What Is a Flat Character? | Definition & Examples
- Melchior Antoine
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
A flat character is one who does not experience change or growth throughout the course of a story. This is opposed to a round character who experiences change for the better or the worse during the course of the narrative or in their character arc.
Now this does not necessarily mean that a flat character is a bad thing or a failure in characterization. A flat character, especially when they are not the main protagonist in the play can be successfully portrayed and serve a useful role in pushing along the plot, being juxtaposed against other characters as a foil or antagonist to the main hero, or being outright entertaining.
A good example of a flat character that works is Iago in Othello. We don’t even fully know what his motivations are for wanting to destroy Othello. He seems simply motivated by jealousy and outright evil mischief. This, to some extent, makes him interesting and mysterious.
However, at no point in the play do we see Iago experience any growth, change, or complicated motivations. He begins the play as a scheming villain and ends in silence, mocking characters questioning his motivation with the line: “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know” (Act 5, Scene 2). in this article, we look at how flat characters can be used to support the themes of a play and to highlight the protagonist with exaples, including King Claudius from Hamlet.
The purpose of a flat character
Flat characters are mostly only bad when they are the protagonist of the film, novel, short story, or play. No one wants to see a movie where the main character experiences no growth or change. However, as side characters, minor characters, or antagonists, they can work quite well in moving along the plot and supporting the themes of the story.
An example of a protagonist who can be seen as a flat character is Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet. At the beginning of the play, we see him love sick from the unrequited love of Rosalind. A few scenes later, he’s out of love with Rosalind and completely in love with Juliet. Romeo lacks all character growth and change. He ends the play exactly as he began: A love-struck teenager ruled completely by his emotions.
The flat character as antagonist
Villainous antagonists are often portrayed as flat characters. This is typically done to provide a contrast or relief to the main character whose character arc or growth we’re mainly interested in. For example, in Hamlet, King Claudius is a stereotypical villain who doesn’t hesitate to kill and manipulate others to do his bidding, even if it means sacrificing their lives in the process.
In the course of the play, we learn that King Hamlet dies after being poisoned by him. Claudius also accidentally kills Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) with poison after he tries to poison her son, Prince Hamlet. Polonius dies spying for him. Ophelia is rejected by Hamlet and eventually loses her mind and drowns herself after being recruited by Polonius, her father, to spy on Hamlet on behalf of King Claudius.
Laertes, the son of Polonius, also dies after being recruited by King Claudius in his botched plan to poison Hamlet. In short, King Claudius is directly and indirectly responsible for wiping out two whole families: The family of Polonius and his own family.
There is only one scene in the whole play where King Claudius is portrayed as something more than a sinister villain — The Prayer Scene (Act 3, Scene 3). There, we see King Claudius confessing to and expressing remorse at killing his own brother, King Hamlet, to steal the former king’s wife and his throne, and attempts to pray:
Oh, my offense is rank! It smells to heaven.
It has the primal eldest curse upon't -
A brother's murder. . . .
My fault is past. – But, oh, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn — ‘Forgive me my foul murder’?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder:
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
The line where he refers to the “primal eldest curse” is a Biblical allusion to Cain murdering his own brother Abel, a crime similar to what he has committed. He is also faced with the dilemma as to why or how he should pray even feeling immense remorse and guilt, as the rewards for his crime — “My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” — are not things that he is willing to give up.
This makes him the ideal antagonist for Hamlet. Hamlet holds himself to a higher standard, as does the author of the play. He is faced with the challenge of doing his father justice without violating either earthly law or heavenly law. Immediately after Claudius begins to pray, Hamlet walks in on him and even contemplates killing him then and there but changes his mind. Because what kind of a person kills a man as he prays?
However, he fails the test during the climax of the play, which occurs in the next scene — the Closet Scene (Act 3, Scene 4). While speaking with his mother, Hamlet sees whom he believes to be King Claudius listening behind the curtain, draws his sword and stabs, saying “How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!”
Sadly, Hamlet is mistaken. It is not King Claudius, but his advisor Polonius. So he ends up killing an innocent man. Polonius’ son, Laertes, decides to avenge his father by participating in a poison plot with King Claudius against Prince Hamlet.
In short, King Claudius as an antagonist is portrayed as a villainous man who doesn’t take into account any sort of moral or honor code when it comes to getting what he desires. This is in contrast to Hamlet, who feels passionately about making Claudius pay for killing his father but who has to discipline himself to carry out this justice through means that are both lawful and morally just.
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The flat character as a foil
Flat characters can also serve as effective foil characters. A foil character is one who highlights certain aspects of other major characters through contrast or juxtaposition. A good example of a flat character used as a foil is Lady Macduff. She exists in juxtaposition to Lady Macbeth. Lady Macduff is “good,” embraces her femininity, and has no desire to adopt the toxic masculinity and evil embraced by Lady Macbeth.
She shows up only in one scene, where she is portrayed accompanying her son. This is significant as Lady Macbeth appears to have no children. Even when the play suggests that she may have had children at one point, Lady Macbeth uses it as an opportunity to spit and stomp on all maternal instincts. Here she is encouraging Macbeth to go ahead with the murder of Duncan after he changes his mind not to go ahead with it:
I have given suck, and know
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
Lady Macduff, on the other hand, shows up only in one scene and is killed by murderers hired by Macbeth, alongside her son. She has none of the callousness of Lady Macbeth. Upon hearing news that murderers are out to get her, she protests by asserting her innocence:
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas,
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm?
Whereas Lady Macbeth is a femme fatale who is unafraid to commit crimes and murder to assert power, Lady Macduff is portrayed as innocent, effeminate, and a sad victim of a world turned upside down by evil. However, she is no way powerless. Her murder can be described as the climax of the play, causing her husband Macduff to ally with Macbeth’s enemies. The play ends when Macduff fights against and decapitates Macbeth to avenge his wife and son.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, October 19). What Is a Flat Character: Definition & Examples. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/flat-character |