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Literature vocabulary · Character and Characterization

Dynamic character

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCommon term

In literature, dynamic character means: A character who goes through an important inner change during the story, for example in personality, beliefs or understanding.

In Turkish: dinamik karakter, gelişen karakter, değişen karakter

How it is used

Contrasted with a static character, who stays the same. Essays often trace how and why a dynamic character changes; the path of that change is called a character arc. Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol is a classic example.

Example sentences

  1. Scrooge is a dynamic character: by the end he is generous and kind.

  2. Is the narrator's sister a dynamic character, or does she only seem to change?

Common collocations

  • dynamic and static characters
  • a dynamic character
  • character arc
  • round characterA complex, many-sided character with mixed qualities and believable motives, who can surprise the reader in a convincing way.
  • flat characterA simple character built around one main quality or idea, who can be summed up in a sentence and does not change or surprise the reader.
  • characterizationThe ways a writer creates and reveals a character's personality, through description, actions, speech, thoughts and other characters' reactions.
  • protagonistThe main character of a story, whose goals, problems and choices drive the plot and whom the reader follows most closely.

More terms: Character and Characterization

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