An Ultimate Guide For Writing Character Analysis Essay In 7 Steps

14 Jan 2022 5 min read

Are you struggling with an essay assignment and don’t know where to start? Some papers are easy to research and write, and you can finish them in several hours. On the other hand, there are some papers that require special attention due to the peculiarities of the format. 

Writing a character analysis essay can be quite challenging as it usually takes lots of time, research, and effort. Students need to pay attention to lots of details and carefully pick a character they want to talk about.

This article is perfect for those searching for helping hints for the creation of a good character essay. We will describe the main features of such assignments and provide steps that will lead you to a flawless paper. 

Let’s start by taking a look at the main features of character analysis essays. 

Features Of Character Analysis Paper

In general, this type of essay describe a character in the context of the story. In most cases, students analyze characters from literature. However, in some cases, they may be asked to describe characters from other art forms, such as plays or movies. 

The main point of this essay is to provide in-depth description of a certain character’s traits and characteristics to show how they change throughout the story.

There’s no special format that students should follow while preparing a character analysis essay. However, they should pay attention to the structure of the paper. Such essays usually consist of three main parts:

  • introduction;
  • the main body, which is divided into several paragraphs;
  • conclusion

Main Purpose Of Characters Analysis Essays And What To Pay Attention To

As stated above, the main goal of this essay is to evaluate the specific traits of a literary character. Thus, you need to provide various details about the character you are analyzing, including:

  • appearance;
  • personality traits;
  • role in the story;
  • how the author describes them;
  • their main struggles;
  • how the character relates to other heroes of the story;
  • their most important actions, etc.

Basically, students need to pay attention to the tiniest things and share the whole picture of a chosen literature hero. It’s vital to show how the author presents the character as well as provide your own opinion of them. 

How To Create A Good Character Analysis Essay in 7 Steps

If you are writing your first character analysis essay, start by checking samples online. It will help you get acquainted with this kind of essay and understand how to plan your writing. 
As soon as you’ve checked several examples and have an idea of what your essay should include,  follow these steps:

  1. Carefully Read The Story

    It is essential to deeply understand the story to better explore the character you are analyzing. Some students mistakenly believe that it’s enough to read a story once. In reality, it doesn’t work in this way. The more times you go through, the better you grasp all the details connected with the hero you’ve picked.
    When rereading the story, focus on important scenes and significant events that help to form the character’s portrait.
    While reading, ensure that you make notes and write down diverse details that help you create the image of the hero. 

  2. Carefully Pick A Character

    There are different types of characters in each story. If you pick a hero on your own, ensure that they are dynamic and change over the course of the story. Static or unchanging characters will make your essay boring for the readers.
    Moreover, one-dimensional characters won’t give you enough points to describe and analyze in your essay. 

  3. Write Down Main Points

    As you read the story, write down the main points. This approach will help focus more on your character when looking through the story next time.

  4. Focus On The Main Idea

    Generally speaking, you need to collect all your notes on the character and define the main idea related to them. This will form the thesis statement of your work. 

    Thus, you can focus on how the character grows throughout the story or what aspects bring out a change in their personality or world view.

  5. Create An Outline Of Your Paper

    Don’t write from scratch. A thorough plan will help you create a logical analysis.  When you’ve read the story several times,  create an outline of your work.  Write down the main aspects that you will present in each part of your essay. Make sure that the narration goes smoothly, and all the parts correlate with each other. 

  6. Follow The Structure

    You already know that such papers consist of three main parts:

    introduction;
    main body;
    conclusion

    The introduction should be informative and short. Provide a background of the story and briefly tell the readers what to expect in your essay by outlining your main thesis.

    The main body usually includes a thorough description of the character as well as the evaluation of his role in the story. Critically evaluate the hero and support your thoughts with relevant examples. It’s a good idea to use quotations to help readers understand you better.

     The conclusion is always paraphrasing the main ideas of your work. In this part, you have the last chance to convince the readers about the character.

  7. Edit And Proofread The Essay

    When your paper is ready, don’t hurry up to hand it in. Leave some time for editing and proofreading of the final version. First, it will help you avoid any grammar or punctuation mistakes. Secondly, you will ensure that your essay is logical and well-structured. On top of that, you may come up with other ideas that can be included in your essay.

    Don’t want to spend time checking? The good news is that you may ask for professional assistance. For an affordable fee, professionals with years of experience in the field will evaluate your paper to ensure it is grammatically and thematically correct. 

Conclusion

Writing a character analysis paper requires special knowledge and good preparation. Students need to start working on the essay in advance in order to have enough time to carefully read the story. It is vital to pay attention to all details and pick a deep, intriguing character as the subject for your paper. Even though character analysis papers don’t have a special format, students still need to ensure the structure is clear and consistent. Each part should be logical, informative, and catchy.

Indeed, if you are writing a character essay for the first time, the best idea is to check samples. But, if you want your essay to be perfect, ask for professional assistance. Top experts will provide you with useful tips and help with the creation of a remarkable character analysis paper. However, be careful when picking a company as there are plenty of fraudsters on the market nowadays. Make sure that the service you cooperate with offers quality and deadline guarantees. It should also have positive customer feedback on trusted review websites. Don’t worry, the prices for such services are quite affordable and reasonable.