The way an author presents a character is a phrase that appears in quizzes, worksheets and exam questions from Grade 6 to GCSE, IB and AP Literature, and the one-word answer is characterization. The one-word answer gets one mark. This page is for the rest of the marks: what characterization is made of, the difference between direct and indirect, the STEAL method for finding evidence in any text, the six character types the questions use, worked examples from the texts most classes study, and the paragraph structure that turns a quotation into analysis.
The definition
Characterization is the process by which a writer creates a character and reveals their personality to the reader. It is done in two ways:
- Direct characterization: the narrator (or another character) states what the character is like. "Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" (Dickens, A Christmas Carol). The reader is told.
- Indirect characterization: the writer shows the character through speech, thoughts, actions, appearance and the reactions of others, and the reader infers the trait. "Bah! Humbug!" tells us Scrooge is contemptuous of Christmas without the narrator saying so.
Most literary texts use both; most exam questions reward the second, because it requires inference (working something out from evidence) and a quotation to support it.
The STEAL method: five places to find indirect characterization
| Letter | Look at | Question to ask | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speech | What the character says and how | What does the wording, tone and register reveal? | Lennie's repeated "I didn't mean no harm, George" shows dependence and childlike innocence (Of Mice and Men). |
| Thoughts | What the character thinks (where the narration gives access) | What do they want, fear, hide? | Macbeth's "If it were done when 'tis done" soliloquy shows a man arguing with his own conscience. |
| Effect on others | How other characters react to them | Are they feared, loved, ignored, obeyed? | "Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say... My dear Scrooge, how are you?" The avoidance defines him. |
| Actions | What the character does | What do the choices show? | Atticus shooting the rabid dog shows quiet competence he never boasts about (To Kill a Mockingbird). |
| Looks | Appearance, clothing, physical description | What has the writer chosen to show, and why? | Curley's Wife's "red mules" and "red fingernails" mark her as out of place on the ranch, and as a danger signal. |
Go through the five letters for any character and you have five kinds of evidence. For a six-mark answer, two of them with a quotation each is enough; for a full essay, all five with a line of development on each.
The six character types the questions use
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Round | Complex, with several (sometimes conflicting) traits; feels like a real person | Macbeth: brave, ambitious, guilt-ridden, loving to his wife, a murderer |
| Flat | One or two traits, no depth; often there to serve the plot | Mr Fezziwig: generous and jolly, and nothing else is needed |
| Dynamic | Changes in a significant way during the story | Scrooge: from miser to benefactor |
| Static | Stays the same from beginning to end | Bob Cratchit: patient and kind throughout |
| Protagonist / antagonist | The main character / the character or force that opposes them | Macbeth / Macduff; Pip / his own snobbery (the antagonist can be internal) |
| Foil | A character whose traits contrast with another's, to make those traits stand out | Banquo to Macbeth; Fred to Scrooge; George to Lennie |
Round and flat describe depth; dynamic and static describe change. A character can be round and static (Atticus) or flat and dynamic (rare, but a minor character who has a change of heart). Getting the two pairs confused is the most common lost mark on this topic.
Worked example: how Dickens presents Scrooge at the start of A Christmas Carol
Question: How does Dickens present Scrooge in the opening of the novella?
- Direct: the narrator's list of adjectives, "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous", each a verb of taking, piled up so the reader feels the greed as excess.
- Looks: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek." The weather imagery makes his coldness physical, and the verbs (froze, nipped, shrivelled) are all verbs of damage.
- Effect on others: "even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him" and pull their owners away. Dickens uses the dogs because their avoidance cannot be prejudice; it is instinct.
- Speech: "Bah! Humbug!" Two words, an exclamation, no argument: contempt that does not need to explain itself.
- Action: he keeps the coal-box in his own room so Cratchit cannot use it. The meanness is in what he does with the smallest things.
Five methods, five quotations, and a line on each about the writer's choice. That is the shape of a top-band answer.
Writing the paragraph: PEE, and what the third E is for
- Point: a trait, in one sentence, using the word presents. Dickens presents Scrooge as a man whose coldness is a choice, not a nature.
- Evidence: a short quotation, embedded. The narrator says the cold "within him" froze his features.
- Explanation: what the choice of words does to the reader, and, for the higher marks, why the writer might have made it. "Within" places the cold inside Scrooge rather than in the weather, so the reader holds him responsible for it, which is exactly the judgment Dickens needs us to hold if the later change is to feel earned.
The mark scheme's word for the third step is analysis; the way to reach it is to name the writer (Dickens, Steinbeck, Shakespeare), name the technique (adjective list, weather imagery, repetition, dramatic irony) and say what it does, not what it is.
Five quiz questions on this topic, with the answers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| The way an author presents a character is called ___. | Characterization |
| When the narrator states directly that a character is brave, this is ___ characterization. | Direct |
| When the reader infers a trait from what a character does, this is ___ characterization. | Indirect |
| A character who changes significantly by the end is ___. | Dynamic |
| A character whose traits contrast with the protagonist's to highlight them is a ___. | Foil |
How we teach English literature
A 1-on-1 online class on the set text, one tutor, one student, where every lesson ends with one paragraph written under the tutor's eye and marked against the board's scheme (AQA, Edexcel, Cambridge IGCSE, IB, CBSE). Characterization is the first skill because every other question (theme, setting, relationships) is answered through it. The first 30-minute class is free: send the topic and the last test on WhatsApp or the contact page. The subject page, with boards and set texts, is online English literature tutoring.
Questions parents ask
1What is the way an author presents a character called?
2What is the difference between direct and indirect characterization?
3What is the STEAL method?
4What is a foil character?
See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →
Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.