TIP OF THE DAY 122: Character narrative roles (not marked in Logos/Verbum)

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day

QUESTION: What narrative roles can be filled by characters?

ANSWER: from Perplexity

Characters in literature and storytelling fulfill various narrative roles that contribute to the development of the plot, themes, and overall story structure. Here are the key narrative roles filled by characters:

Primary Roles

Protagonist

The protagonist is the central character of the story, around whom the main plot revolves. This character:

Drives the story forward

Undergoes the most significant character development

Is often, but not always, the viewpoint character

Antagonist

The antagonist opposes the protagonist, creating the main conflict of the story. This character:

Directly challenges the protagonist's goals

Can be a person, a group, or even a force of nature

Doesn't necessarily have to be "evil," but must create obstacles for the protagonist

Deuteragonist

The deuteragonist is a secondary main character, often closely associated with the protagonist. This character:

May be a sidekick, ally, or even a rival to the protagonist

Provides support or additional perspective to the main storyline

Can sometimes be as important to the plot as the protagonist

Supporting Roles

Confidant

The confidant is a character in whom the protagonist confides, revealing inner thoughts and struggles. This role:

Helps expose the protagonist's vulnerabilities and motivations

Often provides advice or emotional support

Can overlap with other roles like mentor or love interest

Mentor

The mentor guides and advises the protagonist. This character:

Provides wisdom, knowledge, or skills to the protagonist

Often plays a crucial role in the protagonist's growth

May have a limited presence but significant impact on the story

Love Interest

The love interest is a character who serves as a romantic partner or potential partner for the protagonist. This role:

Can create additional conflict or motivation for the protagonist

Often undergoes their own character development

May or may not end up with the protagonist by the story's end

Additional Roles

Foil

A foil character contrasts with another character (often the protagonist) to highlight particular qualities. This role:

Emphasizes specific traits of the character they're contrasting

Can provide alternative perspectives on the story's events

May be an ally or an antagonist

Tertiary Characters

Tertiary characters play minor roles in the story but can still be significant[4][7]. These characters:

Add depth and realism to the story world

May include background characters or those with brief but impactful appearances

Can sometimes evolve into more significant roles

By utilizing these various character roles, authors can create rich, complex narratives that engage readers and effectively convey themes and ideas. Each role serves a specific purpose in advancing the plot, developing characters, and enriching the overall storytelling experience.1

1 and https://timstout.wordpress.com/graphic-novel-writing/eight-character-roles/ and and https://www.writingmastery.com/blog/character-roles-understanding-the-different-types-of-characters-in-fiction and and https://www.scribophile.com/academy/character-types and and https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-are-the-types-of-characters-in-a-story/ and and https://www.masterclass.com/articles/guide-to-all-the-types-of-characters-in-literature https://fictionary.co/journal/types-of-characters/ https://www.storyplanner.app/blog/post-143/character-roles/ https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/fiction/w/character-development/8102/the-five-major-character-types-in-storytelling https://blog.reedsy.com/types-of-characters/ https://www.skillshare.com/en/blog/your-essential-guide-to-characters-in-literature-and-more/

MJ. Smith

QUESTION: How do Bible commentators use these narrative roles?

SOFTWARE: Use a book search against type:”BibleCommentary” with a search argument of each role.

ANSWER:from Brueggemann, Walter. 1 & 2 Kings. Edited by Samuel E. Balentine. Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2000.

Protagonist: 1 Kings 17:1-24

One is struck by the abruptness of the appearance of Elijah. He comes from nowhere, completely without any credentials or authority. He breaks in upon the royal history that abhors abruptness and that overflows with credentials and protocol. The narrative is arranged to dramatize the collision course of king and prophet in which the prophet regularly prevails. The confrontation between king (Ahab) and prophet (Elijah) is an intensely personal meeting. Two factors, however, point beyond a personal confrontation. First, the name of the prophet, “Yah is my God,” indicates that the central protagonist against the king is not the prophet, but the God who sends the prophet. Second, Elijah carried “the word of the Lord,” almost a palpable force set loose in the midst of Israelite history. The effect of the intrusion is to destabilize and delegitimate royal claims that have endured this long only because of the restraint of Yahweh. The name of the prophet and the power of the word attest that this is a challenge of Yahweh to the proponents of Baal (see 16:31–32).[1]

From Wray Beal, Lissa M. 1 & 2 Kings. Edited by David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham. Vol. 9. Apollos Old Testament Commentary. Nottingham, England; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Antagonist: 1 Kings 16:29-34

Through his marriage Ahab serves and worships Baal, building him a temple and altar in Samaria. Additionally, Ahab continues to make sacred poles for Asherah so that the male and female Canaanite deities are equally present in Israel. Yet Ahab’s commitment to Baal cannot be fully measured, for he elsewhere works in cooperation with YHWH’s prophets (1 Kgs 18:17–20), consults them before battle (22:6–8), repents at their rebuke (21:27), and his sons’ names are theophoric (Ahaziah, Jehoram; see Angel 2007). Regardless, his evaluation interprets his actions as wholly evil and sets him above all previous kings in his provocation of YHWH. The influence of these practices is so widespread that for several chapters Baal, the god of Ahab and Jezebel, is YHWH’s antagonist.[2]

Note the reference to theophoric names, a piece of data we discussed earlier.

From Dell, Katharine, and Will Kynes, eds. Reading Job Intertextually. New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2013.

Deuteragonist: Job

In the course of reading the text, the following interpretive approaches gradually emerge. The prologue with its two scenes set in heaven offers an answer to the question of why the pious suffers guiltlessly in, at first glance, a most unexpected way, since his misery basically results from a wager between God, as capricious ruler of the world, and Satan, as malicious deuteragonist, setting the whole action into motion. Without sharing the cynicism inherent in this approach, Job declares—be it as a sufferer in the frame story or as a rebel in the dialogues—that everything, good as well as bad, has its origin in God, condensing this view in two sentences, as simple as they are stupendous: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken” (Job 1:21) and “Shall we accept the good from the hand of God and not accept the bad?” (Job 2:10). With his submissive attitude, however, the protagonist reaches the limit of what is conceivable, so that God’s ambivalence induces him to unusually blasphemous tones—God, a sadist?—leading him to the point of breaking up God’s oneness, as he accuses God before God:[3]

From Fritz, Volkmar. A Continental Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003.

Confidant: 2 Kings 8:7-15

In this case vv. 7–10a*, 14–15* form a consistent narrative with a clear plot. When Elisha is in Damascus Ben-hadad sends his confidant Hazael to him to ask about God’s will regarding his illness. No further details are revealed about the nature of this illness, but it appears to be serious and long-lasting. The prophet’s answer is clear and positive: God grants Ben-hadad’s survival. This proclamation in no way agrees with Hazael’s plans: he therefore suffocates the king with a wet blanket and kills him.[4]

From Provan, Iain W. 1 & 2 Kings. Edited by W. Ward Gasque, Robert L. Hubbard Jr., and Robert K. Johnston. Understanding the Bible Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012.

Mentor: 1 Kings 18:1-21

His seeming lack of enthusiasm for going along with God stands in sharp contrast to Elisha’s enthusiasm for going along with Elijah. The prophetic mantle having been cast over his shoulders (and thus put to considerably more use than in v. 13), he immediately leaves his normal employment to follow his new mentor (v. 20). A slight delay admittedly ensues—but only so that (after receiving Elijah’s assurance that “No one is preventing you,” v. 20) he may properly cut his ties with his old life, kissing his parents goodbye and burning his bridges (as it were) by destroying his old means of sustenance (yoke of oxen … plowing equipment, v. 21). Here is someone who leaps at the chance to be a prophet, soon to succeed someone who has tried to lay down his prophetic office. Here is someone who “runs,” as Elijah did (18:46) before he became suddenly weary. A promising apprentice indeed, cutting loose from human securities and placing himself in God’s hands—and someone whose very name points to the future era of complete victory. Elijah has all but had his day—the day when it was established that “the Lord is God” (18:39). The new era belongs to Elisha: “God saves.”[5]

From Exum, J. Cheryl. Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. Vol. 215. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

Love Interest: Ruth

Just as in the discussion of same-sex relationships I considered readings that ranged from intense friendship to lesbianism, so under romantic readings I want to consider randomly a range of responses to the Ruth-Boaz relationship from occasional slippages into melodramatic or impressionistic language in scholarly commentary to the full-fledged transformation of the text into a love story in its cinematic version. The heterosexual bond is already considered ‘natural’. What concerns me here is the further naturalizing of the heterosexual relationship by romanticizing it, by which I mean adding a love interest. Romanticizing readings find more in Ruth and Boaz’s relationship than a kinsman’s willingness to take responsibility for the welfare of two needy female relatives, or the juridical issue of redemption, or the obligation of a kinsman to perpetuate his relative’s family and ‘the name of the dead in his inheritance’ (4:10), or even a model for living according to the dictates of ḥesed. They find feelings. They probe into characters’ emotions that the text only hints at. The love interest between Ruth and Boaz does not have to be consciously developed, as it is, for example, in Dana Fewell and David Gunn’s reading of Ruth, where Ruth and Boaz are sexually attracted to each other when they first meet in his field. I am also interested in the implicit romanticizing that takes place in even the most reserved scholarly prose.[6]

From Konkel, August H. 1 & 2 Kings. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.

Foil: 1 Kings 11:1-43

Marvin Sweeney has proposed that the narrative presents Solomon as an unfaithful king to serve as a foil to Josiah, the model of a faithful king. The theme of apostasy permeates the narrative (chs. 3–11). Solomon compromises the covenant in his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter, apparently as a means to secure his kingdom, but in the end Jeroboam finds refuge in Egypt, and Pharaoh becomes a means through which the revolt is facilitated and the kingdom divided. It is also notable that the administrative taxation system (4:7–19) appears to have an imbalance that discriminates against the northern tribes, violating the principles of just rule. The summary of Solomon’s rule is that he does what is wrong (11:4) while the summary of the rule of Josiah is that he does what is right without exception (2 Kings 22:2), just as David his father.[7]

From Judd, Andrew. Modern Genre Theory: An Introduction for Biblical Studies. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2024.

Tertiary Characters

In biographies, we expect the camera to stay focused on the primary subject throughout. In this respect, the gospels pass the boomerang test. Jesus is the consistent thread that ties everything together. Various secondary and tertiary characters come in and out of frame, usually for a single episode, and these interactions each serve to reveal something about Jesus. I would love to know what happens to the rich man in the end (Mark 10:22), but he quickly exits stage left, leaving us with the question, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26).

This means the other characters need only be roughly sketched. Don’t expect a comprehensive and nuanced depiction of the Pharisees, for instance. They are there, not to refine our insights into first-century politics and polemics, but as a foil to reveal Jesus’s characteristic teaching and personality.[8]

[1] Walter Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, ed. Samuel E. Balentine, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2000), 214.

[2] Lissa M. Wray Beal, 1 & 2 Kings, ed. David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham, vol. 9, Apollos Old Testament Commentary (Nottingham, England; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2014), 225.

[3] Gabrielle Oberhänsli, “Job in Modern and Contemporary Literature on the Background of Tradition: Sidelights of a Jewish Reading,” in Reading Job Intertextually, ed. Katharine Dell and Will Kynes (New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2013), 274–275.

* 7 Elisha went to Damascus while King Ben-hadad of Aram was ill. When it was told him, “The man of God has come here,”

8 the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the Lord through him, whether I shall recover from this illness.”

9 So Hazael went to meet him, taking a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he entered and stood before him, he said, “Your son King Ben-hadad of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this illness?’ ”

10 Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover’; but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.”

2 Kings 8:7–10 (NRSV)

* 14 Then he left Elisha, and went to his master Ben-hadad, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.”

15 But the next day he took the bed-cover and dipped it in water and spread it over the king’s face, until he died. And Hazael succeeded him.

2 Kings 8:14–15 (NRSV)

[4] Volkmar Fritz, A Continental Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 275.

[5] Iain W. Provan, 1 & 2 Kings, ed. W. Ward Gasque, Robert L. Hubbard Jr., and Robert K. Johnston, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 147–148.

[6] J. Cheryl Exum, Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women, vol. 215, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 150–151.

[7] August H. Konkel, 1 & 2 Kings, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 225.

[8] Andrew Judd, Modern Genre Theory: An Introduction for Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2024), 214.