Character Analysis Exercise

Character analysis can be done in many forms:

• You can analyze a character in a play you’re studying.
• You can analyze a character you’re playing in a production.
• You can analyze a character in a play you’re writing.

This Character Analysis Exercise will work in all three circumstances: Analyze a character students are studying, playing, or writing about!

Have students do this exercise once they’ve either read the play at least once or they’ve written a first draft and are ready to dive deeper into character development. The goal of the exercise is for students to learn about a character through the eyes of others.

Instruction

1. Entry Prompt

• Students enter and respond to the prompt in drama journals or on a separate piece of paper.
• Describe yourself (both your public self and your private self) using the five senses. What is your look, sound, texture/feel, smell? Have them identify a specific food for taste.

2. Activity: Mirror Monologue

• This is a nonverbal exercise. It is suggested that everyone goes at the same time, so that no one is singled out. You can have students facing in different directions so that they are in their own space and not looking at others or being looked at.
• Say to students, Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror. When do you look in the mirror? What do you do when you look in the mirror? The goal is to get students to start a simple action. You may want to give some suggestions: Do you brush your teeth? Do you check what your clothes look like? Do you wash your face? Do you wear contacts? What are you doing?
• Say to students: How do you see yourself? When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see yourself as confident? Make a pose or gesture that shows that. Do you see yourself as insecure? Make a pose or gesture that shows that.
• Say to students: How do you think others see you? When others look at you, what do they see? Make a pose or gesture that shows how others see you.
• Bring students back to neutral, and change the tone of the moment with an upbeat game or improv.
• Afterward, discuss the exercise. What was their experience?

3. Character Analysis

• In the same way that we can reflect on how we see ourselves and how others see us, we can do with characters. What can we learn about a character through the eyes of others?
• The first step is for everyone to choose the character they’re going to analyze. Students who are doing this as a rehearsal exercise should choose their own character.
• Divide students into small groups. Have each person in the group share their opinion of their chosen character. What do they think of them? Why did they choose them? What do they like about this character? What don’t they like about this character?
• Now that students have had a chance to verbalize their thoughts, have them write them down. Give students the Character Worksheet (download below) and have them record their thoughts on their chosen character.
• Next, students will choose a second character. They will now go through the script and identify everything this second character says about the chosen character.
• • What words do they use?
  • What attitude is behind the words?
  • What is the emotional context behind the words?
• Have your students highlight in their script how the second character responds to the chosen character. Again, have them focus on the words they use, the attitude behind the words, and the emotional context of those words.
• Bring the students back into groups. Have each person share what they’ve learned about their character from analyzing the second character. Are they surprised? How does this second character see their character?
• Now that students have had a chance to verbalize their thoughts, have them write them down. On the Character Worksheet students will answer the question, “How does this second character see your character?” They are to use the text to support their answers.
• Bring everyone together and discuss the exercise.