How Do Characters Affect the Plot? In “Rachel the Clever,” the king is proud of how clever he is. He wants to marry a woman who is also clever. Imagine if the king was clumsy, not very smart, and very shy. Imagine that he wanted to get a bigger kingdom and lots of riches. How would this change the plot?
To understand how characters affect the plot, think about these elements:
• character traits, or qualities, such as pride, cleverness, clumsiness, or not being very smart
• character motives, or the reasons a character does something. For example, the king wants to marry a clever woman.
• character actions, or what the character does. For example, the king tries to find a clever woman by asking impossible riddles.
Characters usually do things because of their traits or motives. Try filling out sentence frames like these to see how the character’s traits and motives affected his or her actions:
The character is ______ so he ______.
The character wants ______ so he ______.
Practice Together
Make a Character Chart Work with your class to list the traits and motives of the king in “Rachel the Clever.” Discuss with your class how the king’s traits and motives affect his actions. How do his actions affect the plot?
| King’s Traits | Motives |
|---|---|
| proud | wants a clever wife |
| clever |
Try It!
Make a Character Chart With a partner, write down Rachel’s traits and motives. Discuss how they affect her actions and the plot.
Contrast Two Characters Work with a partner to contrast the king’s traits and motives with Rachel’s. Discuss how they affect the plot. Which character’s traits, motives, and actions cause the conflict? Which ones lead to the resolution?