IGCSE English Literature Practice Test

'Sympathy' plays a crucial role in enhancing character development by allowing readers to connect emotionally with the characters’ struggles. When a character faces challenges, hardships, or emotional turmoil, the author can evoke sympathy by highlighting their vulnerabilities, motivations, and human experiences. This connection encourages readers to invest in the character’s journey, understanding their choices and actions on a deeper level.

Through the lens of sympathy, readers can appreciate the complexity of a character's life and the factors that influence their decisions. Such emotional engagement fosters a sense of empathy, making characters feel more realistic and multidimensional. Readers are more likely to remember and reflect upon characters they feel sympathy for, which adds depth to the narrative and enriches the thematic elements of the story.

While options that suggest depicting characters as purely heroic, minimizing the importance of character backstory, or presenting characters as one-dimensional do not facilitate a strong connection with the audience, they limit the exploration of character complexity. In contrast, the portrayal of characters’ struggles through sympathetic situations allows for a richer and more engaging narrative.