Recap
In a novel or play a character is built over many scenes. Early description sets expectations; whether the character meets or breaks them shapes interpretation. A reader’s view often depends on the perspective of the narrator or other characters. A comparison reveals the speaker’s perspective and may reveal something about the character compared. Motives are inferred from actions and inactions.
Key relationships
| Idea | What it means | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Expectation | What the description leads the reader to predict | Is it later met or broken? |
| Source of description | Narrator, community, another character or the character | Whose perspective is it? |
| Comparison | A character likened to something or someone | What does the standard say about the speaker? |
| Soliloquy | A character thinking aloud on stage | What does the self-analysis admit or hide? |
| Motive | The reason for an action | What does the action gain or protect? |
| Inaction | What a character fails to do or say | What does the silence protect? |
What you may assume
- A character’s perspective may shift as a work proceeds.
- A narrator may report a community’s opinion without sharing it.
- In a play, stage directions and what others say are part of the evidence.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating a community’s verdict as the narrator’s.
- Treating a first impression as the whole truth.
- Writing a trait word with no evidence.
- Ignoring inaction and silence.
- Saying “the author thinks” instead of “the narrator suggests” or “the character believes”.
Key terms
- Expectation: what a character’s description leads the reader to predict about behaviour.
- Soliloquy: a speech in which a character thinks aloud, usually alone on stage.
- Comparison: a character likened to something or someone; it reveals the speaker’s perspective.
- Inaction: what a character fails to do or say, which can reveal motive.
Sentence frames
- “The description of … as … creates an expectation that …, which [the action] meets / breaks.”
- “By comparing … to …, [speaker] reveals a perspective in which ….”
- “Because [character] does not …, we infer a motive of ….”
Mini-example
Description: a lady of “excellent character”, rumoured to keep a notebook of failings. Action: she gathers the broken china into her apron. Result: the expectation of reproof is broken.
How questions ask about this
- “The description of … creates an expectation that …”: state the expectation, then check whether the action meets it.
- “The comparison made by … most directly reveals …”: it reveals the speaker’s perspective as well as the compared character.
- “The character’s action most plausibly suggests that …”: choose the motive the details support.
- Constructed response: use description, speech and action together to make a claim about perspective or motive.
Quick self-check
- Why does it matter that Darcy’s description is given in terms of what the room “pronounced” and “declared”?
- What does Macbeth’s soliloquy reveal about his motive?
- Why is a comparison made by Lady Macbeth evidence about her as well as about him?
Answers.
- It shows that the judgement belongs to the room, so the description reveals the community’s values as well as Darcy.
- He admits that only “vaulting ambition” drives him and that duty weighs against the deed.
- She treats courage as consistency between desire and act, which shows how she judges people.
Full explanations are in the study guide. Try the practice questions next.