What Is a Character Analysis Essay and How to Write It?

Different literary courses often require writing critical and analytical types of essays. One of such essays is a character analysis essay that a student has to perform on the chosen book character (in other cases, on the movie character). If you need to complete such an assignment, then our tips on this type of essay writing will definitely come in handy. Keep reading to know more about how to write such essays.

Preparing for Your Essay and Picking the Character

Every essay starts with a topic. In the case of a character analysis essay, you need to choose the character that you are going to describe and analyze. If the character is not specified and you need to make a choice, consider the following points:

• You might choose a major character or a secondary one
• Make sure to identify the relationship of your character with the others, his or her role in the story, the development through the plot and symbolism involved
• Find the quotes and description of the character in the text – details of the appearance, mentality, features, etc. Choose the character whom you can find enough information about in the source.

Consider the type of a character

Before making your choice of a character or multiple characters to analyze, pay attention to the type of the character:

• Protagonist — a positive character.
• Antagonist — a negative one.
• Foil — contrasts the major character.
• Major — leading characters who dominate in the story, the center of the plot.
• Minor — characters who appear in lesser episodes.
• Dynamic — the one who constantly changes.
• Static — the one who remains the same.

The type defines the place of the character in the story and should be mentioned in your essay as well as the significant meaning or the symbolism of the character.

Take your notes

Once you have decided on what specific character you are going to examine in your analysis essay, you can start gathering all the information that you can find. Look through the original source and write down:

• All of the scenes that your character appears in
• All of the characters he or she interacts with
• Description of the character that the author provides
• Scenes with the character

After you have all of your notes ready, you can start working on your essay.

Writing an Outline

Start your essay with creating a character analysis essay outline. Consider that character analysis essay has the structure that is pretty similar to any other type of academic writing that you usually perform.

1. Introduction. Make sure to start your essay with a catchy sentence. Quotes, intriguing questions or interesting facts make a great hook for character analysis essay. Also make sure to include your thesis statement that will represent your opinion, thoughts and the main idea of your essay. You can take your inspiration for your hook sentence from our article.
2. Body paragraphs. These paragraphs should contain the main information about the character, the description, facts, etc. Don’t forget to support your claims with the evidence – the quotes from the original source.
3. Conclusion. The summary of your text that restates your thesis statement and concludes the ideas in your essay.

If you would like to improve your writing skills, make sure to check some useful tips.

Writing an Introduction

An introduction is the main part of your essay as it sets the tone for the whole paper and catches the reader’s attention. If your introduction is good enough, it is a reason for a reader to continue reading further.

Make sure to make your character analysis essay introduction clear. Mention the main idea of your paper, which character you have chosen and why, what makes this character significant or what distinguishes him or her from the rest of the characters.

Also, phrase and write down your thesis statement. Sometimes your thesis statement might be unclear until you finish the body of your essay. So, if you are not sure about it, set it aside and write your body paragraphs.

Sample character analysis thesis statement

“In his novel ‘Lord of the Rings,’ J. R. R. Tolkien makes Sam devoted, faithful, optimistic and to some extent naive to contrast and emphasize the loneliness and the vulnerability of Frodo caused by the ring.”

If you want to find some other character analysis thesis examples, make sure to take a look at the samples works performed by our writing team. Or, you might also be interested in writing methods that famous writers used in their work which you can use too.

Writing the Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs of your essay are the main representation of the information that you have found in the original source. They must include the quotes that will support your claims and provide a description of the character from the author’s perspective. You can also write a character analysis of multiple characters and their relationships.

Find the quotes that will provide a detailed description not only of the appearance of the character but also their relationships and the place of the character in the story. Make sure to provide your opinion and evolve your thesis statement idea, referring to the particular parts of the original source.

Writing a Conclusion

The analysis essay conclusion should be a summary of your work. Make sure to repeat your thesis statement in other words and add a brief explanation of your findings. You might also mention the correlation between the experience of the character in the story and the experience that we might get in real life, you might make a conclusion about the mistakes that the character has made.

Finishing

Proofread and edit your essay. Make sure to check if your essay follows the guidelines of your teacher or professor. If you are still confused about the process of writing this kind of essay or face difficulties with particular essay topics, you can always turn to a professional writing team and ask for help. You can order your essay or ask for editing service here.