composition that reveals the content of the work and helps to correctly determine its idea. To begin with, we note that the characters are divided into main (main characters), minor (rival characters) and episodic (minor characters).
It is known that in epic and dramatic works human individuals are depicted with their inherent behavior, appearance, and worldview. They are usually called
Characters (characters),
Characters (in drama: dramatis personae),
Heroes (heroes)
Images
Characters (personages).
The word "persona" is of Latin origin. Previously, this was the name given to the mask that the actor wore.
The concepts denoted by these terms are mixed wherever “a person in literature” is meant, and differ in those cases where they are related to each other.
So, character – the broadest, most universal concept - a participant in the events of a work who performs functions specified (by tradition or by the author), i.e. commits actions, endures adversity, moves in the space and time of the depicted world.
Most works feature multiple characters; in voluminous novels and epics they can be counted in dozens or even hundreds.
In an epic work, the narrator (storyteller) can also be a character if he participates in the plot (Grinev in “The Captain’s Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin). In the lyrics, which primarily recreate the inner world of a person, the characters (if there are any) are depicted in a dotted, fragmentary way.
Most often, a literary character is a person. However, along with people, animals, plants, things, natural elements, fantastic creatures, robots, etc. can act and talk in works (" blue bird"M. Maeterlinck, "Mowgli" by R. Kipling, "Amphibian Man" by A. Belyaev, "War with the Newts" by K. Capek, "Solaris" by Art. Lema, “The Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgagov). This technique is called personification .
Image– one of the most uncertain and at the same time frequent literary concepts (eg image system = character system). The image in a work is understood as a reflection of character in the mind of the reader.
Character– an individual who chooses his own role as a participant in a separate event, having a conscious life position, own value system. Character is the embodiment of common, essential, socially determined properties of a number of people; a model of human behavior, transformed in accordance with the views of the writer.
The number of characters and characters in a work often does not coincide; there are much more characters. There are persons who have no character, fulfilling only a plot role, there are doubles, variants of the same type (Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky in “The Inspector General” by N.V. Gogol, Rosencrantz and Guildestern in “Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare).
Type– the highest degree of specificity, a ready-made form of personality, “function” (for example, “ little man"). Often the words “character” and “type” are used interchangeably.
Ø Meet psychological life types (miser, jealous), social(poor knight, monk, robber, judge), socio-historical(types of officials by N.V. Gogol, merchants and squandered nobles by A.N. Ostrovsky), national(gypsies from the romantics, Jews from Gogol, the French from L.N. Tolstoy, Poles from F.M. Dostoevsky).
Character- as a rule, a participant in events in dramaturgy, in a play, although when it comes to epic works, the term is also used.
The concept " title character" denotes a character whose name appears in the title of the work. More often it is central character(Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, Eugene Onegin), but not necessarily. In V. Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” Lolita herself is for main character– the image is bright and extremely important, but secondary. And the main one will be Humbert Humbert. A similar situation is in I.S. Turgenev’s story “Asya”.
Hero has several meanings:
1. a person who has accomplished a feat;
2. any character (in everyday speech);
3. central positive character in the work; a person of extraordinary merit and who performs significant and noble deeds.
4. demigod in ancient Greek mythology.
Ø What distinguishes the hero from other characters is his importance for the development of the plot: without his participation, the main plot events will not take place. He is distinguished by bright qualities of nature, initiative, and the ability to overcome obstacles that are insurmountable for others.
In a literary work, the only main character is called p r o t a g o n i s t o m (protagonist; from ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής: πρώτος - “first” and αγωνίζομαι - “compete”, αγωνιστής - “fighter”). In turn, the one who is opposed to him in the conflict is a n t a g o n i s t (antagonist; from ancient Greek ανταγωνιστής – “enemy, rival”); for example, Grinev - Pugachev or Grinev - Shvabrin in “The Captain's Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin). An antagonist is also considered a character who represents the opposite of the main character in terms of qualities, character - or social status(Scarlett and Melanie; Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov). Sometimes the contrast between protagonist and antagonist coincides with the division of characters into positive and negative (Hamlet - Claudius, Harry Potter - Draco Malfoy), but this is not necessary. For example, in the pairs of antagonists Katarina - Petruchio (W. Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew) or Montague - Capulet (Romeo and Juliet) there is no division into “heroes” and “villains”.
Along with antagonist and protagonist, the term is distinguished in literary criticism a n t i g e roy (anti-hero). It has three meanings:
1. central negative character, antagonist of the main character, “main villain” (Harry Potter - Voldemort);
2. a negative character as the central, main character (W. Shakespeare, “Macbeth”, “Richard III”; Choderlos de Laclos, “Dangerous Liaisons” - Marquise de Merteuil, Viscount de Valmont; W. Thackeray, “Vanity Fair” - Becky Sharp ; F. M. Dostoevsky, “Demons” - Stavrogin; “The Collector” by D. Fowles, “A Clockwork Orange” by E. Burgess, “Perfumer” by P. Suskind);
3. emphatically ordinary, not outstanding personality, “little man” as the main character (A.P. Chekhov, “Ionych”, “Man in a Case”; J. Joyce - Bloom (“Ulysses”); F. Kafka - Gregor Samsa (“Metamorphosis”).
In addition to being divided into main and secondary, characters can be divided into positive And negative.
However, this criterion is conditional, somewhat schematic and not always effective. This division is more common in literature of a tendentious nature (for example, in fables), as well as in genre literature (fairy tales, detective stories, adventure works).
It is much more relevant to divide characters into single-digit / single-plane (flat) And ambiguous / multifaceted (round). Unambiguous characters can include both clearly positive (Grinev, Harry Potter) and clearly negative (Shvabrin, Draco Malfoy). Examples of controversial characters are Pugachev, Pechorin, Scarlett O'Hara.
Characters are also highlighted unchanged / static: Sherlock Holmes, Oblomov, Pechorin, Woland - and characters in development (dynamic): Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Julien Sorel, Harry Potter.
There are two ways to characterize characters: direct characterization and indirect characterization. The first implies that the author speaks directly about the character's character traits and feelings. This method is never the main one in a work.
Indirect characterization provides the reader with the opportunity to draw conclusions based on on appearance(in this case, the author’s assessment can be traced only in the selection of vocabulary, cf.: “Into the room a tall, slender young man entered" and "To the room a skinny, lanky young man stumbled in"). The character is also characterized by speech, and both content and form are important (the way phrases are constructed, vocabulary, word usage indicate the character’s type of thinking, his education, emotional state, etc.). No less informative and relationships specific character with others actors(evaluation of one character by others). Of course, taken into account actions character, his thoughts and feelings, which the author can report directly or give the reader the opportunity to guess for himself based on their external manifestations). Possible option self-characteristics character. In addition, methods of indirect characterization include interior(eg character's home) and scenery, details (costume, behavior).
Preview:
Literary ideas about the character system
This work is devoted to the analysis of the character system in literature lessons in high school. We will understand the term “analysis” in a broad sense - as “a study that includes both the mental decomposition of a work and the combination of selected aspects of elements into a whole.” The organization of characters in a literary work appears as a system. The description of its specific aspects is a task of paramount importance for this work, the starting point for the analysis of the work. Our task is to identify these aspects and understand by what principle the characters are organized into a system. To begin with, we will try to decompose the work into its component elements, highlight important aspects, and then combine them into a whole according to common features.
Turning to the consideration of the work, we proceed from the ideas reflected in the work of V.G. Zinchenko "Methods of studying literature". According to these ideas, we are dealing with meaningful form and artistic content. According to the same source, the concept of “meaningful form” consists of several components that can become the subject of independent consideration or the starting point for analyzing a work, for example: plot or composition. One of the levels of the meaningful form of a work should be considered a system of characters. The importance of the system of characters in a literary work is evidenced, for example, by the following statement by V.G. Belinsky: “ Artistic creation must be completely ready in the artist’s soul before he takes up the pen... He must firstto see before you the faces from whose mutual relationships his drama or story is formed...". Thus, already V.G. Belinsky noted that there is a certain connection between the heroes of the work, without which the implementation of the plan is impossible.
What is the system in a broad sense? The term "system" comes from the Greek word "systema", meaning a whole made up of parts. The definition of a system is present in various branches of science in a narrow and broad sense - both as a naturally organized collection of homogeneous elements, and as a collection of systems and subsystems. According to the opinion of V.G. Zinchenko« A system is understood as a certain integrity formed by a set of elements that are in connections and relationships with each other. In addition to the property of connectivity, hierarchy is also usually mentioned as the most important feature of the system.” The system of characters in a work, just like any other system, represents integrity. In the case of a character system, its elements will be the characters themselves, that is, the heroes acting in the work. Subsystems can be considered their groups, connections formed by several characters, which are united according to their main characteristics. Let's not forget about the hierarchy, which is somehow present in any work with a sufficient number of characters.
What is a character as an element of a system? The terminological designation of the image of a person in a literary work is one of important issues modern literary criticism. In accordance with the task of this work, we will consider that a character is a character in a plot-driven work of art, most often embodying characteristic features image of a person. The main characters of the work have a character expressed in complex system artistic means. Thus, a specific analysis of the system of characters in a literary work will simultaneously identify the characters and the artistic means of their embodiment.
There are quite a lot of references to the concept of “character system” today. In literary criticism, the term “character system” appeared only in the 80s of the 20th century.
The concept of a character system is still used by many researchers without a special definition, although it should be noted that we're talking about mainly about the system of images, where “by image we mean the image of a person in a work of art.”
Without using the term “character system”, Yu.V. Mann writes about various kinds of connections between characters. Drawing attention to the importance of the “motive of abandonment, departure” for the entire artistic fabric of the novel by I.S. Turgenev’s “Smoke”, the researcher states “a special kind of character connections” that arise as a result of the development of this motive: “Meanwhile, since the motive of leaving realizes not only a moment of ideological confrontation, but a subtle play of sympathies or antipathies, intimacy or alienation - in a word, everything the diversity of human relationships, then it, this motive, becomes the unifying beginning of the novel’s action.” In the work of Yu.V. Mann, it is important for us, firstly, to highlight the various connections between the characters, and secondly, to establish a connection between the “ideological confrontation” and a wide range of relationships that form the event-psychological basis of the character system.
The article by V.A. is also important for us. Grekhneva from the book “Verbal image and literary work”: “In large genre forms(primarily in a novel) the composition can be organized around one or several broadly outlined characters.” Thus, the author of the article strives to designate the system of characters in the work. But we think it would not be entirely correct to assume that this phenomenon is characteristic only of large genre forms.
A.G. also dwells on some features of the character system. Tseitlin in the book “The Work of a Writer”. Firstly, “the characters in a work of fiction act in some way, i.e. perform actions and are therefore in certain relationships.” It is further noted: “The writer strives... to ensure that the hero’s state of mind becomes clear from his actions.” The character system is “continuously changing”, while a certain “hierarchy of characters” is maintained. In addition, a grouping occurs, which “within the system of characters each time corresponds to the correlation of certain social forces.” The literary critic pays attention to both the external properties of the character system (its variability, hierarchy), and its internal features based on the interaction and opposition of characters - the embodiment of “ state of mind heroes”, a reflection of the struggle of social forces, i.e. ultimately - ideological content works.
N.D. Tamarchenko in the book “ Literary terms” gives the following definition of the concept that interests us: “The system of characters is an artistically purposeful correlation of all the “leading” characters and all the so-called “minor” characters in a literary work. Through the system of characters, a single author’s idea of a person is expressed in his relationship with nature, society and history, as well as about the types of people...” IN this definition the idea is clearly expressed that the character system serves, first of all, as a means of expression author's attitude to the environment and understanding of life as such.
Speaking about the role of the author in the character system, researcher V.E. Khalizev notes that the author invariably expresses (of course, in the language of artistic images, and not by direct conclusions) his attitude towards the position, attitudes, and value orientation of his character. At the same time, the image of the character, according to V.E. Khalizeva (like all other links in the verbal and artistic form), “appears as the embodiment of a writer’s concept, idea, i.e. as something whole within the framework of another, broader, artistic integrity (the work as such). It depends on this integrity; one might say, it serves it at the will of the author.” With any serious mastery of the character sphere of the work, the reader inevitably penetrates into spiritual world author: in the images of heroes he sees (primarily by direct feeling) the creative will of the writer.
Expressed by V.E. Khalizev’s idea that the author’s attitude towards the hero can be predominantly either alienated or related, but not neutral, allows us to understand that each character, regardless of his position in the system, has a certain author’s assessment, which, perhaps, in turn, determines his place in this system of characters. Equally interesting is the thought of V.E. Khalizeva about the importance of group, collective characters that can act in a work. In addition, characters are often the stimulus for the development of events that make up the plot, which is important when characters appear in the plot and thus their functions in the system.
Turning to the concept of character as an element of the system of the work of L.V. Chernets notes that the concept of character (hero, character) is the most important in the analysis of epic and dramatic works, where it is the characters that form a certain system and the plot (system of events) that form the basis of the objective world.
We know that most often a literary character is a person. The degree of concreteness of its presentation, according to L.V. Chernets, 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 depiction, 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 in a biographical one, more can be communicated socially than about the protagonist of a modernist novel. Thus, we cannot judge a character’s place in the system only by the amount of text that the author allocated to this particular hero. It is important to determine the author’s intention and clearly understand which of the heroes serves to implement this idea.
The character sphere of literature consists not only of isolated individuals, but also of collective heroes. L.V. Chernets notes in this regard: “Interest in the problems of nationality and social psychology was stimulated in the literature of the 19th-20th centuries. 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.)".
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, according to L.V. Chernets, the act of interpretation, analysis. The author further notes that the number of characters in a work (as in a writer’s work as a whole) usually does not coincide: there are much more characters. There are persons who do not have a character, fulfilling only a plot role (for example, in “Poor Liza” by N.M. Karamzin, the heroine’s friend who informed her mother about the death of her daughter). There are doubles, variants of the same type (the six Tugoukhovsky princesses in “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboedov, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky in “The Government Inspector” by N.V. Gogol, Berkutov and Glafira, forming a contrasting pair in relation to Kupavina and Lynyaev, in comedy “Wolves and Sheep” by A.N. Ostrovsky). Usually you have to figure out whether heroes of this type are so important in the system, and for what purpose they are present in a particular work.
Researchers also emphasize that the character system is directly related to the plot of the work. L.V. Chernets believes that the basis of the objective world of epic and dramatic works is usually a system of characters and plot. "Even in works main topic which is a person alone with wild, virgin nature (“Robinson Crusoe” by D. Defoe, “Walden, or Life in the Woods” by G. Thoreau, “Mowgli” by R. Kipling), the character sphere, as a rule, is not limited to one hero.”
It is important to remember, according to L.V. Chernets: like any system, the character sphere of a work is characterized through its constituent elements (characters) and structure - “a relatively stable way (law) of connecting elements.” This or that image receives the status of a character precisely as an element of the system, a part of the whole, which is especially clearly visible when comparing images of animals, plants, things, etc. various works them with a person.
The main characters are grouped around the secondary ones, participating in the struggle on one side or the other ( most important property structures - hierarchy). At the same time, the diversity of specific characters in archaic plot genres can be classified.
Plot connections as a system-forming principle can be very complex, branched and cover a huge number of characters. As an example, L.V. Chernets cites “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, where there are about six hundred characters, and O. Balzac’s “Human Comedy” - about two thousand. The appearance of these individuals is in most cases motivated by the plot.
However, the researcher further notes, plot connection is not the only type of connection between characters. “A character system is a certain ratio of characters. Most often, the plot roles of the heroes more or less correspond to their importance as characters.”
Among the main provisions addressed to the character system, L.V. Chernets highlights a kind of peculiarity that lies in the fact that fantastic creatures can also be characters along with people. Collective heroes also make up the character sphere. In addition, there are characters who have no character, fulfilling only a plot role. Appearance minor characters in most cases it is motivated by the plot. Here the author introduces us to the concept of extra characters. As for the author of the work, his creative position is important here, since the principle of depicting characters is determined by the writer’s creative method.
In the book “Introduction to Literary Studies,” edited by G.N. Pospelov also emphasized the importance of the character system: “Characters, in their totality making up the system, are, apparently, the side of a literary work that is most closely connected with the content. And when understanding the idea of an epic or dramatic work, it is important to understand, first of all, the function of the character system - its meaning and meaning. It is with this that it is natural to begin considering a short story or a novel, a comedy or a tragedy.”
A.B. Esin notes that when analyzing epic and dramatic works, certain attention should be paid to the composition of the character system, that is, the characters in the work (we emphasize that it is not the analysis of the characters themselves, but their mutual connections and relationships, that is, composition). For the convenience of approaching this analysis, notes A.B. Esin, it is customary to distinguish between main characters (who are at the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work), secondary characters (who are also quite actively involved in the plot, who have their own character, but who receive less authorial attention; in some cases, their function - help reveal the images of the main characters) and episodic (appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often without their own character and standing on the periphery of the author’s attention; their main function is to give impetus to the plot action at the right moment or to highlight certain features of the main characters and secondary ones). This is the most common classification, but not the only one. It would seem a very simple and convenient division, and yet, notes A.B. Yesin, in practice it often causes bewilderment and some confusion. The fact is that the category of a character (main, secondary or episodic) can be determined according to two different parameters. The first is the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the amount of text that this character is given. The second is the degree of importance of a given character for revealing aspects of artistic content. But it often happens that the character’s parameters do not coincide with each other; most often in the case where a minor or episodic person from the point of view of the plot carries a large content load.
But it should be noted that this gradation is not always important, in some artistic systems we encounter such an organization of the system of characters that the question of dividing them into main, secondary and episodic ones loses all meaningful meaning. Although in some cases there are differences between individual characters in terms of plot and volume of text. And A.B. himself Esin notes that Gogol wrote about his comedy “The Inspector General”: “every hero is here; the flow and progress of the play produces a shock to the whole machine: not a single wheel should remain rusty and not included in the work.”
The same principle, according to the literary critic, in the composition of the character system is maintained by Gogol in the poem “ Dead Souls" In the orbit of our attention, first of all, Chichikov is the “main” character (the word “main” inevitably has to be put in quotation marks, because, as it gradually turns out, he is not more important than all the others). Further, landowners, sometimes officials and, if time permits, one or two images from among Plyushkin’s “souls” come into our field of vision. And this is unusually small compared to the crowd of people who inhabit the space of Gogol’s poem. The number of people in the poem is simply amazing, they are at every step, and before we get to know Chichikov, we have already seen “two Russian men”, without a name or external signs, who do not play any role in the plot, do not characterize Chichikov in any way and in general seem to be of no use. And we will later meet a great many such figures... List them all, or at least a significant part, according to A.B. Yesina, there is no way. And the most interesting thing in Gogol’s system of “episodic” characters, he notes, is that each of them is unforgettably individual, and yet none of them performs any functions usual for this type of character; they do not provide impetus to the plot action and do not help characterize the main characters. In addition, Esin also draws attention to the detail in the depiction of these characters, which is clearly excessive for a “passing”, peripheral hero; the nameless owner of a roadside tavern turns out to be no less interesting for the author than Chichikov or Plyushkin. And this already creates a special setting, a special meaningful meaning of the composition: we are no longer looking at images individuals, but something broader and more significant - the image of the population, people, nation; peace at last.
Almost the same composition of the character system, notes A.B. Yesin, observed in Chekhov's plays, and here the matter becomes even more complicated: the main and minor characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. And here, close, but somewhat different from Gogol’s, the following composition carries a meaningful meaning: Chekhov needs to show a certain set ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, extraordinary heroes, on whose images one can build a play, but for the most part they are, nevertheless, interesting and significant. To do this, it is necessary to show a multitude of equal characters, without singling out the main and minor ones; This is the only way that something common is revealed in them, namely the drama inherent in everyday consciousness failed life, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure.
Thus, although A.B. Esin suggests dividing characters into main, secondary and episodic, but in some artistic systems this division loses all meaning, so you need to understand whether it is possible to classify the characters of the work being studied in this way. It is assumed that two parameters should be taken into account to determine the category of characters. This is the degree of participation of a particular character in the plot (the amount of text that is allocated to him) and the degree of importance of this character for revealing aspects of the artistic content. Episodic characters may differ from the main ones only quantitatively (in terms of image volume), and not qualitatively (in terms of the degree of author’s interest in them). This creates a special meaningful meaning - the image of a people, a nation, a population. Sometimes the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished either by the degree of participation in the plot or by the volume of the image. Many equal characters help to reveal something common. Characters can also be grouped according to the themes they embody.
So, having an idea of what a character system is, it becomes absolutely necessary to understand the function of a character system, its meaning, its significance. It is with the analysis of the character system, as suggested by the above-mentioned researchers, that it is important to begin the analysis of the work. Even the smallest details related to the presence of a character in the system must be taken into account. Dividing characters into main, secondary and episodic, as noted, is not always possible. Can the characters who appear during the course of the work and are in one way or another included in the system of characters and form part of it be called episodic, that is, appearing only in some episodes? Is the name suitable for the main characters who are the center of the author’s attention? Can the characters who form the basis of the plot action be considered minor?
In order for students to understand the role of characters in a literary work and their role in the text, and to be able to correctly construct a retelling, it is necessary to try to correctly answer these questions in the first literature lessons in high school.
List of used literature
- Andreev A.N. Literary theory: personality, work, artistic creativity. Mn.: BSU, 2004. 187 p.
- Belinsky V.G. Complete collection essays. In 5 volumes. M.: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954. T.5 414 p.
- Introduction to literary criticism / Rep. ed. G.N. Pospelov. M.: Higher. school, 1976. 283 p.
- Grekhnev V.A. Verbal image and literary work. Book for teachers. M.: Education, 1992. 212 p.
- Esin A.B. Principles and techniques of analyzing a literary work: Tutorial. M.: Flinta, Nauka, 2000. 248 p.
- Zinchenko V.G. and others. Methods of studying literature. Systematic approach (textbook)/ Zinchenko V.G., Zusman V.G., Kirnoze Z.I. M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2002. 200 p.
- Literary encyclopedic dictionary/ Rep. ed. V.M. Kozhevnikova, M.: Sov. encyclopedia, 1987. 432 p.
- Mann Yu.V. Dialectics artistic image. M.: Sov. writer, 1987. 137 p.
- Tamarchenko N.D. Literary terms. Materials for the dictionary. Kolomna, 1999. 282 p.
- Khabibulina, G.N. Introduction to Literary Studies and Literary Theory ( methodological manual) M: graduate School: Academy, 2008. 68 p.
- Khalizev V. E. Theory of Literature. M.: Higher School, 2002. 437 p.
- Chernets L.V., Khalizev V.E., Broitman S.N. Introduction to literary criticism. Literary work: Basic concepts and terms: Textbook. M.: Higher school: Publishing house. Center Academy, 1999. 556 p.
- Tseitlin A.G. The work of a writer. M.: Sov. writer, 1962. 412s.
When discussing books, the words “image”, “character”, “hero” flash everywhere, but few people know how they differ from each other. It seems that the hero and the character are all one. Is it one? And what are the differences? And what role do they all play in the story?
Let's figure it out.
Images in the book
An image is a sketch that has several key, iconic features that the author focuses on. The image is the “skeleton” of the future hero, the starting point when creating both his character and his role in the plot.
The concept of image is applicable not only to a person, but also to a city, and to the whole world, and to the author-storyteller.
Character is the second stage of the image
A character is an image, complemented by details and details. In other words, the protagonist of the work. Depending on the role that the characters play in the story, they can be divided into:
- episodic,
- secondary
- and the main ones.
All of them can be either active or passive.
Episodic characters, as a rule, are necessary for the surroundings and do not play a big role in the story, appearing briefly and quickly disappearing from view. So, the episodic characters will be goblins, ready to worship the stranger.
Minor characters, unlike episodic ones, appear more often and not only for the surroundings. Often the secondary characters are the protagonist’s relatives or his long-time friends, who appear on the horizon every now and then with news and greetings.
In our example minor character may become one of the magicians who recognizes the messiah in the victim and from time to time appears nearby to save him or teach him life.
Main characters- these are the images on which the whole story is tied, these are the main characters on whose actions the works are based. This is, in fact, our brave fellow. 🙂 Only he is also a hero. But more on that a little later.
Literary course "Creating a hero"
Suitable for those who are starting to write a book, and for those who want to finalize and “revive” a ready-made hero.
In 14 days you will receive all the necessary theory and step-by-step practical tasks. At the end of the course you will have in your hands full story hero. You will learn his motives and come up with bright plot twists that will show the development of the hero's character in the best possible way.
Passive characters- these are images that have no role in the story and do not in any way affect the main character. They quietly exist on their own and do not interfere with main events. In gaming parlance, these are bots. Passive characters are often created for the setting or atmosphere of the world.
For example, there is a certain girl next to the man who gets caught. She is, firstly, a representative of an unfamiliar world, and therefore a bearer of foreign morals and traditions; secondly, it simply decorates the work, because it is good and sharp-tongued; and thirdly, it does not allow the reader to get bored, pestering the stranger with stupid questions about his former world and hinting at love. If he does not react to love, then she is a passive character. If her actions change the vector of development of the plot and/or the main character, then the girl becomes an active character.
Active, accordingly, participate in history with all their might. Thanks to their actions, the plot changes, intrigue appears and develops. Active characters are action and actions, surprises, changes, surprises for the reader.
Moreover, the active character does not have to be the main one. It can also be episodic. However, when he appears - even if he appears in history three or four times - events will change dramatically.
An active episodic character in our “exemplary” story will be a certain magician who every week provides the visitor with new tasks to save the world. And if in the end this magician also turns out to be the main villain, because of whom the world’s problems began, then you definitely cannot refuse him activity. Even if all the episodes with his participation fit on three pages.
Focal character - who is he and why?
Focal characters are most often spoken of only in relation to an episode, scene or chapter. What kind of “beast” is this?
It's very simple: focal character is a character through whose eyes the reader observes events. In other words, someone who is important to the reader’s experience—whose thoughts, guesses, and feelings we enjoy following.
There can be one focal character - the main one for the entire story. Most often in such cases, the story is completely shown through the eyes of the main character. Or maybe - several focal characters for the story - new in every scene, in every chapter. As you might guess, in this case the focal character is not always the main one. But through his eyes the reader always looks at the piece big picture, important for the development of the entire plot.
The hero is the head of everything
The hero is the main, main character, the main character, whose role is the most noticeable and significant, whose actions are the most important. It is on the hero, as a rule, that both the intrigue and the idea of the work are tied; it is around the hero that the plot of the story is built.
How to identify a hero? The main burden falls on his shoulders. And, as a rule, he is given the most time, compared to the main characters, both for action and for self-realization. But its most important feature is . If there is no development, if the main character of the story remains the same both at the beginning of the book and at the end, then, alas, it does not reach the level of a hero. Remains an ordinary character, only the main one.
If by the end of the story the person who gets in from a brave, fearless and ironic warrior evolves into an equally brave general who has learned to think and sympathize, then he will be a real full-fledged protagonist.
If he remains the same, not in terms of environment and status, but in character, he will be the main character.
Images, characters and heroes are one of the key elements of storytelling. And working on the characters largely determines how imaginative, colorful and interesting your story will be.
Of course, images, heroes, and characters are usually everywhere - even in a fairy tale about hares, even in your thoughts about the meaning of life. And to fully work with them, it is very important to understand what role they play, what semantic load they carry, what do you want to tell with their help?
The meaningful role of heroes and characters, their accentuated participation will give your story clarity, clarity and consistency.
If you want to fully understand how to work correctly with images, characters and heroes, watch the VIDEO LECTURE from the School of Inspiration. In it we examine in detail the following questions:
- where to start creating a book hero;
- how to give it individuality;
- how to make a hero so that the reader falls in love with him.
The full lecture program can be viewed at the link above.
Well-thought-out characters make the story truly believable.
