Literary character, hero. Images and characters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Who is a literary character? We devote our article to this issue. In it, we will tell you where this name came from, what literary characters and images are, and how to describe them in literature lessons at your own request or at the request of the teacher.

Also, from our article you will learn what an "eternal" image is and what images are called eternal.

Literary hero or character. Who is this?

Often we hear the concept of "literary character". But what it is about, few can explain. And even schoolchildren who have recently returned from a literature lesson often find it difficult to answer a question. What is this mysterious word "character"?

This concept came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). Meaning - "personality", "person", "person".

So, a literary character is the protagonist of a literary work. We are talking mainly about prose genres, since images in poetry are usually called "lyrical hero".

Without characters, write a story or a poem, a novel orstory is impossible. Otherwise, it will be a meaningless set, if not of words, then perhaps of events. The heroes of literary genres are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, Andersen's tenacious tin soldier, historical figures and even entire nations.

Classification of literary characters

Literary heroes can confuse any connoisseur of literature with their number. It's especially hard for middle school students. And especially those who prefer to play their favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify heroes if the teacher or, even worse, the examiner demands it?

The most win-win option: classify the characters according to their importance in the work. On this basis, literary heroes are divided into main and secondary. Without the protagonist, the work and its plot will be a collection of words. But with the loss of secondary characters, we will lose a certain branch of the storyline or the expressiveness of events. But in general, the work will not suffer.

The second version of the classification is more limited and will not suit all works, but fairy tales and fantasy genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, poor Cinderella herself is a positive hero, she evokes pleasant emotions, you sympathize with her. But the sisters and the evil stepmother are obviously heroes of a completely different warehouse.

Characteristics of the character. How to write?

Heroes of literary works sometimes (especially in the lessonliterature at school) need a detailed description. But how to write it? The option "there once was such a hero. He is from a fairy tale about this and that" is clearly not suitable if the assessment is important. We will share with you a win-win option for writing the characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.

• Intro. Name the work and the character you will be talking about. You can also add here why you want to describe it.
• The place of the hero in the story (novel, story, etc.). Here you can write whether it is main or secondary, positive or negative, human or mythical character, fictional or historical figure.
• Appearance. It will not be superfluous to describe your appearance, it is possible with quotes, which will show you as an attentive reader, and even add volume to your characterization.
• Character. Everything is clear here.
• Acts and their characteristics in your opinion.
• Conclusions.

That's it. Keep this plan for yourself, and you will need it more than once.

Famous literary characters

Although the very concept of a literary hero may seem completely unfamiliar to you, but if you tell you the name of the hero, you will most likely remember a lot. This is especially true of famous characters in literature, such as Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, Assol or Cinderella, Alice or Pippi Longstocking.

Such heroes are called famous literary characters. These names are familiarchildren and adults from many countries and even continents. Not knowing them is a sign of narrow-mindedness and lack of education. Therefore, if you have no time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell you about these heroes.

The concept of the image in literature

Along with the character, you can often hear the concept of "image". What's this? The same as the hero, or not? The answer will be both positive and negative, because a literary character may well be a literary image, but the image itself does not have to be a character.

Often we call this or that character an image, but nature can act in the same image in a work. And then the topic of the examination sheet can be "the image of nature in the story …". How to be in that case? The answer is in the question itself: if we are talking about nature, you need to characterize its place in the work. Start with a description, add character elements, such as "the sky was frowning", "the sun was mercilessly hot", "the night was frightening with its darkness", and the characteristic is ready. Well, if you need a characterization of the image of the hero, then how to write it, see the plan and tips above.

What are the images?

Our next question. Here we highlight several classifications. Above we considered one - images of heroes, that is, people / animals / mythical creatures and images of nature, images of peoples and states.

Also images can be so-called "eternal". What is "eternal"image "? This concept names a hero once created by an author or folklore. But he was so "characteristic" and special that years and epochs later other authors write their characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but the essence of this These heroes include the windmill fighter Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan, and many others.

Unfortunately, modern fantasy characters do not become eternal, despite the love of the fans. Why? What's better than this funny Don Quixote of Spider-Man, for example? It is difficult to explain it in two words. Only reading the book will give you the answer.

The concept of "proximity" of the hero, or My favorite character

Sometimes the hero of a work or movie becomes so close and loved that we try to imitate him, to be like him. This happens for a reason, and it is not in vain that the choice falls on this particular character. Often the favorite character becomes an image that already somewhat resembles us. Perhaps the similarity is in character, or experienced by both the hero and you. Or this character is in a situation similar to yours, and you understand and sympathize with him. In any case, it's not bad. The main thing is that you imitate only worthy heroes. And there are plenty of them in the literature. We wish you to meet only good heroes and imitate only the positive traits of their character.