Fiction:charactersandpointofview

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

Performer- Culture&Literature

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.

Fiction: characters and point of view

3. Round characters
An example of round character is Elizabeth Bennet,
in Jane Austens 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 narrators

to the characters, or from
one characters to
anothers

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 Pauls

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 narrators point of

view = narrative voice and
point of view coincide

Performer- Culture&Literature

The husbands 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