Imprison those characters taken in by revolutionary Bonapartism (4)
I believe the answer is:
trap
'imprison' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'taken in by revolutionary bonapartism' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'taken in by' says the answer is hidden in the clue.
'part' is hidden within 'bonapartism'.
'part' in reverse letter order is 'TRAP'.
'those characters' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trap that I've seen before include "Device to catch prey" , "Light carriage; ensnare" , "Snare; pony carriage" , "fault" , "Part of a snare" .)