1. Characterization and Character Types
Literary Elements
Characterization and Character Types

2. The way writers create characters in a story.
Characterization
The way writers create characters in a story.
Direct Characterization
Indirect Characterization

3. Direct Characterization
Presented directly to our sight and hearing as a reader
Appearance
Highly developed means of perception
Speech/Dialogue
Action
Capable of causing action and being changed by it
Thought

4. Indirect Characterization
Character is described in summarized, abstract, or judgmental terms
Authorial Interpretation
Narrator “tells” us the character’s background, motivations, values, virtues, and the like.
Advantages: Conveys a great deal of information in a short time.
Disadvantages: Distances the reader
Presentation by another character
Descriptions and how other people respond to the character through speech, action, and thought

5. Character Types Protagonist Antagonist Subordinate Flat Round Dynamic
Static

6. The main character(s) in a story
Protagonist
The main character(s) in a story
Westley
Buttercup

7. Antagonist
The character that the main character(s) (protagonist) struggles against.
Prince Humperdinck

8. Minor (supporting) characters in the story
Subordinate
Minor (supporting) characters in the story
Vizzini
Inigo
Fezzik
Count Rugen

9. The Impressive Clergyman
Flat
A character who is not fully developed in the story. A flat character is almost never the main character.
Albino
The Impressive Clergyman
Miracle Max & Valerie

10. Round
A character who is fully developed, just as a person in actual life is.
Westley & Buttercup

11. Dynamic
A character who changes during the story. The change might involve recognition of some truth about life.
Inigo
Westley

12. A character who does not change during the story.
Static
A character who does not change during the story.
Vizzini
Prince Humperdinck

13. Irony
Literary Elements

14. Irony
The difference between what we expect or what seems suitable and what actually happens: a surprise ending.
Three main types
Verbal
Situational
Dramatic

15. Verbal Irony
Occurs when someone says something but means the opposite.
Example: “Nice day,” you say as you slog through flood water up to your waist.

16. Situational Irony
Refers to an event that is contrary to, or the opposite of, what we expected.
Examples:
The firehouse burns.
The winner of the wrestling match is the weakest team member.

17. Dramatic Irony
Takes place when we know what is going to happen to a character but the character doesn’t know.
Examples:
Margo opens the door of a garage we know is filled with snakes.
We know, but the robbers don’t know, that the hotel they plan to rob is host to a police convention.

18. Another type of irony is…
Ambiguity - A quality that allows something to be interpreted in several different or conflicting ways.
Often found in poetry.
There is no single way to interpret an ambiguous story or poem.
Example:
If you and a friend have completely different ideas about an ambiguous character or the ambiguous ending of a story, you both might be “right.”

19. Subtlety A fine difference between two things.
Contradictions occur when two statements or situations have opposite meanings.

20. Can you identify these types of irony?