Exact representation (5481) (charakter from charasso = to engrave and source of our English word character which describes one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual) was used in classical Greek of an engraver who mints coins or an engraving tool, a die, a stamp, a branding iron, a mark engraved, an impress or a stamp on coins and seals. Later it came to mean the impression itself, usually engraved, cut in, or stamped on in the form of a character, a letter, a mark or a sign. This impression or mark with its particular features was considered to be the exact representation of the object whose image it bore. Charakter is a die made by an impress, like on a signet ring, the impression being identical although they are two separate entities. As a figure of speech charakter described a distinctive mark "impressed" on a person, by which he is distinguished from others. It is thus a characteristic of that person and was a Greek idiom for a person’s features. The author is saying that whatever the Divine essence is, Jesus is the perfect expression and thus affirms the deity of Jesus Christ and alludes to the the plurality of God. Jesus is distinct from God the Father and yet identical with Him. Charakter conveys the idea of exact correspondence as when Jesus said that "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9) He who had seen Jesus had seen the Father because Jesus is the exact representation, the exact expression of the Father's attributes, nature, etc so that all that God is, Jesus is, and yet two distinct Persons of the Godhood. Jesus is all that God is, not has been given what He is! God hasn't given Jesus something. He already is! Paul concurs that Jesus "is the image of the invisible God" (see note Col 1:15)