Episodic Character

An episodic character is a secondary personage who appears in one or several episodes of a work and performs an auxiliary function: aiding the development of the plot, setting off the main heroes, and rounding out the picture of the depicted milieu or era. Unlike the main personages, the episodic one is usually not revealed psychologically in full but is sketched with a few telling strokes (a speech detail, a portrait trait, a characteristic deed). Yet a masterfully drawn episodic character may become artistically convincing and even more memorable than the main ones. The totality of episodic characters creates the 'background,' the social setting of the action, and lends the work fullness of life and populousness. A gallery of colorful episodic figures was created by Ivan Nechui-Levytsky, by Ivan Karpenko-Kary in his comedies, and by Nikolai Gogol.