Character Study Assignment - English Companion

Character Study Assignment
Burke/English/Spring 2000
Overview The study of character is essential not only to reading literature but to
understanding people. This assignment is designed to help you better
understand (by asking you to read more closely) Macbeth and improve your
general understanding of the role and meaning of character in life and
literature.
Character
• a conventionalized graphic device placed on an object as an indication of ownership,
origin, or relationship
• a graphic symbol (as a hieroglyph or alphabet letter) used in writing or printing
• one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual b (1) : a
feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories
• moral excellence and firmness ·a man of sound character
• Word Origins: Middle English caracter, from Middle French caractére, from Latin character
mark, distinctive quality, from Greek charaktŒr, from charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps.
Part One
Sample
Diligent
Part Two
Indomitable
Part Three
Please complete the following steps by Monday. Do not do this in your journal; all
pages for this assignment will eventually need to be collected. If, for some reason, you
are not comfortable doing this about yourself, you may choose to do the assignment
about someone else.
q Write down five adjectives that describe your character.
q Include the definitions for each word.
q Write down an antonym and synonym for each word on that list.
q Include an example of each character trait from your own life.
q Identify the origins, causes, or consequences of each trait
Definition: Characterized by
steady, earnest, and energetic
application and effort.
Synonyms: persistent, industrious,
assiduous
Antonyms: lazy, laggard, slow,
leisurely.
Shown by how I always strive my
hardest on my work and get it done
without procrastination.
Originated from the good example
my sister set by going all out on her
work (and showing me how stressed
out you can be when you
procrastinate!).
Repeat Part One but instead of doing this for yourself, come up with five words (and the
required synonyms and antonyms) for Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. Complete all the
steps outlined in Part One. Here is an example written by Ryan Marks from Huck Finn
Definition: incapable of being
overcome, subdued, or
vanquished.
Synonyms: invincible,
invulnerable, impregnable,
unassailable, unbeatable.
Antonyms: domitable,
Example from Text:
Huck refuses to tgive
the money to his father
so he gives it to the
judge.
Origins/Causes: Huck's
childhood experiences
and his hopes provoke
courage; he knows his
father's history and
wants nothing to do
with him.
We reveal our character in different ways--speech, actions, gestures, dress, beliefs.
However, the question that helps us to best understand someone’s (as well as our own)
character is a simple one: what does this person want very badly? All sorts of questions

Part Four
Part Five
begin to emerge from this question: why do they want this? What are they willing to do
to get it? How will they get it? What problems does this desire create for them and how
will they solve them? What is the consequence of this desire? What does this desire tell
us about them? Why do we think that? At this point in your reading you have met the
main character(s) and should know them well enough to answer these questions. Please
write a one-pager about the assigned character(s) using these questions (and any you
come up with yourself) to guide you.
Expression of Your Character After doing Part Three about a character in the book,
please do the same one-pager for yourself, using the same questions to guide your
writing.
Poem: “Aspects of (Character’s Name)” or “Aspects of myself” Using Weldon
Kees’ poem “Aspects of Robinson” as a model, write your own poem about the
character or yourself. See Neal Cameron's example below:
Huck aboard a raft observes the world as it passes by him.
Warm houses with lit windows along the shore and on hillsides.
Silhouettes of craft navigate the murky water.
Their figures black on the blue night sky
Ripples on the river's surface guide them. This is Mississippi Huck.
Huck in a canoe alone, surrounded by the river's fog
Separated from the raft, both drifting aimlessly.
Whoops give their direction yet vision is useless and sound filtered by fog
Spun around by the river and pushed into the shore they find each other.
Excitement and disorientation, a door to mischief for Huck.
Huck laying in the woods talking with Jim, retelling his adventure,
Kings are discussed, and what they do, King Solomon in particular.
Discussion turns to debate. An argument erupts,
"Is Solomon the wisest man?" Neither see it the same.
He gives up arguing yet an impression has been made on Huck.
Huck up a tree, watching a feud end.
Two boys, rifle in hand, back to back behind a wood pile.
A burst of gunfire and smoke below him.
The wounded jumped for it into the river.
On the shore wash their bodies filling Huck will loss.
Huck swimming naked in the flowing river, then
Eating breakfast of fish caught fresh the past night
Day breaks with dawn from the east as Huck reflects on
The river traveled, the fish caught, the events of the past night
How he got to be here and the adventures along the way
What adventures lay ahead tomorrow, Huck?