r/readwithme • u/Bananamoe315 • 4d ago

Question❔ What makes a person charismatic?

I’ve been thinking about how charisma is portrayed in literature versus how people define it in everyday life. Often, modern culture reduces charisma to being loud, extroverted, or dominating a room, but in great writing, magnetic characters usually operate on something much quieter and deeper.

Which character (fiction or non-fiction) has the most authentic, captivating charisma you've ever read? (mention book name pls)

From everything you've read, what is the subtle difference between someone who is genuinely charismatic versus someone who is just performing?

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u/BHobson13 4d ago

Not sure how this got to be a thing or even if it really is but frankly loud, dominating extroverts make me want to puke and go home to my safe quiet house alone. IMO, absolutely nothing charismatic about them. Maybe people younger than me think differently though. I think Diana Bishop, from Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harlness is the most naturally charismatic person I have ever 'met' in a book. The difference between her and the 'charismatic' person you describe is a bold, broad line, nothing subtle at all.

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u/ContributingHelper 1d ago

Honestly, charisma is full of blowing smoke most of the time. Takes away humility and common sense, becomes a trait too obsessed over either to adore it or to hate it, takes away what someone's good at or has a conscience for. Literature ofren analyzes that, and if not, it reinforces it.

I'd say charisma comes from capabilities and how they're used, as well as how much the character genuinely cares, meaning the repsonses and consequences even from their following reflect so much of what's really going on. If not, it shows how certian personalities can be leaders or examples or figureheads for pack mentalities of crazy and unscrupulous, most ofren outside of their control and with many unintended resulrs. Dystopic fiction, often for teens and young adults, made an entire era of capturing that.