Σκέτο "ήθος", ή "ηθικά χαρακτηριστικά" θα έλεγα.

Και λίγα συμφράζόμενα (συγκείμενο κατ' άλλους) δε θα έβλαπταν.

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Note added at 24 mins (2005-08-19 12:38:34 GMT)
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Και ακόμη \"ηθικός χαρακτήρας\" Bl. Διάφορα: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls...

Θα βοηθούσε αν μπορούσες να δώσεις και το συγκείμενο. Πάντως δεν θα άλλαζα τη λέξη "πορτρέτο" εδώ και παρόλο που καταλαβαίνω τους ενδοιασμούς σου δεν βλέπω γιατί να μην αναπαραχθεί το λεκτικό παιχνίδι του πρωτότυπου.

Μια και άλλο χαρακτήρας και άλλο προσωπικότητα, εναλλακτικά "σκιγράφηση χαρακτήρα".



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Note added at 6 days (2005-08-26 00:01:01 GMT) Post-grading
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Συμφωνώ απόλυτα Νίκο. Του χαρακτήρα όχι. Της προσωπικότητας σε ένα κείμενο όπως αυτό του pdf:
"
The Gentleman’s Magazine between two different kinds of historical truth: that of “incident” (or plot) and that of character. Lee in fact diverges quite as much from the accounts of Hume and Robertson on particulars of character as she does on those of incident (although she agrees with them, in large part on both). But Hume and Robertson themselves locate the probability of historiography- a form of narrative that might, like romance but unlike the novel, correctly include improbable incidents-primarily in their descriptions of character. Character occupies a central position in their narratives, whenever a major historical figure dies, his or her character is described at length, in a static manner close to what French writers of the previous century has called the portrait moral. The implied assumption of the stability of character is crucial to eighteenth-century historiography because whenever doubt arises as to the truth of the incident-as to what exactly did happen (and for want of conclusive evidence such doubt often does arise) -historians depend upon the truth of character, as they have established it, to make probable judgments –f how a particular person must have acted.
Thus the truth of character plays an important role in constructing the truth of incident.
In this respect Lee operates similarly to the historians of her day, with the exception that she does not use the descriptive form of portrait moral portraying her characters instead through the more dramatic forms of action and speech. Her conception of character, moreover, like Lafayette’s, emphasizes the force of emotions like love and jealousy."

θα δυσκολευόμουν να το δώ. Ο "χαρακτήρας" αποτελεί --inherent-- complex of attributes:

"inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions; "education has for its object the formation of character"- Herbert Spencer

αλλά μια και στην περίπτωση του κειμένου έχουμε και την έννοια του portrayal/part ίσως να έχεις δίκιο.