A theoretical reconsideration of the concept of character is presented in four parts: (1) A critique of the metapsychological conceptualization of character and an attempt to show how it refers to actions and modes of action; (2) An extended restatement of the concept of character in the terms of action language; (3) A close analysis of what is meant by ego-syntonicity, the pivotal concept in clinical and theoretical discussions of character; (4) A reformulation in action terms of the reasonable claims that can be made about character change through psychoanalytic treatment, in which connection an attempt is made to clarify both the usefulness and the ambiguity of the distinction between change of content and change of structure.