I am always looking for new approaches to lead actors towards a USEFUL character analysis. Every year I try to throw in some new analysis questions and get rid of others that I no longer see viable or I have lost interest in reading (more likely the later). This year I am asking students to include the following two questions:
- What is it that the character is holding on to that has already left their grasp? People, and thus characters, define them self by everything they refuse to let go of. As Linda Loman says in Death of a Salesman, “Life is a casting off.” When we refuse to loosen our grip – refuse to open our hands to let life run through it – we are creating heartbreak, turmoil, anxiety and distortions that do better in defining us then who we present in our shiniest moments. Look for the white knuckles in people and in characters and you will know who you are dealing with.