judgment and resolve

June 21, 2005

The Main Character Judgment is another factor in how the MC’s growth develops. The degree of clarity with which the Main Character sees the MC Symptom and Problem is tied to the MC Judgment. Do they end up in a good place or a bad place?

For example, let’s take Hamlet. Hamlet is a Change Main Character. However, it’s not a conscious choice he makes at the end. He starts out with a pretty good sense of where he wants to go, but at the end finds himself changed by the story. Even though the opportunity to see the difference between the Problem and Symptom is right there in front of him, he can’t. He has essentially lost sight of it all.

There is always this teeter totter between making the wrong choice and making the right choice.

The Judgment attenuates the growth of the Main Character (the spiral up or the spiral down). It lets you know, as an Author, what it feels like to be the Main Character in the end.

If the Judgment is Bad things are not as clear as you would like them to be. You can’t distinguish between what is the Problem and what is the Symptom, or what the Solution or Response is. Instead, you have this mish-mash of pieces. Obfuscation describes this state of things perfectly:

to make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand.

The MC can’t help but the take the wrong course - leaving them unresolved.

If the Judgment is Good, clarity is the key. The Main Character can easily tell the difference between Problem and Symptom - granting him the ability to make the right decision.