A literary character, a hero. Images and characters

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

Also, from our article you will find out what the "eternal" image is and what images are called eternal.

Literary hero or character. Who is it?

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

This concept came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). The meaning is "person", "person", "person".

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

Without actors, you can not write a story or a poem, a novel or a story. Otherwise, it will be an unreasonable set if not words, then, perhaps, events. Heroes of literary genres are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, a staunch tin soldier from Andersen, historical figures and even entire nations.

Classification of literary heroes

Literary characters can be confused by their number of any connoisseur of literature. And the students of secondary schools are especially hard. And especially the fact that they prefer to play your favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify the characters, if the teacher or, worse, the examiner requires it?

The most unbeatable option: to classify the characters according to the degree of 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 set 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 fantastic genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, the poor Cinderella herself is a positive hero, she evokes pleasant emotions, she sympathizes with it. But the sisters and the wicked stepmother are clearly heroes of a completely different kind.

Characteristics of the character. How to write?

Heroes of literary works sometimes (especially in the lesson of literature in school) need a detailed description. And how to write it? The option "lived-was such a hero." He is clearly not suitable for a fairy tale about that and that, if the evaluation is important. We will share with you a win-win variant of writing the characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.

• Introduction. Name the work and the hero, about which you will tell. 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 he is the main or secondary, positive or negative, a person or a mythical character, a fictional or historical person.
• Appearance. Not superfluous will be the description of appearance, it is possible with quotations that will show you as an attentive reader, moreover, will add volume to your characteristic.
• Character. Everything is clear.
• Actions and their characteristics in your opinion.
• Conclusions.

That's all. Keep this plan for yourself and it will come in handy.

Famous literary characters

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

Such heroes are called known literary characters. These names are familiar to children and adults from many countries and even continents. They do not know - a sign of intimacy and ignorance. Therefore, if you do not have time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell about these characters.

The concept of image in the literature

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

We often call this or that hero an image, but in the same way, nature can act in a work. And then the theme of the examination sheet can serve as "the image of nature in the story ...". How to be in this case? The answer is in the question itself: if it's about nature, its place in the work you need to characterize. Start with the description, add elements of character, for example "the sky was frowning", "the sun was unmercifully scorching," "the night scared the darkness", and the characteristic is ready. Well, if you need to characterize 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 distinguish several classifications. Above we considered one - the 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 the "eternal image"? This concept is called a hero, created once by the author or folklore. But he was so "characteristic" and special that after a year and an era other authors write characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but the essence of it is not changing. Such heroes include the wrestler with windmills Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan and many others.

Unfortunately, modern fantastic characters do not become eternal, despite the fans' love. Why? The better this funny Don Quixote Spider-Man, for example? It is difficult to explain this in a nutshell. Only reading the book will give you the answer.

The concept of "proximity" to 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, look like him. This happens for a reason, and it's not for nothing that the choice falls on this character. Often a favorite hero is an image that already reminds us the most. Perhaps the similarity is in the character, or experienced both by the hero and by 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 with good heroes and imitate only the positive traits of their character.