Glossary - Character analysis essay

is a task usually assigned to those who study in a Literature class. This particular essay contains a character summary, a description of his appearance, actions, traits, as well as the plot development that includes him.

When you’re given the task to analyze a character in a story, you must look at that story differently. How? This is not your ordinary reading for fun or for review writing purposes. Ergo, you don’t see the story as a whole, but focus on the character synopsis and everything that’s related to the people who take part in the story.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

To write a proper character analysis paper, you will need an outline to organize its parts. As the author of this essay type, you must make sure to involve the following sections:

• Introduction

Every essay starts with an introduction, but depending on the essay type, you need to have a much focused approach toward the beginning of the essay. This will determine the interest of the reader and the flow of the entire essay. In a character analysis essay introduction, you should include a hook that will grab attention. After the hook, you need to present the thesis statement and use it to connect this part to the body paragraphs.

• Body paragraphs

The following sections can range from three paragraphs to five or more paragraphs, depending on your ideas and findings in terms of the character evaluation. If the task is to evaluate a single character, each of the body paragraphs should focus on a characteristic or important action that influenced the story for the character in question.

In this part, you should use evidence to show that you’ve truly explored the character and backed your research with relevant data. In most cases, this essay requires an MLA citation style, which is something to consider while you’re including your citations in the text. If you fail to organize them at this point, you’ll have a lot of troubles with the bibliography section at the end.

• Conclusion

Once again, you need a thesis statement that shares with the readers your main opinions about the character you’ve been evaluating. However, you should not copy the same thesis statement from your introduction or add new information that isn’t present in the body paragraphs.

The conclusion isn’t a repetition or paraphrasing of the remaining of the essay. It’s a summary that shares the most important information and ends with a concluding sentence.

Types of Characters You Can Analyze

An essay can analyze any character included in the story. Here are the different types of characters to choose from:

• Protagonists – the main characters or the people around who the entire story plot evolves.
• Antagonists – a person or people who take a stand or actions against the main characters (villains, set of circumstances, natural powers, etc.)
• Dynamic character – one that changes throughout the story
• Major character – a character that runs the story at some point or another.
• Minor character – most commonly a static character, one that helps the story and the major character by helping them reveal to you their situations, stories, and personalities.
• Static character – a character that does not change throughout the story.
• Foils – people who contrast with the protagonists and major characters.

The Process of Writing a Character Analysis Essay

When given an opportunity to choose a character, it is always wise to first get a sense of all characters included before you make the decision. It’s rather tempting to choose the major characters and the protagonists, but more often than not, the most interesting character analysis essays are focused on the smaller characters and the ones who change throughout the story.

As soon as you choose a character, your task is to focus. To write a good, deep analysis, you have to focus on the setting and other literary parts like the plot and the climax. Since you’ll be evaluating actual characters, you’ll need to put yourself in their position and the position of those who interact or are somehow affected by the actions of your selected character. This will tell you a lot about the character’s behavior, actions, and morals.