CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
by Judith Searle

 

JUDITH SEARLE is the author of THE LITERARY ENNEAGRAM: CHARACTERS FROM THE INSIDE OUT, forthcoming from Metamorphous Press: http://www.metamodels.com. She is also author of the novel LOVELIFE and a nonfiction book for actors called GETTING THE PART. She offers "Character Development" seminars in New York (October 28-29) and Los Angeles (November 11-12). http://members.aol.com/jsearle479.

 

Experienced writers know that plot and character are like Siamese twins: if one is terminally diseased, the other is doomed. The structure of any story is essentially a diagram of the process of significant changes, and these changes invariably have a strong relationship to the core personality style of the main character.

One of the tools many writers have found helpful in creating complex characterizations is the system called the Enneagram of Personality. In classical geometry, the enneagram is a nine-pointed figure inscribed in a circle. (You can see the Enneagram diagram on my website: http://members.aol.com/jsearle479)

In the Enneagram of Personality, this nine-pointed diagram is used to describe nine basic human temperaments and their interrelationships. Unlike standard typologies, which provide only static lists of traits, the Enneagram of Personality offers insights into the ways individuals of different temperaments change under stress and when feeling secure.

This approach is especially important for writers because the Enneagram describes the inner processes involved in character arcs. Through understanding the Enneagram, a writer can use the natural variations within a character's personality style to develop plot twists that are both inevitable and surprising.

The Nine Enneagram Styles

While the Enneagram describes nine basic life strategies, the system in its practical applications allows for a wide spectrum of human characters. Here is a thumbnail sketch of the nine personality styles:

* One (The Critic): "I perfect, therefore I am."
Ones are principled, orderly, self-doubting, irritable.

* Two (The Lover): "I love, therefore I am."
Twos are nurturing, seductive, emotional, proud.

* Three (The Achiever): "I succeed, therefore I am."
Threes are energetic, practical, driven, vain.

* Four (The Aesthete): "I suffer, therefore I am."
Fours are authentic, passionate, depressed, envious.

* Five (The Analyst): "I think, therefore I am."
Fives are observant, independent, cool, stingy.

* Six (The Pessimist): "I doubt, therefore I am."
Sixes are loyal, authority conscious, suspicious, fearful.

* Seven (The Optimist): "I enjoy, therefore I am."
Sevens are enthusiastic, egalitarian, self-indulgent, dilettantish.

* Eight (The Trail-Blazer): "I dominate, therefore I am."
Eights are forceful, impulsive, excessive, vengeful.

* Nine (The Connector): "I connect, therefore I am."
Nines are accepting, generous, distractible, indolent.

 

Hamlet as Enneagram Six

Hamlet is one of the most complex of all literary characters, so to account for his contradictory qualities would be an acid test of any system that claims to classify human temperaments.

In Enneagram terms, Hamlet is a Six (The Pessimist), preoccupied with worst-case scenarios, mistrustful, continually testing the loyalties of friends and family, often immobilized by his fears. The "To be or not to be" soliloquy, a distinctively Six interior monologue, illustrates the type's fundamental anxiety and contradictions. Hamlet's character arc--beginning with a fearful inability to act, moving through rash and counterproductive actions to a final calm acceptance of his destiny--is predicted by the inner lines of the Enneagram diagram.