4. What is the difference between a complex character and a flat character?

The former is a ‘flat character, and the Prince is a round character who changes and develops considerably in the course of the play.

Shakespeare’s Henry IV (Pts I and II) provides a suitable contrast in the shape of Hotspur and Prince Hal. Micawber in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (1849–50) as a flat character and Becky Sharp in William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1847–48) as a round one. In more concrete terms: Personality is easy to read, and we’re all experts at it. One’s personality is more visible, while one’s character is revealed over time, through varying situations. On the other hand, a ‘round’ character is a complex character with many different characteristics and develops throughout the play or story and thus alters and can surprise the readers.įorster cites Mrs. Basic literary character analysis teaches us that any narrative has different types of characters that make up the story. While character and personality are both used to describe someone’s behaviors, the two examine different aspects of that individual. A ‘flat’ character is uncomplicated, and remains the same in the course of a story or play, and is characterized by only one or two traits.

Forster in Aspects of the Novel (1927) to describe two basically different types of character- and characterization. The terms “flat and round characters” are first used by E.

4. What is the difference between a complex character and a flat character?