Fiction Flat and Round Characters

Performer - Culture & LiteratureMarina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,

Margaret Layton © 2012

Fiction: characters and point of view


The distinction between flat characters and round characters was introduced by the novelist E. M. Forster (1879-1970) in his work Aspects of the Novel (1927).

1. Flat and round characters

Performer- Culture&Literature

Edward Morgan Forster


• can also be called ‘types’ or ‘caricatures’;• are built around a single psychological trait or quality;• are easy to recognise;• do not develop throughout the story, even if they

experience different relationships and situations;• are not always artistically inferior to round characters;• can be used to create a particular atmosphere inside

a complex narrative frame;• can be easily presented in a few sentences as in the

case of Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

2. Flat characters




In Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennet is the representationof the mother who has to marryfive daughters.

She was a woman of meanunderstanding, little information,and uncertain temper.When she was discontented shefancied herself nervous. Thebusiness of her life was to gether daughters married; its solacewas visiting and news.

(J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

2. Flat characters



• are more complex and have more than one facet;

• pass through the crucial events of the story;

• are remembered by the reader in connection with those scenes;

• their personality is modified by experience;

• are likely to influence the development of the story;

• are fit to surprise the reader in a convincing way;

• bring the variety of real life into the novel.

3. Round characters


Performer - Culture & Literature

An example of round character is Elizabeth Bennet, in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, when she realises she has been prejudiced towards Mr Darcy:

3. Round characters

I have courted prepossession andignorance, and driven reason away,where either were concerned. Tillthis moment, I never knew myself.

(J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)



4. The point of view

shifting from the narrator’s to the character’s, or from

one character’s to another’s

The point of view can be

fixed and therefore restricted




The wind caught the houses with full force.

(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)

Paul heard the wind catching the houses with

full force.(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)

The point of view is Paul’s

The narrative voice is the same

The point of view is that of an external narrator




Mrs Morel was a puritan.(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)

Her husband thought Mrs Morel was a puritan.

(from Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence)

The husband’s point of view

The narrator’s point of view = narrative voice and

point of view coincide

The point of view does not simply refer to the description or perception of facts and events, but also to their interpretation:



To sum up:•Narrative voice and point of view do not always coincide.•The narrative voice belongs to the person who is speaking, be it an internal or an external narrator.•Regards the person who, inside the story, sees the facts, thinks and judges.•May vary more often than the narrative voice.


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Fiction Flat and Round Characters