RECAP OF THE PREVIOUS

CHAPTER

Elements of a Plot
1. Exposition: Provides the background
information of the story. The information
may include the characters, place of
event and time settings
2. Crisis: It arises in a plot when problems
begin to unfold. It brings complications
and conflicts. Once the conflicts appear,
tension rises as the story moves
towards its resolution

Elements of a Plot
3. Resolution: As the story moves from crisis
to resolution, the plot descend rapidly
from its climax to a solution of the
original conflicts
4. Conclusion: It sums up the outcome of
the story or the fate of the protagonist in
the wake of the resolution. Often the
conclusion is marked by someone who
returns home or leaves for another
destination.

The People Who Makes

The Story Interesting
CHAPTER FOUR

Who are these people?

They are the characters of the story.
Old Testament focuses more on action,
the characters involved in the story
supply the reason for our interest
A rabbinic saying quips God made
people because He loves stories
Our interest in stories reverts us to the
characters because we mostly identify
stories with the characters names.

 The story of Ruth

The story of David
The story of Judah
Tamar
The story of Sampson

Popular examples
of narratives in The story of Abraham
the Old Testament

The story Of Cain and

Abel

 Interpreting Old Testament narrative

requires us to specify the function of
characters in relationship to the plot.
How do we know the characters?

1. By Classifying the
Characters
In OT, interpreters should be able to
differentiate between major and minor
characters and categories the main
characters based on their role in the narrative
The Western Literary Analysis suggests the
following character types
Protagonist
Antagonist
Foil

Definitions
Protagonist: A leading Character or the
main figure and one of the most prominent
figures in a drama, movie, novel or other
functional text
Antagonist: A person who actively opposes
or is hostile to someone or something
Foil: A character who contrasts with
another character, usually the protagonist
in order to highlight particular qualities of
the other character

Classifying The Characters

MAJOR
CHARACTERS
PROTAGONIST
ANTAGONIST
FOIL

MINOR
CHARACTERS
These are people in a
story who are not
the main point of
the story, but still
interact with or
grab the attention
of the main
characters

Whats the reason for classifying the

characters?

The idea is to not to reduce a

character to a label, but to clarify
what role a narrator assigns to a
particular character in a particular
story

Examples
Davids Story (1 Samuel 16)
Samuel Anoints David
David

Protagonist

Saul

Antagonist and Foil

 1 Samuel 25
David, Nabal and Abigail
David
Protagonist
Nabal
Antagonist who opposes
David
Abigail
Foil (contrasting Davids
desire for
retaliation)

What do we do after classifying the

characters?
Ryken explains that readers must go
through the story as a travelling
companion of the protagonist
and view this protagonist as
someone who undertakes an
experiment in living

2. Means of
Characterization
Here, Characters may be presented by
means of description, through their
actions, speech, thoughts and
interactions with other characters.
The characterization in Old Testament
narrative resembles a quick pencil sketch,
but the biblical storytellers do not concern
themselves with the vivid depiction

Methods of Characterization
A.Direct Description:
The purpose of character description
in the Bible is not to enable the reader
to visualize the character, but to
situate the character in terms of his
place in the society, his own particular
situation and his outstanding traits.
In summary,
TO TELL WHAT KIND OF A PERSON HE IS

Biblical Examples
I) Judges 3:15 17
The description of Ehud as left
handed and Eglon as very fat
prepares the reader for Ehuds
successful attempt to sneak an
undetected sword (because it was
strapped to the side of his body
opposite that of most men) into
Eglons quarters and assassinate him

II) Genesis 39:6

The reference to Josephs good looks
also accounted for the sexual
advance made by Portiphars wife

Methods of Characterization
B.

Actions
Biblical narrators SHOWS us rather
than TELL us. Much attention is
placed on the characters' actions
because it reveals their nature.

Biblical Example
I) 1 Samuel 1:6-7
(NIV) Because the LORD had closed Hannahs
womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to
irritate her. This went on year after year.
Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the
LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and
would not eat
This kind of actions clearly shows that, the rival
(Peninnah) is a bitter and Jealous woman even
though the narrators does not say exactly

Methods of Characterization
C. Names:
OT narratives characters names
play a very significant role.
Ska points out, A very common way
to characterize a personage is to
give him or her a name.

Examples to shows how names

contributes to characterization
I) Genesis 21:1-7
Sarahs laughter of joy at her sons
birth replaces her laughter of
disbelief (Gen 18:12}. God, of
course, gets the last laugh when
Abraham follows his command in
Genesis 17:19 and names the boy
Isaac which means laughter

II) Names of characters contribute to

the authors intent by highlighting
character qualities, but they also
form puns and create irony as in the
book of Ruth where Naomi whose
name means pleasant one
demonstrate the irony of her name
when she responded angrily to the
women of Bethlehem who called out
her name when she returns

 Ruth 1:20 But she said to them, Do

not call me Pleasant One. Call me
Bitter One because Shaddai has
made me extremely bitter

D. Designation:
Sternberg suggests, A characters
emergence from anonymity may
correlate with a rise of importance. It
is no accident that the text (1
Samuel 16:1-13) consistently
withholds Davids name till the very
moment of anointment and elevation

 Designations contribute to
characterization and may betray how
one character is perceived by the
narrator or by other characters.

3. Dialogue
In studying OT narratives,
interpreters must also focus on the
statements and speeches made by
characters.
Eg Esaus blunt request for stew in
Genesis portrays him as a man
controlled by their cravings
While speech dominates, interpreters
should expect it to be compressed

Bar-Efrat explains that,

Conversations in biblical narrative are
never precise and naturalistic
imitations of real life conversation.
They are highly concentrated and
stylized, are devoid of idle chatter,
and all the details they contain are
carefully calculated to fulfil a clear
function

 Dialogue is made to carry a large part of the

freight of meaning

Example
Abrahams response to Isaac when Isaac asks
him where is the lamb for the burnt offering .
His answer, God himself will provide the
lamb for the sacrifice, foreshadows the
outcome and supplies the conviction by which
he passes Gods test. (Genesis 22:8)

 Now, we can study the people that

make the story interesting to us by
classifying them and noticing how
the narrator has characterized them.
THANK YOU