WHAT MAKES GOOD CHARACTERS?

• They make "good speeches".
• Their use of language is consistent with their background and personality and with the conventions of the piece. They need not necessarily be eloquent, but they must be sufficiently articulate to enable the reader/listener to understand them.
• The writer’s representation of them inspires readers/performers to breathe life into them, to make them "credible".
• They evoke some response in readers/listeners/performers.
• Readers/listeners identify with some aspects of their personalities, even if they are not likeable characters. For example, a cruel character may enable readers to recognise some of the same cruelty in themselves. And even the most cruel characters may have some redeeming features.
• They have depth, perhaps hidden depth, of character. They are complex, many faceted, not just two-dimensional, not simply good or bad.
• They have a history.
• They have some mystery.
• They make the reader/listener want to understand them.
• They have diverse personalities and/or "voices", such that each assumes a distinct identity in the minds of the reader/listener. Perhaps their character is so strong that the reader/listener is able to predict their actions to some extent.
• Perhaps their behaviour is sometimes unexpected. Perhaps they act "out of character" at times.
• They undergo some development during the course of the work.
• They conflict with one another and perhaps within themselves.
• They engage with the plot, contributing to its development and perhaps revealing some aspect of their character in response to features of the plot.
• Perhaps they help us to imagine how we might respond in certain situations.