Fiction: characters and point of view
Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2012
Fiction: characters and point of view
1. Flat and round characters
The distinction between flat
characters and round
characters was introduced
by the novelist E. M. Forster
(1879-1970) in his work
Aspects of the Novel (1927).
Edward Morgan Forster
Performer- Culture&Literature
Fiction: characters and point of view
2. Flat characters
•
•
•
•
can also be called ‘types’ or ‘caricatures’;
are built around a single psychological trait or quality;
are easy to recognise;
do not develop throughout the story, even if they
experience different relationships and situations;
• are not always artistically inferior to round characters;
• can be used to create a particular atmosphere inside a
complex narrative frame;
• can be easily presented in a few sentences as in the
case of Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.
Performer- Culture&Literature
Fiction: characters and point of view
2. Flat characters
In Pride and Prejudice
Mrs Bennet is the representation
of the mother who has to marry
five daughters.
She was a woman of mean
understanding, little information,
and uncertain temper.
When she was discontented she
fancied herself nervous. The
business of her life was to get
her daughters married; its solace
was visiting and news.
(J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)
Performer- Culture&Literature
Fiction: characters and point of view
3. Round characters
• are more complex and have more than
one facet;
• pass through the crucial events of the
story;
• are remembered by the reader in
connection with those scenes;
• their personality is modified by
experience;
• are likely to influence the development
of the story;
• are fit to surprise the reader in a
convincing way;
• bring the variety of real life into the
novel.
Performer- Culture&Literature
Fiction: characters and point of view
3. Round characters
An example of round character is Elizabeth Bennet,
in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, when she
realises she has been prejudiced towards Mr Darcy:
I have courted prepossession and
ignorance, and driven reason away,
where either were concerned. Till
this moment, I never knew myself.
(J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)
Performer - Culture & Literature
Fiction: characters and point of view
4. The point of view
The point of view can be
fixed and therefore
restricted
Performer- Culture&Literature
shifting from the narrator’s
to the character’s, or from
one character’s to
another’s
Fiction: characters and point of view
4. The point of view
The wind caught the
houses with full force.
(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)
Paul heard the wind
catching the houses with
full force.
(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)
The point of view
is that of an
external narrator
Performer- Culture&Literature
The narrative
voice is the same
The point of view
is Paul’s
Fiction: characters and point of view
4. The point of view
The point of view does not simply refer to the description
or perception of facts and events, but also to their
interpretation:
Mrs Morel was a puritan.
(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)
Her husband thought
Mrs Morel was a puritan.
(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)
The narrator’s point of
view = narrative voice and
point of view coincide
Performer- Culture&Literature
The husband’s point of
view
Fiction: characters and point of view
4. The point of view
To sum up:
• Narrative voice and point
of view do not always
coincide.
• The narrative voice belongs
to the person who is
speaking, be it an internal
or an external narrator.
• Regards the person who,
inside the story, sees the
facts, thinks and judges.
• May vary more often than
the narrative voice.
Performer- Culture&Literature