Quote:
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Can anyone present a satisfactory account of what in practice, in literary terms, it means for a character's sould to be visible? - Aiwendil
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Thanks,
Lyta, for your example of Frodo's light, which presented a category I had not accounted for in my little mock-up of a definition - or at least approach to one. Anyway.....
Indicators of a Visible Soul
1. A minimum of internal psychological processing by the character(s), whether in terms of thoughts, feelings, or dreams.
2. Character(s) appear as real, three-dimensional beings, almost always expressed through speech and behavior alone.
3. Internal attributes are evoked mythically according to the laws that govern the mythic setting: e.g.:
- dreams foretell real events
- White light indicates holiness, purity
- Green and yellow light indicates decay & corruption
- Red light indicates evil
In the above, I'm trying to account for various aspects of LotR, but also for applicability to other works.
Just a note on two- versus three- dimensionality: Those who assert that "visible soul" characterization is two-dimensional, are confusing internality with evocation of reality. When we see other people in the primary world but can't read their minds, we don't accuse them of being two-dimensional. We reserve such a pejorative for shallowness of character. Further, "visible soul" characterization, done well, is not the same as shallow characterization. It's not hard to perceive the difference between a real visible character from a cardboard cut-out.