Character is a Janus-faced concept that transgresses the border between the fictional and real, the performed and the authentic. From the Greek word kharattein, to engrave, the word suggests a mark or sign, something imprinted, hence indelible. Since The Characters of Theophrastus, a disciple of Aristotle, the word has acquired the moral meaning of an inscribed personal characteristic. As Hans Robert Jauss has argued, the characterological tradition developed in order to present a one sided character (‘the boastful man’, the ‘avaricious man’, the ‘Boor’, the ‘Misanthrope’) for ridicule, representing human behaviour in terms of excess or deficiency in relation to an ideal but unmet ethical mean or conception of the Good life.  Yet the educative and comic effect of ‘character’ portrayal has become problematic in the modern era.

Enquiries: Ned Curthoys ned.curthoys@anu.edu.au

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