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Character

Characters feel real when writers show, not tell. Spot traits through speech, actions, and effects on others, then use evidence to justify your ideas.

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Fascinating Fact:

Writers reveal character through actions, a person who returns a lost £10 note shows honesty without saying the word.

In GCSE English, you analyse how authors build character using dialogue, action, description, and others’ reactions. You will select quotations, infer traits, and explain how language choices shape a reader’s view.

Key Terms

Characterisation: The methods a writer uses to show what a character is like.
Protagonist: The main character who drives the story’s action.
Motivation: The reasons behind a character’s choices and behaviour.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is characterisation in GCSE English?

Characterisation is how a writer presents a character through speech, actions, description, and others’ reactions. You use evidence from the text to infer traits and intentions.

How do I analyse a character quickly in an extract?

Underline key words in the character’s speech and actions, note how other characters respond, pick one telling quotation, and explain what it suggests about attitude or motive.

What is the difference between direct and indirect characterisation?

Direct characterisation tells you a trait explicitly. Indirect characterisation lets you infer traits from what the character says, does, looks like, and how others react.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

The creation of a fictional character is called...

personification

autobiography

narrative

characterisation

The portrayal of historical figures in historical fiction and biography is also characterisation. Good characterisation adds depth to a character and is what makes any particular character memorable

2 .

Characterisation can be accomplished through...

dialogue

description of the character

telling the reader how other characters judge or respond to the character

All of the above

The character's thoughts (if known) and actions will also be important

3 .

'She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous.' - What do these lines from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tell the reader about Mrs. Bennet?

Mrs. Bennet has a nervous condition, but is patient

Mrs. Bennet is egotistical and clever

Mrs. Bennet is not terribly bright and also lacks self-awareness

Mrs. Bennet is cruel and moody

At the end of the first chapter, Austen tells her reader what Mrs. Bennet is like, but this follows two pages of dialogue from which the reader has already begun to build a mental image of Mrs. Bennet's character. Her lack of self-awareness and low intelligence is a catalyst for much of the action in the novel

4 .

'This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.' - In this passage from Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays Slim as wise. Which words convey this impression?

This was Slim, the jerkline skinner

His hatchet face was ageless

He might have been thirty-five or fifty

His ear heard more than was said to him, his speech had overtones of [...] understanding beyond thought

5 .

'I learned early on that if you tell people what you see at low tide they'll think you're exaggerating or lying when you're actually just explaining strange and wonderful things as clearly as you can.' - This is the first sentence from Jim Lynch's book, The Highest Tide. Which of the following is true?

The book has a first-person narrator

The book has a second-person narrator

The book has a third-person, limited narrator

The book has an omniscient narrator

The narrator is the protagonist (main character) of this story, which means it will be told from a limited point of view. Using a first-person narrator allows the author to share the protagonist's thoughts and motivations with the reader, while limiting the reader to viewing all other characters through the protagonist's eyes

6 .

Reread the sentence in question five. What does it tell us about the protagonist?

The protagonist is very clever, but people often think she is lying about the things she has seen

The protagonist is most likely a fisherman

The protagonist is knowledgeable about the seashore, but is not always trusted by others

The protagonist is easily-angered

We don't yet know if the protagonist is male or female, which makes the first answer wrong

7 .

After hearing her former acquaintance, Benedick, declare that he loves no one, Beatrice replies: 'A dear happiness to women: they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God, and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.' - Which of the following is NOT true of this character from William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing?

Beatrice appears to dislike Benedick

Beatrice is most likely to spend her time wishing for a husband

Beatrice has no plans to fall in love with anyone

Beatrice is not afraid to express strong opinions

One of the key points to remember about characters is that they often change before the end of a story - Beatrice remains clever, argumentative, and quick with a cutting remark, but decides before the end of the play that she does love Benedick after all

8 .

'BIRLING: Yes, my dear, I know - I'm talking too much. But you youngsters just remember what I said. We can't let these Bernard Shaws and H.G. Wellses do all the talking. We hardheaded practical business men must say something sometime. And we don't guess - we've had experience - and we know.' - Which of the following is true of this character from J.B. Priestley's play, An Inspector Calls?

Mr. Birling defers in his opinion to respectable men such as H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw

Mr. Birling doesn't care about the younger generation

Mr. Birling sees himself as a man of the world, whose knowledge comes from experience

Mr. Birling respects thinkers and theorists

9 .

'BIRLING: And look at the way the auto-mobile's making headway - bigger and faster all the time. And then ships. Why, a friend of mine went over this new liner last week - the Titanic - she sails next week - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - New York in five days - and every luxury - and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable. That's what you've go to keep your eye on, facts like that, progress like that - and not a few German officers talking nonsense and a few scaremongers here making a fuss about nothing.' - Considering your knowledge of Mr. Birling from the quotation in question eight, what does this speech tell us about his character?

Mr. Birling is involved in ship-building

Mr. Birling has a ticket for the Titanic's maiden voyage

Mr. Birling is anti-progress

Mr. Birling is not remotely as practical and knowledgeable as he likes to think

Mr. Birling is self-satisfied, but is blind to modern reality. His predictions about the likelihood of the coming war (WWI) are as mistaken as his trust in the Titanic

10 .

'Coleridge received the Person from Porlock / And ever after called him a curse, / They why did he hurry to let him in? / He could have hid in the house. / It was not right of Coleridge in fact it was wrong / (But often we all do wrong) / As the truth of it is I think he was already stuck / With Kubla Khan. / He was weeping and wailing: I am finished, finished, / I shall never write another word of it, / When along comes the Person from Porlock / And takes the blame for it.' - How does Stevie Smith characterise Coleridge in these lines from her poem, 'Thoughts about the Person from Porlock'?

As someone who always hid away from visitors

As someone who prefers to lay the blame for his own failings on others

As someone who didn't mind being interrupted

All of the above

Smith is writing about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who blamed the unfinished nature of his poem, 'Kubla Khan', on a visitor, the 'Person from Porlock'

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Characterisation and narrative voice

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)