CHARACTER SYSTEM - “the correlation of characters with each other in the composition work of art; the most important aspect of composition. Being a component of the “meaningful form”, C<истема>P<ерсонажей>in literature performs two functions: constructive (forms the structural unity of the work) and meaningful (reveals the logic artistic design, is the conductor of the author’s concept).” A system is a community of elements in which the whole more than the amount parts. An element taken in a system is not equal to itself, taken in isolation or in another system. “Like any system, the character sphere of a work is characterized through its constituent elements (characters) and structure...”. If the Kirsanov family had not been in the novel about Bazarov, it could not have been called “Fathers and Sons,” it would have not only had a different plot, but also different themes and ideas.

In “Crime and Punishment” it was developed a complex system“doubles” of the main character, “light” and “dark”, with their own “ideas”: firstly, one way or another they “step over” universal human norms, Raskolnikov, Sonya and Marmeladov become “outcasts” in his “vile” incarnation; secondly, Raskolnikov, after his crime, finds himself on a par with the hated Luzhin and Svidrigailov; thirdly, Raskolnikov, who knows in advance what he is dooming himself to by realizing his idea, sacrifices himself, which his sister Dunya is also ready for in her own way; The suffering brother and sister are paralleled by the quiet, unrequited Lizaveta, who is somewhat reminiscent of Sonya, the twitched Katerina Ivanovna, and even Marmeladov in his other incarnation, as someone who deliberately condemns himself to suffering (“I drink, because I really want to suffer!”). The simple and kind Razumikhin is needed in the novel as a person who is fundamentally alien to extreme “ideas”; he becomes a worthy couple for Dunechka. He is also needed for the development of the plot; Raskolnikov meets his relative, investigator Porfiry Petrovich, thanks to him. And Svidrigailov, who could not bear his own baseness and spiritual emptiness, nevertheless, before committing suicide, did the kindest deed in the entire novel, arranging for the children of the deceased Katerina Ivanovna and thereby giving Sonya the opportunity to carry out her moral feat - to help Raskolnikov be spiritually reborn in hard labor. In fact, Raskolnikov is saved by Porfiry Petrovich, who exposes him. “Enemies” become saviors. Evil did not become an instrument of good according to Raskolnikov’s theory, but good appeared from the most unexpected sources.

The novel by M.A. is distinguished by its sophisticated system of characters. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”. Many figures are basic storyline correspond to the figures in the Master's novel about Pilate. These are the pairs Master - Yeshua, “disciples” Ivan Bezdomny - Levi Matvey, traitors Aloysius Mogarych (and also Baron Maigel) - Judas of Kiriath, chairman of MASSOLIT Mikhail Berlioz - Jewish high priest Joseph Kaifa, etc.

The word “system” is poorly applicable to works with a chronicle plot. Chichikov’s visit to each of the landowners is in many ways a self-sufficient picture; there could be more such pictures (in the second volume “ Dead souls“Gogol tried to expand his portrait gallery), but, on the other hand, the incompleteness of the “poem”, due to its chronicle nature, did not become too big a drawback. In “A Hero of Our Time,” each of the component parts has its own plot and its own system of characters, but all of them are necessary to reveal the character of Pechorin and the patterns of his fate. In the story by I.A. Bunin's “Sunstroke” has only two main characters: the lieutenant and “she”, and “she” appears as the lieutenant remembers it. Although " sunstroke” struck two, this is a kind of mono-story, in the center of it is one person, whose whole consciousness suddenly turned upside down. There is no need to talk about the character system here.

Literature can be called the art of “human studies”: it is created by a person (author) for a person (reader) and tells about a person (literary hero). This means that the individual life path, feelings and aspirations, values ​​and ideals of a person are the measure of everything in any literary work. But readers, of course, are primarily interested in those of them where the image of a person is created, i.e. characters act with their individual characters and destinies.
Character(personage French person, personality) is a character in a work, the same as literary hero.
Creating images characters, writers use different techniques and artistic media. First of all, this is a description of the appearance or portrait of the hero, which consists of various descriptive details, i.e. details.
Types of portraits of literary characters(see diagram 2):

Types of portraits of literary characters
Scheme 2

Portrait-description- a detailed listing of all the memorable traits of the hero. In a descriptive portrait, from which it is easy to draw an illustration, the features that give an idea of ​​the character of the hero are especially highlighted. The description is often accompanied by the author's commentary.
This is how I. Turgenev describes Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, one of the heroes of the novel “Fathers and Sons”:
...a man of average height, dressed in a dark English suit, a fashionable low tie and patent leather ankle boots, Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov. He looked about forty-five years old; his short hair White hair they sipped on the dark shine, like new silver; his face, bilious, but without wrinkles, unusually regular and clean, as if drawn by a thin and light chisel, showed traces of remarkable beauty. The whole appearance, graceful and thoroughbred, retained youthful harmony and that desire upward, away from the earth, which for the most part disappears after twenty years. Pavel Petrovich took his trousers out of his pocket beautiful hand with long pink nails, a hand that seemed even more beautiful from the snowy whiteness of the sleeve, fastened with a single large opal.

Portrait comparison more stingy with realistic details, it creates in the reader a certain impression of the hero through comparison with some object or phenomenon. For example, the portrait of Stolz in I. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov”.
He is all made up of bones, muscles and nerves, like a blooded English horse. He is thin; he has almost no cheeks at all, that is, he has bone and muscle, but no sign of fatty roundness; complexion is even, darkish and no blush; The eyes, although a little greenish, are expressive.

Impression portrait includes minimal amount descriptive details, its task is to evoke a certain emotional reaction in the reader, to create a memorable impression of the hero. This is how Manilov’s portrait is drawn from N. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.”
In appearance he was a distinguished man; His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it; in his techniques and turns there was something ingratiating favor and acquaintance. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes.

Description of appearance is only the first step towards getting to know the hero. His character system life values and goals are revealed gradually; To understand them, you need to pay attention to the manner of communication with others, the speech of the hero, his actions. Understand inner world the hero is helped by various forms psychological analysis: description of dreams, letters, internal monologues, etc. The choice of names and surnames of the characters can also say a lot.

Character system

In a work with a developed plot, a system of characters is always presented, among which we distinguish the main, secondary and episodic ones.
The main characters are distinguished by their originality and originality, they are far from ideal, they can commit bad deeds, but their personality and worldview are interesting to the author; the main characters, as a rule, embody the most typical, important features people of a certain cultural and historical era.
Minor characters appear in many scenes and are also related to the development of the plot. Thanks to them, the character traits of the main characters appear sharper and brighter. Episodic characters are necessary to create the background against which events take place; they appear in the text one or more times and do not in any way affect the development of the action, but only complement it.
In dramatic works there are also extra-plot characters: not in any way connected with the development of the action, the so-called “random persons” (Feklusha in “The Thunderstorm” or Epikhodov in “The Cherry Orchard”), and extra-stage characters: not appearing on stage, but mentioned in the speech of the characters (Prince Fyodor, nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya in the comedy “Woe from Wit”).
Antagonists (antagonists Greek: debaters fighting each other) are heroes with different ideological, political and social attitudes, i.e. with a diametrically opposed worldview (although they may have similar traits in their characters). As a rule, such heroes find themselves in the role of ideological opponents and an acute conflict arises between them.
For example, Chatsky and Famusov from A. Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” or Evgeny Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov from I. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”.
Antipodes (antipodes Greek literally located feet to feet) are heroes who are strikingly different in their temperament, character, peculiarities of worldview, moral qualities, which, however, does not interfere with their communication (Katerina and Varvara from “The Thunderstorm”, Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky from “War and Peace”). It happens that such characters do not even know each other (Olga Ilyinskaya and Agafya Matveevna from the novel “Oblomov”).
“Doubles” are characters who are somewhat similar to the main character, most often close to him in ideological and moral values. Such similarities are not always to the liking of the hero himself: let us remember with what disgust Raskolnikov treated Luzhin, the hero who embodies in a vulgar version the type strong man. Dostoevsky very often turned to the technique of doubleness; it was also used in M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, where many heroes of the “Moscow” plot have doubles from the “Yershalaim” plot (Ivan Bezdomny - Matvey Levi, Berlioz - Kaifa, Aloisy Mogarych - Judas).
Reasoner (raisonneur French reasoning) - in dramatic work a hero who expresses a point of view close to the author’s position (Kuligin in “The Thunderstorm”).

Copyright Competition -K2
An artistic creation must be completely ready in the artist’s soul before he takes up the pen... He must first see in front of him the faces from whose mutual relationships his drama or story is formed...

V.G. Belinsky

As is known, the composition literary work includes elements:
- arrangement of character images and grouping of other images;
- plot composition
- composition of extra-plot elements;
- methods of narration (from the author, from the narrator, from the hero; in the form oral history, in the form of diaries, letters)
- composition of details (details of the situation, behavior);
- speech composition (stylistic devices).

In this article we will talk about the character system

1. Character system: elements and structure
2. Elements of the character sphere
Categories of characters – main, secondary, episodic, off-stage
Parameters for defining character categories
3. Structure of the character sphere
Number of characters
Hierarchy of the character system
Connections between characters - opposition, grouping according to thematic principles, juxtaposition
4. Summary

CHARACTER SYSTEM

A character (literary hero) is a character in a narrative work of art.
The organization of characters in a literary work appears as a system of characters.

The character system should be viewed from two perspectives:
1. as a system of relationships between characters (struggle, clashes, etc.) - that is, from the point of view of the content of the work;
2. as the embodiment of the principle of composition and a means of characterizing the characters - that is, as the position of the author.

Like any system, the character sphere is characterized through its constituent ELEMENTS (characters) and STRUCTURE (a relatively stable method = the law of connection of elements).

CHARACTER ELEMENTS

The following CATEGORIES OF CHARACTERS are distinguished:

MAIN - are in the center of the plot, have independent characters and are directly related to all levels of the content of the work,

SECONDARY - also quite actively involved in the plot, having their own character, but who receive less authorial attention; in some cases their function is to help reveal the images of the main characters,

EPISODICA - appearing in one or two episodes of the plot, often without their own character and standing on the periphery of the author’s attention; their main function is to give impetus to the plot action at the right moment or to highlight certain features of the main and secondary characters).

In addition, there are also so-called OFF-STAGE characters about whom we're talking about, but they do not participate in the action (for example, in “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov it is Princess Marya Alekseevna, whose opinion everyone is so afraid of, or Famusov’s uncle, a certain Maxim Petrovich).
For example, Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe seems to be about the life of one person. However, the novel is densely populated. Robinson's memories and dreams live different faces(=off-stage characters): father who warned his son against the sea; dead companions, with whose fate he often compares his own; the basket maker he watched as a child; a desirable companion - “a living person with whom I could talk.” The role of off-stage characters, seemingly mentioned in passing, is very important: after all, Robinson is both lonely and not alone on his island, since he personifies the total human experience, hard work and enterprise of his contemporaries and compatriots.

By what parameters are the categories of characters determined?

There are two of them. This:
– the degree of participation in the plot and, accordingly, the volume of text that this character is given;
– the degree of importance of a given character for revealing aspects of artistic content.

Most often these parameters coincide. So, in “Fathers and Sons” Bazarov - main character in both respects, Pavel Petrovich, Nikolai Petrovich, Arkady, Odintsova are secondary characters in all respects, and Sitnikov or Kukshina are episodic.

Example - " Captain's daughter» Pushkin.
“It would seem impossible to imagine a more episodic image than Empress Catherine: she seems to exist only to bring a rather complicated story main characters to a happy ending. But for the problems and the idea of ​​the story, this is an image of paramount importance, because without it, the most important idea of ​​the story - the idea of ​​mercy - would not have received a semantic and compositional completion. Just as Pugachev, in his time, despite all the circumstances, had mercy on Grinev, so Catherine has mercy on him, although the circumstances of the case seem to point against him. Just as Grinev meets with Pugachev as person to person, and only later does he turn into an autocrat, so Masha meets with Catherine, not suspecting that this is an empress, also like person to person. And if it weren’t for this image in the system of characters in the story, the composition would not be closed, and therefore, the idea of ​​​​the human connection of all people, without distinction of classes and positions, would not sound artistically convincing, the idea that “giving alms” is one of the best manifestations of humanity spirit, and the solid foundation of human coexistence is not cruelty and violence, but kindness and mercy” (c)

And it also happens that the question of dividing characters into categories generally loses all meaningful meaning.

For example, in the composition of “Dead Souls” the episodic characters differ from the main ones only quantitatively, and not qualitatively: in the volume of the image, but not in the degree of the author’s interest in them.
The number of characters in the poem is literally off scale. Uncle Minyai and Uncle Mityai, Nozdrev's son-in-law Mizhuev, the boys begging Chichikov for alms at the hotel gates, and especially one of them, “a great hunter of getting on the heels,” and captain captain Potseluev, and a certain assessor Drobyazhkin, and Fetinya, a whip master feather beds, some lieutenant who had come from Ryazan, apparently a big hunter of boots, because he had already ordered four pairs and was constantly trying on the fifth, and further, further, further.
These figures do not give impetus to the plot action and do not characterize GG - Chichikov in any way. Moreover, the detailing of these figures is clearly excessive - let us remember the men who talked about Manilovka and Zamanilovka, Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoe Rylo, Sobakevich’s wife, the daughter of the old foreman, who had threshing peas on her face at night, Korobochka’s late husband, who loved to have someone I would scratch his heels at night, but I couldn’t fall asleep without it.
However, this is not excess and certainly not the author’s inability to build a plot. On the contrary, it is thin compositional technique, with the help of which Gogol created a special installation. He showed not just images of individual people, but something broader and more significant - the image of a population, a people, a nation. Peace, finally.

Almost the same composition of the character system is observed in Chekhov's plays, and the matter is even more complicated: the main and secondary characters cannot be distinguished even by the degree of participation in the plot and the volume of the image. Using this system, Chekhov shows “a certain set ordinary people, ordinary consciousness, among which there are no outstanding, extraordinary heroes, on whose images one can build a play, but for the most part they are nevertheless interesting and significant. To do this, it is necessary to show a multitude of equal characters, without singling out the main and minor ones; only in this way is something common revealed in them, namely the inherent ordinary consciousness the drama of a failed life, a life that has passed or is passing in vain, without meaning and even without pleasure" (c)

CHARACTER STRUCTURE

How many characters are necessary and sufficient?

While working on “Three Sisters,” Chekhov ironized himself: “I’m not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are a lot of characters - it’s possible that I’ll get lost and give up writing.” And upon completion he recalled: “It was terribly difficult to write Three Sisters.” After all, there are three heroines, each should be like their own model, and all three are the general’s daughters!”

Every author faces a problem: are all heroes required? Are there redundant ones among them? And what should you do if you want to write a crowd scene, but have no desire to produce Persians?
Like the classic, where “red natives and natives (positive and countless hordes)” are introduced into the play of “Citizen Jules Verne.” (Bulgakov. Crimson Island).

So, THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS.

To form a character system, at least two subjects are required.
Alternatively, there may be a split character - Semyon Semenovich with glasses and without glasses (Kharms, “Cases”).

The maximum number of characters is not limited.
According to some estimates, there are about 600 characters in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, in “ Human Comedy» Balzac - about 2,000. (For comparison, the population of a medieval Western European city was 1-3 thousand inhabitants).
The numbers are impressive.
And the immediate question is: can you create a work with such a number of characters? No, it’s easy to cram characters into a plot. But then you will have to manage them so that your thing does not look like a telephone directory.

CHARACTERS ARE REQUIRED TO INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER.

Some people succeed. For example, King’s multi-character works – “Needful Things”, “Armageddon” (another translation is “The Stand”), “Under the Dome”.

Or a classic example - Homer, "Odyssey". Philologists have established more than 1,700 connections between the 342 characters in the poem. There is a connection between the characters if they meet in the story, talk to each other, quote each other’s words to a third character, or it is clear from the text that they know each other. According to the structure of "Odyssey" amazingly reminds social network– like Facebook or Twitter. Is history repeating itself?))

So, the system of characters is the interconnections and relationships between the characters, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.

The most important property character systems – HIERARCHICALITY.
We have already talked about this here:

In most cases, the character is at the intersection of three rays.
The first is friends, associates (friendly relationships).
The second is enemies, ill-wishers (hostile relations).
Third - others strangers(neutral relationship)
These three rays (and the people in them) create a strict hierarchical structure

Let's continue the conversation.

“The plot in its formation is, first of all, the creation of a system of characters. An important step is to establish central figure and then establishing the remaining characters, who are located around this figure along a descending ladder” (G.A. Shengeli)

The simplest and most common case is the opposition of two images to each other.
Mozart and Salieri, Grinev and Shvabrin, Oblomov and Stolz, Malchish-Kibalchish and Malchish-Plokhish.

Somewhat more difficult case, when one character is opposed to all the others, as, for example, in Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit,” where even quantitative relationships are important: it was not for nothing that Griboyedov wrote that in his comedy there are “twenty-five fools for one smart person.”

“The characters are grouped in the work. The simplest case is the division of all characters into two camps: friends and enemies of the protagonist. In more complex works there may be several such groups, and each of these groups is connected by various relationships with other persons” (Tomashevsky B.V. Poetics)

Thus, in “Anna Karenina” the main compositional grouping of characters is according to the thematic principle stated at the beginning of the novel: “Everyone happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Different families in the novel develop this theme in different ways.

In “Fathers and Sons,” in addition to the obvious and implemented in the plot contrasting Bazarov with all other characters, another, more hidden and not embodied in the plot, compositional principle is implemented, namely the juxtaposition of two groups of characters by similarity: on the one hand, this is Arkady and Nikolai Petrovich, on the other - Bazarov and his parents. “In both cases, these characters embody the same problem - the problem of relationships between generations. Turgenev shows that, whatever individuals, the problem remains essentially the same: it is hot love to children, for whom, in fact, the older generation lives, this is an inevitable misunderstanding, the desire of children to prove their “maturity” and superiority, dramatic internal conflicts as a result of this, and yet, in the end, the inevitable spiritual unity of generations” (c)

There are also more complex compositional connections between characters.

Example - “Crime and Punishment”.
“The character system is organized around the main character Raskolnikov; the other characters are in complex relationships with him, and not only plot ones; and it is in extra-plot connections that the richness of the novel’s composition is revealed.
First of all, Raskolnikov is compositionally connected with Sonya. In its own way life position They are primarily opposed. But not only. They also have something in common, primarily in pain for a person and in suffering, which is why Sonya Raskolnikova understands so easily and immediately. In addition, as Raskolnikov himself emphasizes, they are both criminals, both murderers, only Sonya killed herself, and Raskolnikov killed the other. Here the comparison ends and the contrast begins again: for Dostoevsky, these two “murders” are not at all equivalent; moreover, they have a fundamentally opposite ideological meaning. And yet, both are criminals who are united by the gospel motif of sacrifice for humanity, the cross, and atonement. It is no coincidence that Dostoevsky emphasized the strange juxtaposition of “a murderer and a harlot who came together to read eternal book" So, Sonya is both an antipode and a kind of double of Raskolnikov.

The remaining characters are also organized around Raskolnikov according to the same principle; it is, as it were, reflected many times in its counterparts, but reflected with distortions, or incompletely.
Thus, Razumikhin draws close to Raskolnikov with his rationality and confidence that life can be arranged without God, relying only on himself, but is sharply opposed to him, since he does not accept the idea of ​​“blood according to conscience.”

Porfiry Petrovich is the antipode of Raskolnikov, but there is also something Raskolnikov about him, because he understands the main character faster and better than anyone else.

Luzhin takes the practical part of Raskolnikov’s theory about the right to crime, but completely empties it of all sublime meaning. In “new trends” he sees only a justification for his boundless egoism, believing that the new morality gives him the sanction to try only for his own benefit, without stopping at any moral prohibitions. Luzhin reflects Raskolnikov’s philosophy in the distorting mirror of cynicism, and Raskolnikov himself looks with disgust at Luzhin and his theory - thus, we have before us another double, another antipodean twin.

Svidrigailov, as is typical for an ironist, brings Raskolnikov’s ideas to their logical conclusion, advising him to stop thinking about the good of humanity, about the issues of “man and citizen.” But, like everyone, Svidrigailov does not accept Raskolnikov’s theory for himself personally, being skeptical of any philosophy. And Svidrigailov disgusts Raskolnikov; they again turn out to be mismatched twins, antipodal twins.

This composition of the character system is caused by the need to pose and resolve complex moral and philosophical questions, to consider the theory of the main character and its implementation in practice in a variety of applications and aspects. The composition here, therefore, works to reveal the problematic” (c) L.V. Chernets. Character system.

The character system is the interconnections and relationships between the characters, that is, a concept related to the composition of the work.

The system of characters reveals the content of the works, but it itself reveals one of the sides of their composition.

The compositional grouping of characters is carried out in accordance with the THEMES and PROBLEMS that these characters embody.

The main characters, those whose fate attracted Special attention writers are called heroes. Other characters are divided into minor, auxiliary and incidental or situational. In this case, the following complications are possible: minor characters can, while attracting the reader’s attention, at the same time attract his sympathy or lack of sympathy; in the first case, the author usually seeks to set limits on the reader's interest. (c) G.A. Shengeli.

There are two types of CONNECTION BETWEEN CHARACTERS - according to the plot (thesis-antithesis) and according to the relationship of characters.

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Certificate of publication No. 214010101267
discussion

A character is a type of artistic image, a subject of action, experience, and statement in a work. Characters + plot are the basis of the objective world. Most often the character is human. But! Non-human characters are carriers of moral qualities.

Character ( artistic image, embodying given character with varying degrees of aesthetic perfection) vs character (socially significant traits that manifest themselves quite clearly in the behavior and state of mind of people). The number of characters and characters usually does not coincide. There are people who have no character.

Type - more high degree generalizations than character. When assessing a character, what is important is its national character, universal significance. The means of revealing character are components of the objective world. Characters are judged from an aesthetic point of view - how fully they express character.

Off-stage characters - saving image resources; borrowed characters.

The character sphere includes 1) individuals 2) group images (seven temporary men) 3) collective heroes(crowd).

A character system is made up of constituent elements (characters) and structure (a relatively stable way of connecting elements). This or that image receives character status precisely as an element of the system. At least two subjects are required to form a system. The most important property of the structure is hierarchy.

Connection between characters: plot vs character relationship. Most often, the plot roles of the heroes correspond to their importance as characters. Minor characters - set off various properties main problematic character.

Creative concept creates unity of compositions.

Off-stage image vs bifurcation, transformation - a commemoration of different principles in a person. The character’s non-participation in the main action is needed as a symbol, a sounding board.

Study of the character as an actor.

Characters in lyrics are people - objects of perception of the lyrical subject. Pospelov: the character exists in those works where the object of lyrical meditation becomes an individual personality, embodying the characteristics of social existence, possessing individual traits. A broader concept is any person who falls into the subject’s perception zone. Lyrics - character and non-character. The character in the lyrics is revealed through the attitude of the lyrical subject. The most important way creation of characters - nominations: primary (names, nicknames, pronouns) and secondary (qualities, characteristics). In the lyrics, the importance of pronoun nominations increases. Characters rarely appear in lyrics - there are few means of revealing them. But there are character systems.