Boss
He controls everything, demands obedience and respect. For him, the end justifies the means. An example is Don Corleone from " Godfather» M. Puzo.
Bad guy
Smart and charismatic. An accident happened to him in the past and it seriously affected him. Society accuses Bad Guy of all mortal sins, but he never makes excuses and does not let anyone into his heart. The bad guy becomes a man early, constantly rebels, but his rebellion is a means of self-defense. At heart he is kind and somewhat sentimental. Example: Rhett Butler from " Gone with the wind» M. Mitchell.
Best friend
Stable, peaceful, always ready to help. Often he is torn between duty and your own desires. Example: Christopher Robin in A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh.
Charming
Creative, witty, constantly manipulates people. He can find the key to any heart and knows how to please a crowd. Charming is an actor, he constantly plays in his own theater. Example: Ostap Bender in “12 Chairs” by I. Ilf and E. Petrov.
Lost soul
Lives by past mistakes. Vulnerable, insightful, he sees right through people. He is lonely and unsociable and often does not fit into any society. Example: Eddie from “It’s me, Eddie” by E. Limonov.
Professor
All immersed in work. He is an expert - often with oddities. His credo: logic and knowledge. Example: Sherlock Holmes from the stories of A. Conan Doyle.
Seeker of adventures
Can't sit in one place. He is fearless, resourceful and selfish. His curiosity is insatiable, he hates theory and always wants to get to the bottom of the truth - even if it is fraught with danger. He inspires others and solves problems on his own. Example: James Bond from Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.
Warrior
Noble, principled and stern. He knows no mercy in pursuit of justice. Money and power are of secondary importance to him. He is honest and persistent. Takes revenge on enemies or saves beauties. Example: Edmond Dantes from “The Count of Monte Cristo” by A. Dumas.
Female characters
Boss
Demands attention and respect. She is sharp, adventurous and arrogant. Example: Princess Sophia from “Peter I” by A. Tolstoy.
Temptress
Smart and beautiful, she knows how to attract the attention of men. She is cynical and often manipulates people. Appreciates friends for what they can give her. Uses her attractiveness as a weapon. Always plays a role. Example: Lolita from novel of the same name V. Nabokov.
Brave girl
Solid nature, sincere, kind and friendly. She has a great sense of humor and you can rely on her. At the same time, she is skeptical and does not know how to value herself at all. Everyone loves her. In difficult situations, she will always lend a helping hand. Brave and resilient. Example: Natasha Rostova from “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy.
Crazy
This lady is eccentric, talkative and impulsive. She tends to exaggerate, is easily distracted and believes any lie. There is no discipline. Indifferent to traditions. She wants to try everything herself and often makes decisions based on emotions. Example: Alice from “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll.
White and fluffy
Naive, touching, pure soul. She is easy to convince and easy to offend. She is passive and constantly needs a prince on a white horse. Often falls in love with the wrong person, defends himself only in desperate situations. He understands everyone and accepts everyone. Example: Cinderella from fairy tale of the same name C. Perrault.
Librarian
Clever, bookworm. Persistent, serious, you can rely on her. She is unsociable and tries to hide her feelings from others. Perfectionist. She considers herself ugly and does not even try to seduce anyone. Lives in own world, loves to study. Serious passions often boil in her soul. Example: Miss Marple from Agatha Christie's detective stories.
Crusader
Fights for what is right. Brave, determined, stubborn. He loses his temper quickly. She is carried away by her work and often forgets about her loved ones. She won't go on a date if a protest march is scheduled for the same day. Her goal is always more important than personal experiences. Example: Iskra’s mother from the novel “Tomorrow There Was War” by B. Vasiliev.
Comforter
Can cope with any task. She will console, kiss and give advice. She has nerves of iron, but she cannot stand being alone. She needs to be needed. Feels best in family and among close friends. Easily makes compromises. Often suffers undeservedly. Altruist, idealist and everyday sage. Example: Pelageya Nilovna from the novel “Mother” by M. Gorky.
Pure and mixed archetypes
The archetype can be pure, or it can be mixed, with some kind of dominant. For example, Oksana from N. Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” is a boss and a seductress.
It happens that the hero gradually changes his archetype: Natasha Rostova begins as a brave girl, and ends up in the role of a comforter.
Literature: L.Ya. Ginzburg "About a Literary Hero". M., 1979.
With a literary hero, the writer expresses his understanding of a person, taken from a certain point of view in the interaction of features selected by the writer. In this sense, a literary hero models a person. Like any aesthetic phenomenon, a person depicted in literature is not an abstraction, but a concrete unity. But a unity that is not reducible to a particular, isolated case (as a person may be in a chronicle narrative), a unity that has an expanding, symbolic meaning, and is therefore capable of representing an idea. The writer models a certain complex of ideas about man (ethical-philosophical, social, cultural-historical, biological, psychological, linguistic). Literary tradition, inherited narrative forms and the individual intention of the author build an artistic image of a person from this complex.
As in life, when reading a work of art, we instantly attribute an unfamiliar character to one or another social, psychological, everyday category: this is a condition for a person’s communication with the character. There are physical recognition formulas (red-haired, fat, lanky), social formulas (man, merchant, artisan, nobleman), moral and psychological (good-natured, merry fellow, miser).
A completely literary hero is known retrospectively. But character is not only the result: artistic value arises in the process of reading itself (the acuity of the first reading).
The very first meeting should be marked by recognition, a certain instantly emerging concept (typological and psychological identification of the character). The exhibition presents the initial formula of character, which can either be destroyed or, on the contrary, be developed. The hero of an epic, a chivalric novel, a courtly novel - a hero, a knight, an ideal young nobleman - they all express the norms and ideals of the environment, the Byronic hero destroys them.
The Byronic hero is recognizable from the very first pages (Benjamin Constant "Adolph"). For example, the publisher met a man who was very silent and sad. His first phrase: “It makes no difference to me whether I am here or in another place,” speaks of the romantic character of the hero.
Literary hero as a character
Any hero in a literary work is a character, but not every character is recognized as a hero. The word “hero” usually denotes the main character, “the bearer of the main event” (M. Bakhtin) in a literary work, as well as a point of view on reality, on himself and other characters that is significant for the author-creator. That is, this is the other, whose consciousness and action express for the author the essence of the world he creates. Persons of the second plan are perceived as official, necessary not in themselves, but for illumination and understanding of the “persons of the first plan.” The reader can argue with the characters, since in the process of reading there is a feeling of full rights and special independence of the hero (Tatyana, who unexpectedly got married for the author).
How does a hero differ from other characters?
significance for the development of the plot (without his participation, the main plot events cannot take place);
the hero is the subject of statements that dominate the speech structure of the works.
A literary character is a series of successive appearances of one person within a given text. Throughout one text, a hero can appear in a variety of forms: mention of him in the speeches of others characters, a narration by an author or narrator about events related to a character, a depiction of his thoughts, experiences, speeches, appearance, scenes in which he takes part in words, gestures, actions, etc. That is, there is a mechanism for gradually increasing the image of the hero.
Repeating, more or less stable features form the properties of a character.
Literary heroes are usually fiction author. But some of them still have real prototypes that lived at the time of the author, or known historical figures. We will tell you who these strangers were to a wide circle readers figures.
1. Sherlock Holmes
Even the author himself admitted that Sherlock Holmes has a lot common features with his mentor Joe Bell. On the pages of his autobiography one could read that the writer often recalled his teacher, spoke about his eagle profile, inquisitive mind and amazing intuition. According to him, the doctor could turn any matter into a precise, systematized scientific discipline.
Often Dr. Bell used deductive methods of inquiry. Just by looking at a person he could tell about his habits, his biography, and sometimes even make a diagnosis. After the novel's release Conan Doyle corresponded with the “prototype” of Holmes, and he told him that perhaps this is exactly how his career would have turned out if he had chosen a different path.
2. James Bond
Literary history James Bond began with a series of books that were written by intelligence officer Ian Fleming. The first book in the series, Casino Royale, was published in 1953, a few years after Fleming was assigned to monitor Prince Bernard, who had defected from German service to English intelligence. After much mutual suspicion, the scouts began good friends. Bond took over from Prince Bernard to order a Vodka Martini, adding the legendary “Shaken, not stirred.”
3. Ostap Bender
The man who became the prototype of the great schemer from the “12 chairs” of Ilf and Petrov, at the age of 80, still worked as a conductor on railway on the train from Moscow to Tashkent. Born in Odessa, Ostap Shor was from a young age prone to adventure. He introduced himself either as an artist or as a chess grandmaster, and even acted as a member of one of the anti-Soviet parties.
Only thanks to his remarkable imagination, Ostap Shor managed to return from Moscow to Odessa, where he served in the criminal investigation department and fought against local banditry. This is probably where Ostap Bender’s respectful attitude towards the Criminal Code comes from.
4. Professor Preobrazhensky
Professor Preobrazhensky from the famous Bulgakov novel “ Heart of a Dog"was also real prototype- French surgeon of Russian origin Samuil Abramovich Voronov. This man made a real splash in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century by transplanting monkey glands into humans to rejuvenate the body. The first operations showed a simply amazing effect: elderly patients experienced a resumption of sexual activity, improved memory and vision, ease of movement, and children who were lagging behind in mental development gained mental alertness.
Thousands of people were treated in Voronova, and the doctor himself opened his own monkey nursery on the French Riviera. But very little time passed and the miracle doctor’s patients began to feel worse. Rumors arose that the result of the treatment was just self-hypnosis, and Voronov was called a charlatan.
5. Peter Pan
The boy with the beautiful fairy Tinkerbell was given to the world and to James Barry himself, the author of the written work, by the Davis couple (Arthur and Sylvia). The prototype for Peter Pan was Michael, one of their sons. Fairytale hero received from a real boy not only his age and character, but also nightmares. And the novel itself is a dedication to the author’s brother, David, who died a day before his 14th birthday while ice skating.
6. Dorian Gray
It's a shame, but main character The novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” significantly spoiled the reputation of its real-life original. John Gray, who in his youth was a protégé and close friend of Oscar Wilde, was handsome, rugged, and had the appearance of a 15-year-old boy. But their happy union came to an end when journalists became aware of their relationship. An angry Gray went to court and obtained an apology from the newspaper's editors, but after that his friendship with Wilde ended. Soon John Gray met Andre Raffalovich, a poet and native of Russia. They converted to Catholicism, and after some time Gray became a priest at St. Patrick's Church in Edinburgh.
7. Alice
The story of Alice in Wonderland began on the day Lewis Carroll walked with the daughters of the rector of Oxford University, Henry Lidell, among whom was Alice Lidell. Carroll came up with the story on the fly at the request of the children, but the next time he did not forget about it, he began to compose a sequel. Two years later, the author presented Alice with a manuscript consisting of four chapters, to which was attached a photograph of Alice herself at the age of seven. It was entitled “A Christmas gift to a dear girl in memory of a summer day.”
8. Karabas-Barabas
As you know, Alexey Tolstoy only planned to present Carlo Collodio’s “Pinocchio” in Russian, but it turned out that he wrote independent history, in which analogies are clearly drawn with cultural figures of that time. Since Tolstoy had no weakness for Meyerhold’s theater and its biomechanics, it was the director of this theater who got the role of Karabas-Barabas. You can guess the parody even in the name: Karabas is the Marquis of Karabas from Perrault’s fairy tale, and Barabas is from the Italian word for swindler - baraba. But no less speaking role The leech seller Duremar went to Meyerhold's assistant, who worked under the pseudonym Waldemar Luscinius.
9. Lolita
According to the memoirs of Brian Boyd, a biographer of Vladimir Nabokov, when the writer was working on his scandalous novel Lolita, he regularly looked through newspaper columns that published reports of murder and violence. His attention was drawn to the sensational story of Sally Horner and Frank LaSalle, which occurred in 1948: a middle-aged man kidnapped 12-year-old Sally Horner and kept her with him for almost 2 years until the police found her in a California hotel. Lasalle, like Nabokov’s hero, passed off the girl as his daughter. Nabokov even briefly mentions this incident in the book in the words of Humbert: “Did I do to Dolly the same thing that Frank LaSalle, a 50-year-old mechanic, did to eleven-year-old Sally Horner in ’48?”
10. Carlson
The story of Carlson’s creation is mythologized and incredible. Literary scholars claim that a possible prototype of this funny character became Hermann Goering. And although Astrid Lindgren’s relatives deny this version, such rumors still exist today.
Astrid Lindgren met Goering in the 1920s when he organized air shows in Sweden. At that time, Goering was just “in the prime of his life,” a famous ace pilot, a man with charisma and a wonderful appetite. The motor behind Carlson’s back is an interpretation of Goering’s flying experience.
Supporters of this version note that for some time Astrid Lindgren was an ardent fan of the National Socialist Party of Sweden. The book about Carlson was published in 1955, so there could be no talk of a direct analogy. However, it is possible that the charismatic image of the young Goering influenced the appearance of the charming Carlson.
11. One-Legged John Silver
Robert Louis Stevenson in the novel “Treasure Island” portrayed his friend Williams Hansley not at all as a critic and poet, which he essentially was, but as a real villain. During his childhood, William suffered from tuberculosis and his leg was amputated at the knee. Before the book appeared on store shelves, Stevenson told a friend: “I have to confess to you, Evil on the surface, but kind at heart, John Silver was copied from you. You're not offended, are you?
12. Winnie the Pooh Bear
According to one version, known throughout the world Teddy bear received its name in honor of the favorite toy of the writer Milne's son Christopher Robin. However, like all the other characters in the book. But in fact, this name comes from the nickname Winnipeg - that was the name of the bear who lived in London Zoo from 1915 to 1934. This bear had many child fans, including Christopher Robin.
13. Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise
Despite the fact that the main characters in the book are named Sal and Dean, Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road is purely autobiographical. One can only guess why Kerouac abandoned his name in the very famous book for the beatniks.
14. Daisy Buchanan
In the novel “The Great Gatsby,” its author Francis Scott Fitzgerald deeply and soulfully described Ginevra King, his first love. Their romance lasted from 1915 to 1917. But due to different social statuses they separated, after which Fitzgerald wrote that "poor boys should not even think of marrying rich girls." This phrase was included not only in the book, but also in the film of the same name. Ginevra King became the prototype for Isabel Borge in Beyond Paradise and Judy Jones in Winter Dreams.
Especially for those who like to sit up and read. If you choose these books, you will definitely not be disappointed.
Literature can be called the art of “human studies”: it is created by a person (author) for a person (reader) and tells about a person (literary hero). This means that the individual life path, feelings and aspirations, values and ideals of a person are the measure of everything in any literary work. But readers, of course, are primarily interested in those of them where the image of a person is created, i.e. characters with their own individual characters and destinies act.Character(personage French person, personality) is a character in a work, the same as a literary hero.
When creating images of characters, writers use various techniques And artistic media. First of all, this is a description of the appearance or portrait of the hero, which consists of various descriptive details, i.e. details.
Types of portraits of literary characters(see diagram 2):
Types of portraits of literary characters
Scheme 2
Portrait-description- a detailed listing of all the memorable traits of the hero. In a descriptive portrait, from which it is easy to draw an illustration, the features that give an idea of the character of the hero are especially highlighted. The description is often accompanied by the author's commentary.
This is how I. Turgenev describes Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, one of the heroes of the novel “Fathers and Sons”:
...a man of average height, dressed in a dark English suit, a fashionable low tie and patent leather ankle boots, Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov. He looked about forty-five years old; his short hair White hair they sipped on the dark shine, like new silver; his face, bilious, but without wrinkles, unusually regular and clean, as if drawn by a thin and light chisel, showed traces of remarkable beauty. The whole appearance, graceful and thoroughbred, retained youthful harmony and that desire upward, away from the earth, which for the most part disappears after twenty years. Pavel Petrovich took his trousers out of his pocket beautiful hand with long pink nails, a hand that seemed even more beautiful from the snowy whiteness of the sleeve, fastened with a single large opal.
Portrait comparison more stingy with realistic details, it creates in the reader a certain impression of the hero through comparison with some object or phenomenon. For example, the portrait of Stolz in I. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov”.
He is all made up of bones, muscles and nerves, like a blooded English horse. He is thin; he has almost no cheeks at all, that is, he has bone and muscle, but no sign of fatty roundness; complexion is even, darkish and no blush; The eyes, although a little greenish, are expressive.
Impression portrait includes minimal amount descriptive details, its task is to evoke a certain emotional reaction in the reader, to create a memorable impression of the hero. This is how Manilov’s portrait is drawn from N. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.”
In appearance he was a distinguished man; His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it; in his techniques and turns there was something ingratiating favor and acquaintance. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes.
Description of appearance is only the first step towards getting to know the hero. His character system life values and goals are revealed gradually; To understand them, you need to pay attention to the manner of communication with others, the speech of the hero, his actions. Understand inner world help the hero various shapes psychological analysis: description of dreams, letters, internal monologues etc. The choice of names and surnames of the characters can also say a lot.
Character system
In a work with a developed plot, a system of characters is always presented, among which we distinguish the main, secondary and episodic ones.The main characters are distinguished by their originality and originality, they are far from ideal, they can do bad things, but their personality and worldview are interesting to the author; the main characters, as a rule, embody the most typical, important features of people of a certain cultural and historical era.
Minor characters appear in many scenes and are also involved in the development of the plot. Thanks to them, the character traits of the main characters appear sharper and brighter. Episodic characters necessary to create the background against which events take place, they appear in the text one or more times and do not in any way affect the development of the action, but only complement it.
In dramatic works there are also extra-plot characters: not in any way connected with the development of the action, the so-called “random persons” (Feklusha in “The Thunderstorm” or Epikhodov in “The Cherry Orchard”), and extra-stage characters: not appearing on stage, but mentioned in the speech of the characters (Prince Fyodor, nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya in the comedy “Woe from Wit”).
Antagonists (antagonists Greek: debaters fighting each other) are heroes with different ideological, political and social attitudes, i.e. with a diametrically opposed worldview (although they may have similar traits in their characters). As a rule, such heroes find themselves in the role of ideological opponents and an acute conflict arises between them.
For example, Chatsky and Famusov from A. Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” or Evgeny Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov from I. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”.
Antipodes (antipodes Greek literally located feet to feet) are heroes who are strikingly different in their temperament, character, peculiarities of worldview, moral qualities, which, however, does not interfere with their communication (Katerina and Varvara from “The Thunderstorm”, Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky from “War and Peace”). It happens that such characters do not even know each other (Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Matveevna from the novel “Oblomov”).
“Doubles” are characters who are somewhat similar to the main character, most often close to him in ideological and moral values. Such similarities are not always to the liking of the hero himself: let us remember with what disgust Raskolnikov treated Luzhin, the hero who embodies in a vulgar version the type strong man. Dostoevsky very often turned to the technique of doubleness; it was also used in M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, where many heroes of the “Moscow” plot have doubles from the “Yershalaim” plot (Ivan Bezdomny - Matvey Levi, Berlioz - Kaifa, Aloisy Mogarych - Judas).
Reasoner (raisonneur French reasoning) - in dramatic work a hero who expresses a point of view close to author's position(Kuligin in “The Thunderstorm”).
