character study

noun

a work of fiction in which the delineation of the central character's personality is more important than the plot.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for character study

Gloria has at her disposal the whole range of human emotions, and this is how character-study ought to be done.
The Oscar International Film Festival: ‘Stranger By the Lake’ and Foreign Films You Should Watch
Jimmy So
February 2, 2014

FOR a character-study—a man made up entirely of limitations.
Ponkapog Papers
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
You cannot make a character-study out of a pirate,—he has no character.
The Gentle Reader
Samuel McChord Crothers
With character-study, however, this sketch has nothing to do.
The Campaign of Chancellorsville
Theodore A. Dodge
And it seems to me, if we can't get any money out of him, we might at least get a character-study.
The Pot Boiler
Upton Sinclair
I went straight across and took a seat opposite her to indulge my favorite habit of character-study.
Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft
Henry Ridgely Evans