11 formalist approach is relevantly used to analyze poems. This is because poem is
usually identified from its lines of iambic, lines, and rhymes. The fourth approach is the psychological approach. According to Guerin,
the use of psychological interpretation is “to afford many profound clues toward solving a work’s thematic and symbolic mysteries” 153. Therefore, this
approach is an excellent tool for reading beneath the lines. Many critics often use Freud’s psychological theory as an interpretive tool. Freud, as cited by Guerin,
proposes that psychological forces over which they have very limited control motivate most of people’s actions 153. .
Last, Guerin states that mythological and archetypal approaches are concerned “to seek out the mysterious elements that inform certain literary works
and elicit, with almost uncanny force, dramatic and universal human reactions” 182. Also it aims and wishes “to discover how certain works of literature,
usually those that have become, or promise to become, “classics” image a kind of reality to which readers give perennial response” 182.
2. Character and Characterization
Forster, as cited by Kennedy, states, “characters may seem round or flat, depending on whether a writer sketches or sculptures those” 61 Furthermore, he
says that Round characters are presented with more facets – that is, the authors
portray them in greater depth and in more generous detail. Not to mention, they often change – learn or become enlightened, grow or decline, while
flat characters tend to stay the same throughout a story, they only have one outstanding trait or feature, or at most a few distinguishing marks 61
12 On the other hand, Abrams states that
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional,
and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action The grounds in characters
temperament, desire and moral nature for their speech and action are called their motivation. A character may undergo a radical change, either
through the gradual process, of motivation and development or as the result crisis. 20
Stanton defines the term “character” in two common ways: “It designates the individuals who appear in the story. Besides, it refers to the mixture of
interest, desires, emotions, and moral principles that makes up each of these individuals” 17. Most of the writers of the literary works attempt to create such
striking and unique characters. Nevertheless, if the story seems “true to life”, the readers can generally find that the author has provided with the characters
sufficient reasons to behave as they do. Rohberger and Woods define the word characterization as “the process by which the author creates character, the devices
by which he makes the readers believe a character is the particular type of person he is” 20.
Eventually, Murphy states “characters must be understandable and come live for the readers so as to find out how the character is characterized in the
story” 161. There are nine points affirmed in his theory, namely personal description, characters as seen by others, speech, past life, conversation of others,
reaction, direct comment, thought, mannerism 162-173. First, based on the characters’ personal description, the readers are given
the details of the personal appearance and clothes. By reading the story, they can
13 identify the build, skin color, hair, hands, clothing or even the scar of the
characters. Second, the characters are portrayed through the eyes and opinion of the
others, for example the readers are able to know the characters from another character’s opinion or eyes. Another character helps the readers to get closer and
understand many characters. They get, as it were, a reflected image. Next, the readers are given some insights into the character from what the
persons say, whenever he or she speaks in conversation with others, and whenever he or she puts forward an opinion. Some expressions or replies such as kindness
or compliments can show how the characters look like. Then, the readers should know and learn something about the characters’
past life to get some clues to the characters. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through
the medium of another person. For an instance, if character A was bad-tempered towards his family, it seems obvious that now character A would behave bad-
temperately to his grandson. The character is presented through the conversation of other people and
thing they say about him or her. When two characters or more do talk about the other character, the things they say often give as the clue to the character of the
person spoken for the readers. The author gives the readers a clue by letting them know how characters
react to various events and situations. By learning the reasons of their reactions
14 and how they act out their reactions, the readers could determine whether
character A is a protagonist or antagonist character. The author comments or tells on a person’s character directly. Actually,
this is the easiest way for the readers to understand the character. If everything is there, then the readers can easily grab and enjoy.
The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect he or she is able to do what the readers cannot do in real life,
telling them what different people are thinking. Seemingly, the readers have a secret listening device plugged in the inmost thoughts of a person in a novel.
Lastly, the author shows a character’s habits, idiosyncrastes, and mannerism, which may also tell the readers something about the character. By
using their creativity and uniqueness, some authors successfully made something
special for their own characters that cannot be found in the other stories or novel.
Furthermore, Little proposes that there are some ways to analyze a character 93. It can be studied from
a. His or her basic characterization. This can be analyzed from:
1. The psychical condition of the characters, including his or her age. 2. The social relationship, which means the personal relationship with other
characters, or wider social relationship, such as social class and occupation. 3. The mental qualities that are the typical way of thinking, feeling, and acting.
b. His or her appearance from various point of view, included:
1. How a character sees him or her. 2. How various characters see him or her.
15 3. How he or she develops, or fails to develop during the course of the story.
c. His or her place in the work, namely:
1. The treatment of the author sketched or fully rounded portrayed descriptively or dramatically, treated sympatically or unsympatically.
2. His or her place in the story a leading character or a minor one 3. His or her relation to the theme, for example: whether the character embodies
something important the author has to say.
3. The Theory of Love
