in character vs out of character

in character

prep
  • Acting as the character, not as oneself. 

adj
  • Consistent with one's personality, or the typical behavior one is known for. 

out of character

prep
  • Not in character; not successfully performing within the mindset of a given character in a theatrical performance. 

  • Inconsistent with one's personality, disposition, or usual expected behaviour. 

  • Not acting; not "on"; behaving within one's natural personality rather than that of a character, or taking actions entirely outside the fictional context. 

How often have the words in character and out of character occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )