Exploring Literary Devices • http://literarydevices.net/irony/
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Character Types Types of Characters in Fiction "What does characterization do for a story? In a nutshell, it allows us to empathize with the protagonist and secondary characters, and thus feel that what is happening to these people in the story is vicariously happening to us; and it also gives us a sense of verisimilitude, or the semblance of living reality. An important part of characterization is dialogue, for it is both spoken and inward dialogue that afford us the opportunity to see into the characters' hearts and examine their motivations. In the best of stories, it is actually characterization that moves the story along, because a compelling character in a difficult situation creates his or her own plot." 2
Different Types of Characters
In fictional literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell their stories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles in the narrative process, and with a little bit of analysis, you can usually detect some or all of the types below. • Major or central characters are vital to the development and resolution of the conflict. In other words, the plot and resolution of conflict revolves around these characters. • Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and help move the plot events forward. 3
• Dynamic - A dynamic character is a person who changes over time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic characters tend to be central rather than peripheral characters, because resolving the conflict is the major role of central characters. • Static - A static character is someone who does not change over time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve. • Round - A rounded character is anyone who has a complex personality; he or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person. • Flat - A flat character is the opposite of a round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of personality trait or characteristic. 4
• Stock - Stock characters are those types of characters who have become conventional or stereotypical through repeated use in particular types of stories. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to readers or audience members (e.g. the femme fatale, the cynical but moral private eye, the mad scientist, the geeky boy with glasses, and the faithful sidekick). Stock characters are normally onedimensional flat characters, but sometimes stock personalities are deeply conflicted, rounded characters (e.g. the "Hamlet" type).
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• Protagonist - The protagonist is the central person in a story, and is often referred to as the story's main character. He or she (or they) is faced with a conflict that must be resolved. The protagonist may not always be admirable (e.g. an anti-hero); nevertheless s/he must command involvement on the part of the reader, or better yet, empathy. • Antagonist - The antagonist is the character(s) (or situation) that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, the antagonist is an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome.
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• Anti-Hero - A major character, usually the protagonist, who lacks conventional nobility of mind, and who struggles for values not deemed universally admirable. Duddy, in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a classic anti-hero. He's vulgar, manipulative and selfcentered. Nevertheless, Duddy is the center of the story, and we are drawn to the challenges he must overcome and the goals he seeks to achieve. • Foil - A foil is any character (usually the antagonist or an important supporting character) whose personal qualities contrast with another character (usually the protagonist). By providing this contrast, we get to know more about the other character. • Symbolic - A symbolic character is any major or minor character whose very existence represents some major idea or aspect of society. For example, in Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a symbol of both the rationality and physical weakness of modern civilization; Jack, on the other hand, symbolizes the violent tendencies (the Id) that William Golding believes is within human nature. 7
Characterization •
Direct presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the speaker or narrator directly says or thinks about a character. In other words, in a direct characterization, the reader is told what the character is like. When Dickens describes Scrooge like this: "I present him to you: Ebenezer Scrooge....the most tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" - this is very direct characterization! • Indirect presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the character says or does. The reader then infers what the character is all about. This mimics how we understand people in the real world, since we can't "get inside their heads". In other words, in an indirect characterization, it's the reader who is obliged to figure out what the character is like. And sometimes the reader will get it wrong. 8
Ten (Direct or Indirect) Ways in which a Character Can Be Revealed a. By psychological description. b. By physical description. c. By probing what s/he thinks. d. By what s/he says. e. By how s/he says it. f. By what s/he does. g. By what others say about him or her. h. By his or her environment. i. By her reaction to others. j. By his reaction to himself.
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Remember • Things to Remember: • Literary characters may embody more than one of these character types at the same time. A dynamic character may also be the antagonist, and a protagonist can also be, say, a flat and stock character (i.e. the one-dimensional hero). • Here's a very common mistake: while characters are often round and dynamic, that does not mean these two terms mean the same thing. The former refers to a character's complexity, while the latter refers to a character's development over time. Students also make this mistake with flat and static characters 10
Archetypes • In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. • An archetype, also known as universal symbol, may be a character, a theme, a symbol or even a setting. Many literary critics are of the opinion that archetypes, which have a common and recurring representation in a particular human culture or entire human race, shape the structure and function of a literary work.
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Archetype Examples in Literature
Below is the analysis of common archetypes that exist in literature. Archetypes in Characters Example #1 • The Hero: He or she is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness and struggles against evil in order to restore harmony and justice to society e.g. Beowulf, Hercules, D’artagnan from “The Three Musketeers” etc. 12
Example #2 The Mother Figure: Such a character may be represented as Fairy Mother who guides and directs a child, Mother Earth who contacts people and offers spiritual and emotional nourishment, and Stepmother who treats their stepchildren roughly. • Some examples are: • In Literature: Lucy and Madame Defarge from Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, Disely from Faulkner’s “The sound and The Fury”, Gladriel from “Lord of the Rings”, Glinda from the “Wizard of Oz” etc. • In Fairy Tales: Characters such as the stepmother in “Cinderella”, fairy godmothers, Mother Goose, Little Red Riding Hood etc. • In Mythology: The mythological figures of Persephone, Demeter, Hecate, Gorgon, Medusa 13
Example #3 • The Innocent Youth: He or she is inexperienced with many weaknesses and seeks safety with others but others like him/her because of the trust he or she shows in other people. Usually, the experience of coming of age comes in the later parts of the narratives such as Pip in Dickens’ “Great Expectation”,Nicholas in Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickelby”, Joseph from Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews” etc. Example #4 • The Mentor: His or her task is to protect the main character. It is through the wise advice and training of a mentor that the main character achieves success in the world e.g. Gandalf in “The Lords of Rings”,Parson Adams in Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews”, and Senex in L’Engle’s “A Wind in the Door” etc.
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Example #5 • Doppelganger: It is a duplicate or shadow of a character that represents the evil side of his personality. Examples are in popular literary works such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Poe’s William Wilson, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde etc. Example #6 • The Scapegoat: A character that takes the blame for everything bad that happens e.g. Snowball in Orwell’s “Animal Farm” etc. • Example #7 • The Villain: A character whose main function is to go to any extent to oppose the hero or whom the hero must annihilate in order to bring justice e.g. Shere Khan from Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” stories, Long John Silver from Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”” etc 15
Archetypes in Situations Example #8 • The Journey: The main character takes a journey that may be physical or emotional to understand his or her personality and the nature of the world. For example, Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”, Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews”, Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travel” etc. Example #9 • The Initiation: The main character undergoes experiences that lead him towards maturity. We find such archetypes in novels like Fielding‘s “History of Tom Jones, a Foundling”, Sterne‘s “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman”, Voltaire’s “Candide” etc.
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Example #10 • Good Versus Evil: It represents the clash of forces that represent goodness with those that represent evil. Examples of this archetype are in famous literary works like Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” etc. Example #11 • The Fall: The main character falls from grace in consequence of his or her own action e.g. Oedipus from Sophocles “Oedipus Rex”, Lear from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” etc.
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Purpose of Archetypes Function of Archetype • The use of archetypical characters and situations gives a literary work a universal acceptance, as readers identify the characters and situations in their social and cultural context. By using common archetype, the writers attempt to impart realism to their works, as the situations and characters are drawn from the experiences of the world.
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Common Archetypes Circle Chart
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Symbolism • Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. • Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you. • Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain”, for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. It also depends on who reads them. 23
Common Examples of Symbolism in Everyday Life • In our daily life, we can easily identify objects, which can be taken as examples of symbol such as the following: • The dove is a symbol of peace. • A red rose or red color stands for love or romance. • Black is a symbol that represents evil or death. • A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection between the heaven and the earth. • A broken mirror may symbolize separation
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Symbolism Examples in Literature • To develop symbolism in his work, a writer utilizes other figures of speech, like metaphors, similes, allegory, as tools. Some symbolism examples in literature are listed below with brief analysis: Example #1 • We find symbolic value in Shakespeare’s famous monologue in his play As you Like It: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts,” The above lines are symbolic of the fact that men and women, in course of their life perform different roles. “A stage” here symbolizes the world and “players” is a symbol for human beings. 25
Example #2 • William Blake goes symbolic in his poem Ah Sunflower. He says: “Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler’s journey is done;” Blake uses a sunflower as a symbol for human beings and “the sun” symbolizes life. Therefore, these lines symbolically refer to their life cycle and their yearning for a never-ending life.
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Example #3 • Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights presents almost every character, house, surroundings and events in a symbolic perspective. The word “Wuthering”, which means stormy, represents the wild nature of its inhabitants. The following lines allow us to look into the symbolic nature of two characters: “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it; I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but necessary.” The phrase “foliage of leaves” for Linton is a symbol for his fertile and civilized nature. On the contrary, Heathcliff is likened to an “eternal rock” which symbolizes his crude and unbendable nature.
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Example #4 • Sara Teasdale in her poem Wild Asters develops a number of striking symbols: “In the spring, I asked the daisies If his words were true , And the clever, clear- eyed daisies Always knew. Now the fields are brown and barren, Bitter autumn blows, And of all the stupid asters Not one knows.”
• In the above lines, “spring” and “daisies” are symbols of youth. “Brown and barren” are symbols of transition from youth to old age. Moreover, “Bitter autumn” symbolizes death. 28
Function of Symbolism • Symbolism gives a writer freedom to add double levels of meanings to his work: a literal one that is self-evident and the symbolic one whose meaning is far more profound than the literal one. The symbolism, therefore, gives universality to the characters and the themes of a piece of literature. Symbolism in literature evokes interest in readers as they find an opportunity to get an insight of the writer’s mind on how he views the world and how he thinks of common objects and actions, having broader implications.
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Great Example of Symbolism
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Dreams • Are dreams a form of symbolism? What are your thoughts?
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Allegory Definition • Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events. It can be employed in prose and poetry to tell a story with a purpose of teaching an idea and a principle or explaining an idea or a principle. The objective of its use is to preach some kind of a moral lesson.
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Difference between Allegory and Symbolism Although an allegory uses symbols, it is different from symbolism. An allegory is a complete narrative which involves characters, and events that stand for an abstract idea or an event. A symbol, on the other hand, is an object that stands for another object giving it a particular meaning. Unlike allegory, symbolism does not tell a story. For example, Plato in his “Allegory of Cave” tells a story of how some people are ignorant and at the same time, some people “see the light” – stands for an idea and does not tell a story.
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Examples of Allegory in Everyday Life • Allegory is an archaic term and used specifically in literary works. It is difficult to spot its occurrence in everyday life, although recently, we do find example of allegory in political debates. The declaration of an ex-US president G.W Bush was allegorical when he used the term “Axis of Evil” for three countries and later the term “allies” for those countries that would wage war against the “Axis”.
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Allegory Examples in Literature Below are some famous examples of Allegory in Literature: • 1. “Animal Farm”, written by George Orwell, is an allegory that uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW II. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society. One of the cardinal rules on the farm for the animals is: “All animals are equal but a few are more equal than others.” The animals on the farm represent different sections of Russian society after the revolution. For instance, the pigs represent those who came to power following the revolution; “Mr. Jones” the owner of the farm represents the overthrown Tsar Nicholas II; while “Boxer” the horse, represents the laborer class etc. The use of allegory in the novel allows Orwell to make his position clear about the Russian Revolution and expose its evils.
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2. “Faerie Queen”, a masterpiece of Edmund Spenser, is a moral and religious allegory. • The good characters of book stand for the various virtues, while the bad characters represent vices. “The Red-Cross Knight” represents holiness while “Lady Una” represents truth, wisdom and goodness. Her parents symbolize the human race. The “Dragon” which has imprisoned them stands for evil. The mission of holiness is to help the truth, fight evil, and thus regain its rightful place in the hearts of human beings. “The Red-Cross Knight” in this poem also represents the reformed church of England fighting against the “Dragon” which stands for the Papacy or the Catholic Church.
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3. John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” is an example of spiritual allegory. The ordinary sinner “Christian” leaves the City of Destruction and travels towards Celestial City, where God resides, for salvation. He finds “Faithful”, a companion who helps him on his way to the City. On many instances, many characters “Hypocrisy”, “Apollyon”, “Mr. Worldy Wiseman” and “Obstinate and Pliable” try to discourage or stop him from achieving his aim. Finally, he reaches the Celestial City carried by Hopeful’s faith. • The moral learnt through this allegory is that the road to Heaven is not easy and it is full of obstacles. A Christian has to be willing to pay any price to achieve salvation. A man is full of sins, but this does not stop him from achieving glory.
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Function of Allegory
• Writers use allegory to add different layers of meanings to their works. Allegory makes their stories and characters multidimensional, so that they stand for something larger in meaning than what they literally stand for. Allegory allows writers to put forward their moral and political point of views. A careful study of an allegorical piece of writing can give us an insight into its writer’s mind as how he views the world and how he wishes the world to be.
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Tone Definition • Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. • Every written piece comprises a central theme or subject matter. The manner in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes. Consider the following examples of tone:
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• “I want to ask the authorities what is the big deal? Why do not they control the epidemic? It is eating up lives like a monster.” • “I want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities toward damage caused by an epidemic. If steps were not taken to curb it, it will further injure our community” • The theme of both tone examples is the same. The only way we can differentiate between them is their separate tone. The tone in the first example is casual or informal while, it is more formal in the second.
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Tone Examples in Everyday Speech • We adopt variety of tones in our day-to-day speech. This intonation of our speech determines what message we desire to convey. Read a few examples below: Father: “We are going on a vacation.” Son: “That’s great!!!” – The son’s tone is sarcastic in the given response.
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Example #3 “You will get good grades like in the previous exams” – The tone is pessimistic in this example.
Example #4 “Someone tell me what is going on here right now!” –This has an aggressive tone.
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Examples of Tone in Literature • Tone has a significant place in literature as it manifests writers’ attitude toward different subjects. • Example #1 • Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger’s “Catching the Rye” unfolds his personality through the tone he adopts throughout the novel. Let us have a look at some of his remarks: • “All morons hate it when you call them a moron.” • “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a care if she’s late? Nobody.” • “Stupid money. It always ends up making you blue.” • “Catholics are always trying to find out if you’re Catholic.” • Holden’s tone is bitterly sarcastic as he criticizes the nature of things in real life. His character may reveal the attitude of the writer towards life as it is common for writers to use their characters as their mouthpieces. 44
Example #2 • Observe the tone of a short story “The School” by Donald Barthelme: “And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All of these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.” The use of adjectives “dead” and “depressing” sets a gloomy tone in the passage. As trees signify life here, their unexpected “death” from an unknown cause gives the above passage an unhappy and pessimistic tone.
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Example #3 • Robert Frost in the last stanza of his poem The Roads Not taken gives us an insight into the effect of tone: “I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Frost tells us about his past with a “sigh”, this gives the above lines an unhappy tone. This tone leads us into thinking that the speaker in the poem had to make a difficult choice. 46
Function of Tone • Tone, in a piece of literature, decides how they readers read a literary piece and how they should feel while they are reading it. It stimulates the readers to read a piece of literature as a serious, comical, spectacular or distressing. In addition, tone lends shape and life to a piece of literature because it creates a mood.
• Moreover, tone bestows voice to characters and it throws light on the personalities and dispositions of characters that readers understand better. 47
Irony • Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that may end up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference between the appearance and the reality. • Types of Irony • On the grounds of the above definition, we distinguish two basic kinds of irony i.e. verbal irony andsituational irony. A verbal irony involves what one does not mean. When in response to a foolish idea, we say, “what a great idea!” it is a verbal irony. A situational irony occurs when, for instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of the other even when the same misfortune, in complete unawareness, is befalling him. 48
Difference between Dramatic Irony and Situational Irony • Dramatic irony is a kind of irony in a situation, which the writers frequently employ in their works. In situational irony, both the characters and the audience are fully unaware of the implications of the real situation. In dramatic irony, the characters are oblivious of the situation but the audience is not. For example, in “Romeo and Juliet”, we know much before the characters that they are going to die. In real life circumstances, irony may be comical, bitter or sometimes unbearably offensive.
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Common Examples of Irony • Let us analyze some interesting examples of irony from our daily life: • I posted a video on YouTube about how boring and useless YouTube is. • The name of Britain’s biggest dog was “Tiny”. • You laugh at a person who slipped stepping on a banana peel and the next thing you know, you slipped too. • The butter is as soft as a marble piece. • “Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera.”
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Irony Examples from Literature • Example #1 • We come across the following lines in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Act I, Scene V. “Go ask his name: if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was and says if he were married, then her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony because the audience knows that she is going to die on her wedding bed.
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Example #2 • Shakespeare employs this verbal irony in “Julius Caesar” Act I, Scene II, Cassius: “Tis true this god did shake” Cassius, despite knowing the mortal flaws of Caesar, calls him “this god”.
Example #3 • In the Greek drama “Oedipus Rex” written by “Sophocles”, “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse-whether he is one man and all unknown, Or one of many- may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!” The above lines are an illustration of verbal and dramatic irony. It was predicted that a man guilty of killing his father and marrying his own mother has brought curse on the city and its people. In the above-mentioned lines, Oedipus curses the man who is the cause of curse on his city. He is ignorant of the fact that he himself is that man and he is cursing himself. The audience, on the other hand, knows the situation. 52
Example #4 • Irony examples are not only found in stage plays but in poems too. In his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, Coleridge wrote: “Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” In the above stated lines, the ship, blown by the south wind, is stranded in the uncharted sea. Ironically, there is water everywhere but they do not have a single drop of water to drink. 53
Function of Irony
• Like all other figures of speech, Irony brings about some added meanings to a situation. Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers’ interest. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations. Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature closer to the life.
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• Assignment for you to work on during the presentation: Define the following character types on the left column briefly according to the slides. #1-12 definitions are based on slides 2-6. You can use any method of note taking you wish. Ex: Sentences, bullet points, etc. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Major or central Minor characters Dynamic Static Round Flat Stock Protagonist Antagonist Anti- Hero Foil Symbolic
For the archetype slides you should: Write 2 examples of Archetypes in characters and describe them according to the slides. Based on slides 11-14 -Add 3 characters to the hero, sidekick, and Villain categories based on movies you have seen or books you have read before. This is based on slide 21
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• Assignment for you to work on during the presentation: Define the following element types on the left column briefly according to the slides. #1-7 definitions are based on slides 23-49. You can use any method of note taking you wish. Ex: Sentences, bullet points, etc. Provide 1 example of each element for all 7 definitions: 1. Symbolism Add 3 characters to the 2. Allegory hero category, 3 to the 3. Tone sidekick category, and 4. Irony 3 to the villain category. 5. Verbal Irony You should have 9 total. 6. Situational Irony 7. Dramatic Irony 56