Characterization

//__Characterization __//


 * Definition:: **The method used by writers to develop the personality character. Can be done through revealing a characters thoughts, appearance, actions, speech, and through characters reactions.


 * Origin:: **Medieval Latin


 * See also:: ** Depiction

Definition taken from (dictionary.com)


 * Examples ** from text:

1) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde This story touches on the Victorian fascination with man and science. The dual natures of man play out in this story as a London lawyer investigates the strange occurrences between Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, which essentially are two personalities of one man. Characterization is used in the opening paragraph by describing Mr. Utterson's personality. His habits, likes, dislikes, and physical appearance are all depicted to give us a sense of who the character is.

" Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove."