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{{Short description|Main character of a creative work}}{{other uses}}File:William Morris Hunt - Hamlet - 2000.1231 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|thumb|200px|Shakespeare’s 1864}}A protagonist ({{etymology|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|πρωταγωνιστής}} {{grc-transl|πρωταγωνιστής}}|one who plays the first part, chief actor}})πρωταγωνιστής, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library.“protagonist”. Dictionary.com, Random House. Retrieved November 17, 2017.{{OEtymD|protagonist|accessdate=}} is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several stories, then each subplot may have its own protagonist.Duncan, Stephen. A Guide to Screenwriting Success: Writing for Film and Television. Rowman & Littlefield (2006) {{ISBN|9780742553019}}The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist’s character, and having the protagonist develop as a result.

Etymology

The term protagonist comes {{etymology|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|πρωταγωνιστής}} ({{grc-transl|πρωταγωνιστής}})|actor who plays the chief or first part}}, combined of {{wikt-lang|grc|πρῶτος}} ({{grc-transl|πρῶτος}}, ‘first’) and {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀγωνιστής}} ({{grc-transl|ἀγωνιστής}}, ‘actor, competitor’), which stems from {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀγών}} ({{grc-transl|ἀγών}}, ‘contest’) via {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀγωνίζομαι}} ({{grc-transl|ἀγωνίζομαι}}, ‘I contend for a prize’).WEB,www.etymonline.com/word/protagonist#etymonline_v_2724, Protagonist, Online Etymology Dictionary, 28 April 2021,

Ancient Greece

The earliest known examples of a protagonist are found in Ancient Greece. At first, dramatic performances involved merely dancing and recitation by the chorus. Then in Poetics, Aristotle describes how a poet named Thespis introduced the idea of one actor stepping out and engaging in a dialogue with the chorus. This was the invention of tragedy, and occurred about 536 B.C.Müller, K.O. History of the literature of Ancient Greece. [Library of Useful Knowledge.] Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London (1840) page 306 Then the poet Aeschylus, in his plays, introduced a second actor, inventing the idea of dialogue between two characters. Sophocles then wrote plays that included a third actor.ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/art/protagonist, Protagonist – literature, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1 April 2016, Aristotle. Poetics. Oxford University Press (January 20, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0199608362}}Packard, William. The Art of the Playwright. Thunder’s Mouth Press. 1997 {{ISBN|1-56025-117-4}}A description of the protagonist’s origin cited that during the early period of Greek drama, the protagonist served as the author, the director, and the actor and that these roles were only separated and allocated to different individuals later.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=0jhjDwAAQBAJ&q=protagonist+definition+classical+greece&pg=PT235, Moreno’s Personality Theory and its Relationship to Psychodrama: A Philosophical, Developmental and Therapeutic Perspective, Telias, Rozei, 2018-07-06, Routledge, 9781351021081, en, There is also a claim that the poet did not assign or create the protagonist as well as other terms for actors such as deuteragonist and tritagonist primarily because he only gave actors their appropriate part.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=lgpaDwAAQBAJ&q=protagonist+protagonistes+classical+greece&pg=PT513, History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, Bart, M. P., 2018-03-22, Charles River Editors, 9781632956316, en, {{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} However, these actors were assigned their specific areas at the stage with the protagonist always entering from the middle door or that the dwelling of the deuteragonist (second most important character) should be on the right hand, and the tritagonist (third most important character), the left.In Ancient Greece, the protagonist is distinguished from the term “hero”, which was used to refer to a human who became a semi-divine being in the narrative.BOOK, A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama, Storey, Ian, Allan, Arlene, Blackwell Publishing, 2008, 978-1405102148, Malden, MA, 84,archive.org/details/guidetoancientgr0000stor/page/84,

Types

Hero/Heroine

In literary terms, a hero (masculine) or heroine (feminine) protagonist is typically admired for their achievements and noble qualities.WEB,www.britannica.com/art/hero-literary-and-cultural-figure, Hero, Britannica, 28 April 2021, Heroes are lauded for their strength, courage, virtuousness, and honor, and are considered to be the “good guys” of the narrative.WEB,www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hero, Hero, Merriam-Webster, 28 April 2021, Examples include DC Comics’ Superman (hero) and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (heroine).

Antihero

An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism, courage, and morality.Examples include Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye, Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby.

Tragic hero

A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy.Examples include Oedipus from Oedipus Rex and Prince Hamlet from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Villain protagonist

The protagonist is not always conventionally good.WEB,public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1118755, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 28 April 2021, Contrasting the hero protagonist, a villain protagonist is a protagonist who is a villain, driving the story forward regardless of the evil qualities the main character has. These traits can include being cruel, malicious, and wicked.WEB,www.dictionary.com/browse/villain, Villain, Dictionary.com, 28 April 2021, Examples include Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov’s LolitaBOOK, Byford, Andy,books.google.com/books?id=CjPNDwAAQBAJ&q=%22villain+protagonist%22&pg=PA137, Transnational Russian Studies, Doak, Connor, Hutchings, Stephen, 2020-01-30, Oxford University Press, 978-1-78962-087-0, en, and Richard III in William Shakespeare’s eponymous play.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=NLFPAAAAMAAJ&q=%22villain+protagonist%22&pg=PA376, The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge, 1918, Encyclopedia Americana Corporation, en,

Supporting protagonist

When a supporting protagonist appears, the story is told from the perspective of a character who appears to be minor. This character may be more peripheral from the events of the story and are not as involved within the “main action” of the plot. The supporting protagonist may be telling the story while viewing another character as the main influence of the plot.WEB,www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/protagonist, Protagonist, LitCharts, 28 April 2021, One example is Nick in The Great Gatsby.{{Cn|date=December 2023}}

Further examples

Euripides’ play Hippolytus may be considered to have two protagonists, though one at a time. Phaedra is the protagonist of the first half, who dies partway through the play. Her stepson, the titular Hippolytus, assumes the dominant role in the second half of the play.Euripides. Hippolytos. Oxford University Press (October 29, 1992) {{ISBN|978-0195072907}}In Henrik Ibsen’s play The Master Builder, the protagonist is the architect Halvard Solness. The young woman, Hilda Wangel, whose actions lead to the death of Solness, is the antagonist.Ibsen, Henrik. Meyer, Michael Leverson. editor. Ibsen Plays: 1: Ghosts; The Wild Duck; The Master Builder. Dramatists Play Service Inc. (1980) {{ISBN|9780413463302}}. page 241In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is the protagonist. He is actively in pursuit of his relationship with Juliet, and the audience is invested in that story. Tybalt, as an antagonist, opposes Romeo and attempts to thwart the relationship.Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare; Third edition (July 15, 2012) {{ISBN|9781903436912}}In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet, who seeks revenge for the murder of his father, is the protagonist. The antagonist is the character who most opposes Hamlet, Claudius (though, in many ways, Hamlet is his own antagonist).Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Simon & Schuster (July 1, 1992) {{ISBN|978-0743477123}}Sometimes, a work will have a false protagonist, who may seem to be the protagonist, but then may disappear unexpectedly. The character Marion in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho (1960) is an example.Kolker, Robert Phillip. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho: A Casebook. Oxford University Press (2004) {{ISBN|9780195169195}}A novel may contain a number of narratives, each with its own protagonist. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle, for example, depicts a variety of characters imprisoned and living in a gulag camp.The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947–2005: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., Daniel J. Mahoney. Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace depicts fifteen major characters involved in or affected by a war.Moser, Charles. 1992. Encyclopedia of Russian Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 298–300.Though many people equate protagonists with the term hero and possessing heroic qualities, it is not necessary, as even villainous characters can be protagonists. For example Michael Corleone from The Godfather (1972–1990) film series (1978–1983).In some cases, the protagonist is not a human: in Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down, a group of anthropomorphised rabbits, led by the protagonist Hazel, escape their warren after seeing a vision of its destruction, starting a perilous journey to find a new home.Adams, Richard, 1920–2016. Watership Down. London: Rex Collings Ltd, 1972. Print.

References

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