The characterization is first encountered at school, when it comes to describing the individual characters of a narrative or of a general text in more detail. This means that we elaborate the essential character traits of the actors in order to provide us with an overview of the essence and being of a character.
Characterization aims at concentrating the most important characteristics of a character and can also be a very helpful tool for the author to understand and understand a person’s actions and actions.
The characterization can be made for real persons as well as for fictitious figures. The approach remains the same, although the characterization usually plays a role in the context of literary texts and is not used to characterize the neighbors from the opposite. But of course it would be possible.
In contrast to the description of the person, the characterization attempts to go into more detail. The person description shows only the external characteristics of a character and is relevant for the police investigation or a brief overview.
The characterization describes a person’s behavior, thoughts, and appearance, and tries to draw conclusions about the character traits of the fictional character.
This means that the description of the person only provides a description of the external character and the characterization should also show the inner world of the character.
Note: The word character is derived from the Greek (χαρακτήρ [charaktér]) and means roughly stamped or even simple coinage. In the end it is also what we work out in a characterization: the most distinctive features of a literary figure.
Characterization
Before we devote ourselves to the writing of a characterization, it is quite useful to make some short preparations, so that the actual work is easier.
It is helpful to read and edit a text because of the upcoming characterization. This means that during the reading, we select the most important text areas that are relevant to the character to be described.
Above all, however, it is important to clarify some things, in order not to neglect any important details in writing, and to characterize the relevant characteristics of a literary figure, or to characterize them completely incorrectly.
Preparation of characterization
Before we dedicate ourselves to the actual reading, it makes sense to put some colored text markers aside, in order to underline important passages in the text. So we can select which person it is in each section.
If you are dealing with a book that should not be “jammed” by markings, always have a piece of paper and a pencil or sticky notes ready, in order to find all the details about the person.
It is important that we not only write the annotations from the text but also symbolically identify where they are (page number, line).
If we keep all the essential details while reading, we do not need to read the text again, which is important for understanding, for example, in a poem analysis. This is practical and also very time-saving. So do better right now.