Character

A character is an acting personage of a literary work, the bearer of the plot's events, the subject of the depicted action. The concept of 'character' (persona) is broader than 'characterological type': a character may be not only a human but also an animal, a fantastic being, or a personified phenomenon or object. By importance in the work, one distinguishes main, secondary, and episodic characters; by role in the conflict, protagonist and antagonist; by function, 'flat' (bearers of a single trait) and 'round,' multidimensional ones, in E. M. Forster's terminology ('Aspects of the Novel'). The means of creating a character are portrait, speech characterization, deeds, psychological analysis, self-characterization, and evaluation by other characters. Narratology regards the character both as an 'actant' (per A.-J. Greimas) and as a 'being' with the illusion of psychological fullness. Unforgettable Ukrainian characters are Chipka of Panas Myrny and Zakhar Berkut of Ivan Franko.