Recap
- A character is complex when the text shows a tension inside them: they say one thing and do another, hold two values that cannot both be satisfied, or act against what they claim to believe.
- Three channels of evidence: speech, action, private thought (narrated, soliloquy, or inferred from details and stage directions).
- Inconsistencies between private thoughts and behaviour reveal tensions between private and professed values.
- Competing, conflicting or inconsistent choices add complexity to the whole text: they create suspense, irony or sympathy and invite interpretation.
The six-step method
| Step | Ask | Write down |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Professed | What does the character say they value? | A quoted phrase |
| 2. Actual | What do they do? | The action or the avoided action |
| 3. Private | What do narration or small details suggest? | A detail or gesture |
| 4. Gap | Where do these differ? | The tension in one phrase |
| 5. Meaning | What does this say about values or fears? | A claim about the character |
| 6. Function | What does the tension do in the work? | Effect: suspense, irony, sympathy, plot turn |
Key terms and examples
| Term | Meaning | Example (public domain) |
|---|---|---|
| Professed value | What a character claims to believe | Lady Macbeth’s advice to appear an “innocent flower” |
| Private thought | What a character hides or feels privately | Macbeth’s reasoning before the murder: “If it were done when ’tis done” |
| Competing choice | Two goals or values in conflict | Hamlet at prayer: “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying” |
| Cost | What a choice sacrifices; a sign of real conflict | Jane Eyre’s declaration of freedom set beside a hard departure |
Assumptions
- You are reading patterns across a work, not a single moment. Check whether the tension recurs.
- The writer has chosen each detail. Treat apparent inconsistency as a question to answer before treating it as an error.
- A gap between words and actions is not automatically hypocrisy. It can show fear, love, duty or self-deception.
Mistakes to avoid
- Stopping at a label such as “hypocrite” or “conflicted”.
- Describing both sides of the tension without saying what the tension suggests.
- Ignoring stage directions or small gestures that undercut a speech.
- Treating one dramatic act as the whole of a character.
- Missing function: say what the complexity does for the work.
Quick self-check
1. A character announces that she does not care for gossip and then asks the maid three times who called while she was out. Name the tension.
2. In a play, a stage direction reads: He says “I forgive you” and does not look up from the floor. What does the direction add?
3. True or false: if a character acts differently in Chapter 2 and Chapter 20, the writer has made a mistake.
4. Which is better, “She is a hypocrite” or “Her professed indifference is undercut by her repeated questions, which suggests that she is more anxious about her reputation than she admits”? Why?
Answers.
- Professed indifference against persistent curiosity: private concern shows through behaviour.
- It undercuts the words. The forgiveness may be sincere but costly, or reluctant; the action invites the audience to doubt the speech.
- False. It may be a change over time (Topic 7.1), a deliberate tension or a sign of an unreliable account. Investigate before concluding.
- The second. It names the gap, explains what it suggests about the character’s values and fears, and is based on evidence.
Return to the Topic 6.2 study guide for the worked examples, then try the practice questions.