What motivates us writers to create characters in literature?

Original Text: What motivates us writers to create characters in literature?

Characters are a representation of the collective humankind, and writers tend to create these characters using their motives and personal experiences that have in turn shaped them as individuals. We often lean to create characters that resemble ourselves, and our personalities. Frye explains this in his novel The Educated Imagination, ?When you meet a character Micawber in Dickens, you don?t feel that there must have been a man Dickens knew who was exactly like this: you feel as if there?s a little of Micawber in almost everybody you know, including yourself? (Frye, 35). What Frye is trying to say here is that characters are created so that readers can relate to them in some way. These characters are referred to ?universal figures? as they also portray human desire, frustration, and discontent, something that we all have alike.This can also be evident for one of the main characters in Wally Lambs novel, She?s Come Undone. Dolores Price had gone through so many tragic and undefeatable events including rape, her eating obsession, suicide attempts and many more miserable conflicts. However, following her determined spirit, Dolores was able to overcome her miseries and start over with the help of her friends and her lover. Similarly, working with women prisoners in Connecticut, Lamb listened to their stories of how they were abused, rejected, and self-destructed before entering the criminal system. Through this experience, he was able to portray these conflicts through Dolores. He?s desire was to reach out to women out there who are going through psychological problems, and showing that there can be a resolution to it. Hamlet, the great play written by Shakespeare, has also a great meaning behind it. The main character Hamlet is a reflection of the political uncertainty of this era. Shakespeare wrote this play to demonstrate how Elizabethan society coped and how it was difficult for the monarchy to trust people. For instance in the play, seeing that Hamlet was always spied on and betrayed by his loved ones, he could not trust anyone but Horatio. This suggests that Shakespeare believes politics is dangerous and that power corrupts people. To display his beliefs and motives, Shakespeare created Hamlet.

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Revised Text: What motivates writers to create characters in literature?

Characters are a representation of collective humankind, and writers tend to create these characters using their own motives and personal experiences, that have in turn shaped them as individuals. We often lean to creating characters that resemble ourselves, and our personalities.

Frye explains this in his novel The Educated Imagination, "When you meet a character Micawber in Dickens, you don't feel that there must have been a man Dickens knew who was exactly like this: you feel as if there's a little of Micawber in almost everybody you know, including yourself" (Frye, 35).

What Frye is trying to say here is that characters are created so that readers can relate to them in some way. These characters are "universal figures", as they portray human desires, frustrations, and discontent, things that we all have. This is also evident for one of the main characters in Wally Lamb's novel, She's Come Undone. Dolores Price had gone through so many tragic and terrible events, including; rape, her eating obsession, suicide attempts and many more miserable conflicts. However, following her determined spirit, Dolores was able to overcome her miseries and start over with the help of her friends and her lover.

Similarly, working with women prisoners in Connecticut, Lamb listened to their stories of how they were abused, rejected, and had self-destructed before entering the criminal system. Through this experience, he was able to portray these conflicts through Dolores. His desire was to reach out to women who are going through psychological problems, and show that there can be a resolution to them.

Hamlet, the great play written by Shakespeare, has also a great meaning behind it. The main character Hamlet is a reflection of the political uncertainty of the era. Shakespeare wrote this play to demonstrate how Elizabethan society coped, and how it was difficult for the monarchy to trust people. For instance, in the play, Hamlet was always spied on, betrayed by his loved ones and could not trust anyone but Horatio. This suggests that Shakespeare believed politics was dangerous and that power corrupts people. To display his beliefs and motives, Shakespeare created Hamlet.

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