Comparing string stored in a game object (Not the object name)

I discovered the answer myself. The reason it wasn't working is because I needed to use:gameObject.GetComponent<ScriptName>.string

Hello, thank you for taking the time to look at my question. I'm still new to Unity & C# and have only just begun learning. I'm working on a game right now; it's my first game and I'm still learning so I don't expect it to be very good, but I'm only making this game to learn.

So anyway on to my question. In one of my scripts I've set a public string and attached that to a game object. Now my string is set on a per object basis.

The Script:

 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class characterStats : MonoBehaviour 
 {
     //Variables
     private statManager expNeeded;
     //strings
     public string characterClass;
     //ints
     public int characterLevel;
     public int characterMaxHealth;
     public int characterCurrentHealth;
     public int characterMP;
     public int characterCurrentMP;
     public int characterExp;
     //Floats
     public float characterAttack;
     public float characterDeffence;
     public float characterMagicAttack;
     public float characterMagicDeffence;
     public float characterSpeed;
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start () 
     {
         
     }
     
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update () 
     {
         if (Input.GetKeyUp(KeyCode.Space)) //This is only here for testing
         {
             characterExp += 10;
         }
 
     }
 }

characterClass is the string I'm trying to compare. In another script I'm trying to compare my characterClass string, with another string, the problem is I can't figure out how.

My other script:

 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class statManager : MonoBehaviour 
 {
     private characterStats stats;
     public int xpNeeded;
     public bool levelUp;
     private string characterType;
 
     void Start ()
     {
         characterType = gameObject.GetComponent<characterClass> ();
     }
 
 
     void Update ()
     {
         if (stats.characterExp >= xpNeeded) 
         {
             levelUp = true;
         }
 
         if (levelUp) 
         {
             if (characterType == "Summoner")
             {
                 summoner();
             }
 
         }
     }
     
     void summoner ()
     {
         stats.characterLevel += 1;
         stats.characterMaxHealth = +5;
         stats.characterCurrentHealth = stats.characterMaxHealth - stats.characterCurrentHealth;
         stats.characterMP += 3;
         stats.characterCurrentMP = stats.characterMP - stats.characterCurrentMP;
         stats.characterAttack += 2;
         stats.characterDeffence += 2;
         stats.characterMagicAttack += 3;
         stats.characterMagicDeffence += 3;
         stats.characterSpeed += 1;
         xpNeeded *= xpNeeded;
         levelUp = false;
 
     }
 }
 

So basically I want to compare my characterClass to a string in my level up check. I hope my explanation was clear enough. Thank you for any help.