System of Characters

The system of characters is the totality of all the images (above all the personages) of a work in their interconnections, correlation, and subordination to a single authorial design. The personages of a work exist not in isolation but form an integral structure in which each image is brought out against the background of the others through similarity or contrast. The main principles of building a system of characters are grouping (by social, ideational, or moral principle), opposition (the antithesis of protagonist and antagonist, of 'positive' and 'negative' personages), the parallelism and 'mirroring' of fates, and the subordination of main, secondary, and episodic personages. Analysis of the system of characters reveals the conflict, ideational content, and composition of the work. A complex, multi-level system of characters is characteristic of the novel; a clearly structured system of oppositions is seen in the dramaturgy of Ivan Karpenko-Kary and in Panas Myrny's novel.