Porphyria's Lover And My Last Duchess

Certain characters pull us into the story with them. This starts with having an infatuation with a character. This draws our attention to them. This is shown in the novel Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld where a dysfunctional family, the Bennets are all brought together in their hometown Cincinnati due to their father's health scare. All five daughters receive continuous pressure upon getting married to someone who their traditional mother approves of. Different conflicts are brought up upon this circling problem. With multiple diverse personalities we are drawn to certain ones. Liz Bennet drops everything in front of her for the ones that she is close to. This makes it easy to empathize with her as most people thrive to be this loyal. With reading

There are two different ways an author can do this, either directly or indirectly. Direct characterization is when the author tells the readers directly what a character is like. This helps because the readers don’t have to make inferences about the characters like they have to if the author uses indirect characterization. That is when the author tells the readers what a character is like through what their relationships with others are like, what they say to others, what things they

The author reveals the character/narrator by using indirect characterization. In the story, the character is describing his actions and thoughts, telling what type of person he is in the process. For example, in the story, the character says “In the enthusiasm of my confidence…”(Line 17). This is revealing that the character can be prideful and that it could cloud his judgment. But, simultaneously,the

the personality of his duchess, he is shown to be a heartless, arrogant man. His complete

readers and their interpretations. This way, this character can either be seen as a man who is

none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)' He acts like

Characterization is an important component in short story writing. In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" written by Roald Dahl, we are introduced to Mary Maloney, a pregnant housewife who recently found out that her husband is going to leave her. Mary develops into a very complex character as the events of the short story unfold. Mary is a typical housewife, waiting on her husband hand and foot. She loves him dearly, but as the short story unfolds, we see that he does not share the same feelings. Mary, unable to handle the rejection, lashes out and kills her husband. We then see Mary’s character transform before our eyes and the once loving, dutiful housewife becomes a very devious, manipulative and cold hearted character. She manages

Getting familiar with a character is usually not done directly. For example, indirect characterization can occur through dialogue with other characters in a piece of literature. In the play Antigone, Creon’s personality traits are reflected through his conversations with others. Creon is an extremely opinionated, stubborn man. Yet, the reader would not know this if it was not for his interaction between his family, the chorus, and particularly his character parallel: Antigone. Due to the drastic difference between Creon’s and Antigone’s morals, their discussions challenge Creon’s views and develop them. Antigone’s role in the play is one of the most critical to solidify Creon’s motivation for his actions, therefore providing

The characters tone of during the first two paragraphs of the book shows that the character is very straight forward towards the audience. He doesn’t want the audience to be unknown by what is happening. Such as in the book he says “. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful.”(PAGE 3). This quote helps the reader learn about the the truth that the narrator is trying to tell, showing the reader that his darkest secret is the very truth

The famous ogre, Shrek, once explained, “Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers... You get it? We both have layers” when trying convey that “there's a lot more to ogres than people think” (Shrek). This goes the same for complex characters in literature; they are multilayered figures who possess contradictory traits at the same point in time. An exemplary representation would be Janie Starks from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. As a rare character in the time period, Janie’s complexity is broadcasted through her contrasting characteristics of being opinionated yet malleable.

In revealing the character, we can also use the indirect method. It can be seen from what character says and authorial presentation. In knowing the character, sometimes a character will say something about how they are to other characters. These characters will react to another character about their characteristic. However, in authorial presentation, a writer describes his/her characters’ contribution and background in a story. If the readers want to know further about the character, they should analyze the character because everything is revealed indirectly. To assure our comprehension about indirect method, we will have an analysis about the character revelation. The technique which will be used is authorial presentation. As we can read from the short story, “A Worn Path”:

According to Henry James, the way characters respond to certain situation is what makes them intriguing (Wakana). Leo Tolstoy's story, “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is an example of just such a story. Leo Tolstoy presents a character, Ivan Ilych and uses through out the story, in a way of Ivan conveying the characters feelings to different situations (286-300). William Faulkner's story, “Barn Burning” is another example of how the character is able to convey a message to the reader. William Faulkner does this through the main character's thoughts and descriptions about the other characters within the story (155-67).

When clarifying an audience, one must keep in mind the general vocabulary used, the content of the story, and the length of the book to keep it appropriate for certain age groups; it is important to mention the number of words used in the original manuscript, for many agents are not willing to accept a book with more than 120,000 words for a first time author. Later, when the synopsis are composed, it is important that it be no more than nine sentences long. Within these nine sentences, the main character should be mentioned along with a captivating summary of the plot. The main idea being to convince the agent that they want to read more. “One thing a writer should never do”, according to the author of Dead Pigs in the Sun, “is call their work a masterpiece, because it’s not.” There is always room for improvement, and a writer should never assume their work is perfect, but only acceptable. Whether or not the book is a masterpiece is determined by a literary

Robert Browning’s poems “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess” depict a mastery of the dramatic monologue style. Said style contains a narrative told by a character’s point of view that differs from that of the poet.The character’s monologue consists of them discussing their particular situation that they find themselves within, this is meant to convey their internal information to the reader or audience. This in turn allows the reader a glimpse into the personality of the narrating character. Within “Porphyria’s Lover” and My Last Duchess” these monologues are used along with poetic devices to develop unique male personas. Between these two personas there are evident differences in class and within each class social issues arise within each work.

    The literary technique of characterization is often used to create and delineate a human character in a work of literature. When forming a character, writers can use many different methods of characterization. However, there is one method of characterization that speaks volumes about the character and requires no more than a single word - the character's personal name. In many cases, a personal name describes the character by associating him with a certain type of people or with a well known historical figure. Therefore, since the reader learns the character's name first, a personal name is a primary method of characterization; it