The opposite of the protagonist is the antagonist : a character that opposes or thwarts the main character. Not all stories that have protagonists also have antagonists.
Protagonist Pronunciation Here's how to pronounce protagonist: pro- tag -uh-nist The Evolution of Protagonist The term protagonist originally referred to the character who engaged with the chorus in Ancient Greek tragedies the chorus is a group of actors who recite their lines in unison and represent "the masses," or the general public.
Types of Protagonist Most protagonists fit into one of the following four protagonist types: heroes, antiheroes, villain protagonists, and supporting protagonists. Heroes often have to make sacrifices along the way, always for the greater good and not for personal gain. In contemporary literary works that aim for realism, it's common to find heroes with more complicated personalities, or heroes who aren't "perfect," as the heroes of classical literature often seem to be.
Sometimes people use the terms "hero" and "protagonist" interchangeably, but this isn't correct. A hero is just one type of protagonist. Not all protagonists are heroes. Unlike contemporary heroes, who might have a few flaws in order to seem realistic, the antihero is distinctly unlike the hero in that they are often revealed not to have moral or particularly noble intentions.
They tend to act on behalf of their own self-interest, but they aren't wholly corrupt or immoral, like a villain. Villain Protagonist: Unlike the hero and antihero protagonists, the villain is unequivocally the "bad guy," devoted to evildoing.
Often a story's villain is the antagonist the character working against the protagonist ; however, villains can also be protagonists when they are the main character driving the story forward and have the audience's sympathy. Supporting Protagonist: A supporting protagonist is less common than the other types of protagonists.
When a supporting protagonist does appear, it's often when a story is told from the perspective of a seemingly minor character in the story. There may be a character in the story who seems more important or who experiences more of the "main action," but the supporting protagonist's otherwise minor role in the story becomes more important because the story is told from their perspective.
How to Identify the Protagonist of a Story It's often relatively simple to identify the protagonist. Some of the most common situations that can make it a bit more complicated to identify the protagonist of a story are: The protagonist doesn't get the most "time on stage": In this situation, another important character appears more often in the narrative, but that character is still not the focus of the audience's sympathy.
For instance, in Sophocles' tragedy Antigone , the king Creon decides to punish a man who died fighting on the losing side of a civil war by leaving him unburied in a public place, which would mean that his body would not be sanctified by the gods. The man's sister, Antigone, defies Creon and buries her brother anyway, so Creon orders her to be placed in a tomb and buried alive.
While in the tomb, Antigone hangs herself, and the rest of the play focuses on the aftermath of her death, which inspires multiple other suicides. Creon is ultimately on stage for far more of the play than Antigone. However, it is Antigone whose actions seem righteous wins the audience's sympathy, and whose death as well as the deaths it causes makes the play a tragedy, so Antigone would be the obvious protagonist here.
Another clue, of course, is that the play is titled after her. Multiple protagonists: While most stories will only have one protagonist, it's possible for stories to contain more than one—particularly when multiple subplots are woven into one larger narrative. For instance, Tolstoy's novel War and Peace chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia in through the narratives of five different families, with fifteen major characters, who receive approximately equal attention.
In part because of this lack of a single protagonist, Tolstoy maintained that War and Peace was not actually a novel. It's not a book about one story or one person's life, like a traditional novel—rather, it's a book about war and peace.
While War and Peace is an extreme example, it is possible for other books to contain a few protagonists from a few different subplots and to still qualify as novels. False Protagonists: A "false" protagonist is a technique in which an author introduces a character who seems to be the protagonist but is later revealed to not be.
For instance, the horror film Arachnophobia opens by following a nature photographer through the Amazon rainforest. The photographer appears to be the story's protagonist, but only 10 minutes into the film, a spider crawls into his sleeping bag and bites and kills him.
The photographer's body is shipped back to the US for burial with the spider still in the coffin. Upon arrival, the spider finds its way into the barn of a man named Ross Jennings, who becomes the film's protagonist, since it's his predicament a barn full of deadly spiders that drives the story forward.
By the time the film ends, the audience has completely forgotten about the false protagonist the photographer , but the jolt given by the death of that seeming protagonist sets up the thrilling suspense that fills the rest of the movie. Protagonist vs. Antagonist In order to better understand what makes a character a protagonist, it's helpful to also understand its opposite: antagonist.
Protagonist Examples Nearly every story has a protagonist, so there are countless examples to choose from. Example of a Hero Protagonist in Beowulf The epic poem Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the English language and its protagonist is an example of a traditional epic hero: he is relentlessly strong, brave, and just.
Example of a Supporting Protagonist in Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant private detective with astonishing powers of deductive reasoning. What's the Function of a Protagonist in Literature?
Here are a few reasons why protagonists are so important to stories: When a story has one central figure for an audience to follow, the story feels more cohesive. This character tends to tie together all of the story's elements. A protagonist tends to make a story more compelling, as the protagonist is the character that the audience relates to and cheers on through conflict of the plot.
The term "protagonist" comes from ancient Greek and roughly translates to "one who plays the first part. Alternate names: Main character, principal character, leading character, central character. Alternate definition: A supporter of a cause. A protagonist is usually central to the development of a story. However, there is no one right way to present and use a protagonist, and many storytellers have found creative ways of doing so over the years.
In many stories, the reader experiences the tale through the protagonist's eyes. But in some instances, several different characters describe their perspectives to the reader or the audience. In these cases, there is usually more than one protagonist. The story is told from several family members' different but equally important perspectives. The protagonist's nature and moral fiber can also vary. They don't necessarily need to be the hero of a story or even be likeable.
They may be an anti-hero or another character whom the reader or audience dislikes. For example, Becky Sharpe is one of the main protagonists in "Vanity Fair," but she's extremely flawed. By the end of the book, Becky is almost unlikable. In this way she's a very good example of another truth in literature: well-written protagonists are well-rounded characters. The protagonist should not be confused with another important lead character in a story, the antagonist , who opposes the protagonist.
In the most archetypical of narratives, this dynamic boils down to good versus evil. In "Hamlet," the titular character is also the protagonist. He seeks revenge for his father's murder and takes action to find and punish the killer.
Many literary arguments exist about who serves as Hamlet's antagonist: Is it his uncle, the murderous Claudius, or is it Laertes, son of Polonius, who seeks revenge for his own father's death at Hamlet's hand? Some scholars even have argued that Hamlet himself is his own antagonist, i. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an American masterpiece because it is both relevant and relatable.
William Shakespeare has no shortage of tragic protagonists, and Othello from his play Othello is no different. Othello is well aware that his success in life is hanging by the thread of chance, and so is easily convinced by Iago one of the most famous Shakespearean antagonists that his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him.
However, it is Othello who loses faith, and in turn, loses the person he loves most. Her journey is to move forward, while the antagonist of the story, Beloved, tries to hold her in the past. Harry Potter versus Voldemort is a modern good versus evil story in J. While Harry Potter has his flaws, as all heroes do, he grows over the course of his adventures and is able to face Voldemort at each opportunity. Harry learns that family is the friends you make, and the real power comes from within.
However, Jing-Mei is the protagonist because her story moves the narrative forward. Movie characters need to establish their goals and conflicts quickly to keep the plot moving. These famous protagonists from movies face their flaws and clear obstacles on the way to their resolution.
Luke Skywalker is its hero; Darth Vader is his antagonist. Luke must overcome the shadows of his past and the loss of his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to become the Jedi Master he has always longed to be.
Archaeologist Indiana Jones is handsome, intelligent, and brave unless there are snakes involved. But audiences have an easy time rooting for Dr. Jones, no matter the odds against him.
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