How to Write an Analysis about a Character in a Play

• Characters move a story forward and are examples of human nature.  
• Characters represent everything that human beings are capable of feeling and doing.
• For this type of an essay, students examine at least one character.
• Students must explain how a character’s actions and reactions create either problems or solutions in the story.
• Students must explain how the character helps to bring about the end of the story.
• Finally, students must explain what lessons the character teaches readers about real life.
• Students must use examples from the text to make the analysis strong.
• Students must cite all information.

a) Start off with a sentence that states the title of the play, the author’s full name, and the character you will be analyzing. Then in three to four sentences summarize the events in the play.  

b) In about two sentences, describe the character and tell who the character is and what part the character has in the story.

c) Write one sentence that states your thesis. This sentence must have the character’s name, how the character makes the story move forward, what the character does to cause the story to end the way it does, and what the character learns about life (and therefore what readers learn).

II. Body Paragraph One

a) Write a topic sentence that begins with a transitional phrase like “In the first two acts,” and then finish the sentence with the character’s name and what that character learns in the first two acts about life. In three or four sentences, summarize the emotions and actions of your chosen character and how they affect the other characters and the events in the first two acts of the play. (Write in the present tense.)

b) Pick a quote from each act to provide evidence that your character does in fact have the emotions and performs the actions you have summarized. Use quotation marks around your quote and cite it by putting parentheses after the closing quotation marks. Inside the parentheses, write the act, scene, and line numbers like this: In Shakespeare's King Lear, Gloucester, Gloucester, blinded for suspected treason, learns a profound lesson from his tragic experience: “A man may see how this world goes / with no eyes” (4.2.148-49). Close with a period. The example comes fromhttp://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0001.html#RES5e_ch08_p0113.

c) After each quote, explain how the quote shows what the character learns about life—what is being revealed or proven.

d) Write a closing sentence that begins with a word or phrase like “Clearly” or “Obviously.” Complete the sentence with a short summary reminder of what your character experiences and does in the first two acts that moves the story forward.

III. Body Paragraph Two

a) Write a topic sentence that begins with a transitional phrase like “In Acts III and IV,” and then finish the sentence with the character’s name and what that character learns in Act III and Act IV about life. In three or four sentences, summarize the emotions and actions of your chosen character and how they affect the other characters and the events in these acts of the play. (Write in the present tense.)

b)  Pick a quote from each act to provide evidence that your character does in fact have the emotions and performs the actions you have summarized. Use quotation marks around your quote and cite it by putting parentheses after the closing quotation marks. Inside the parentheses, write the act, scene, and line numbers like this: In Shakespeare's King Lear, Gloucester, Gloucester, blinded for suspected treason, learns a profound lesson from his tragic experience: “A man may see how this world goes / with no eyes” (4.2.148-49). Close with a period. The example comes from http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0001.html#RES5e_ch08_p0113.

c) After each quote, explain how the quote shows what the character learns about life—what is being revealed or proven. This may take a few sentences.

d) Write a closing sentence that begins with a word or phrase like “Clearly” or “Obviously.” Complete the sentence with a short summary reminder of what your character experiences and does in the first two acts that moves the story forward.

IV. Body Paragraph Three

a) Write a topic sentence that begins with a transitional phrase like “In Act V,” and then finish the sentence with the character’s name and what that character learns in Act V about life. In three or four sentences, summarize the emotions and actions of your chosen character and how they affect the other characters and the events in these acts of the play. (Write in the present tense.)

b)  Pick a quote from each act to provide evidence that your character does in fact have the emotions and performs the actions you have summarized. Use quotation marks around your quote and cite it by putting parentheses after the closing quotation marks. Inside the parentheses, write the act, scene, and line numbers like this: In Shakespeare's King Lear, Gloucester, Gloucester, blinded for suspected treason, learns a profound lesson from his tragic experience: “A man may see how this world goes / with no eyes” (4.2.148-49). Close with a period. The example comes fromhttp://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0001.html#RES5e_ch08_p0113.

c) After each quote, explain how the quote shows what the character learns about life—what is being revealed or proven. This may take a few sentences.

d) Write a closing sentence that begins with a word or phrase like “Clearly” or “Obviously.” Complete the sentence with a short, summary reminder of what your character experiences and does in the first two acts that moves the story forward.

V. Conclusion

a) Look back at the last sentence of your introduction. Write it now as the first sentence of your conclusion. Re-phrase it by beginning with the words “In conclusion” or another signal phrase. Use synonyms to help you re-phrase the rest of the sentence.

b) Write one sentence that summarizes each of your body paragraphs.

c) End your essay with a summary statement about what the emotions and experiences of your chosen character teach readers about life.