Protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist (from the Greek πρωταγωνιστής protagonistes, "one who plays the first part, chief actor"[1]) is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify. In the theatre of Ancient Greece, three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a tragedy; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the other roles were played by deuteragonist and the tritagonist.

The terms protagonist, main character and hero are variously defined and, depending on the source, may denote different concepts. In fiction, the story of the protagonist may be told from the perspective of a different character (who may also, but not necessarily, be the narrator). An example would be a narrator who relates the fate of several protagonists, perhaps as prominent figures recalled in a biographical perspective. Often, the protagonist in a narrative is also the same person as the focal character, though the two terms are distinct. Excitement and intrigue alone is what the audience feels toward a focal character, while a sense of empathy about the character's objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. Although the protagonist is often referred to as the "good guy", it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to be the clear villain, or antihero, of the piece.

The principal opponent of the protagonist is a character known as the antagonist, who represents or creates obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. As with protagonists, there may be more than one antagonist in a story. The antagonist may be the story's hero - where the protagonist is a police officer for example, the antagonist could be a a terrorist. Sometimes, a work will offer a particular character as the protagonist, only to dispose of that character unexpectedly, as a dramatic device. Such a character is called a false protagonist. Marion in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) is a famous example.

When the work contain subplots, these may have different protagonists from the main plot. In some novels, the protagonists may be impossible to identify, because multiple plots in the novel do not permit clear identification of one as the main plot, such as in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle, depicting a variety of characters imprisoned and living in a gulag camp, or in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, depicting 15 major characters involved in or affected by a war.

In psychodrama, the "protagonist" is the person (group member, patient or client) who decides to enact some significant aspect of his life, experiences or relationships on stage with the help of the psychodrama director and other group members, taking supplementary roles as auxiliary egos.

Sometimes, antagonists and protagonists may overlap, depending on what their ultimate objectives are considered to be.

References

  1. ^ πρωταγωνιστής, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library, and Online Etymology Dictionary.

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  • Protagonist — Protagonist …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • protagonist — 1. This is a good example of what Fowler (1926) called a ‘popularized technicality’, i.e. a term used in a special domain (in this case, ancient Greek drama) and extended into general use with consequent (and controversial) shifts in meaning. In… …   Modern English usage

  • protagonist — PROTAGONÍST, Ă, protagonişti, ste, s.m. şi f. 1. Persoană care joacă rolul principal într o piesă de teatru, într o operă, într un film; p. gener. erou, personaj principal. 2. Reprezentant de frunte al unei mişcări, al unei teorii etc.; promotor …   Dicționar Român

  • Protagonist — Sm Erster im Wettkampf, Hauptfigur per. Wortschatz fach. (18. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus l. protagonista, vielleicht nach dem Vorbild des Englischen. Dieses aus gr. prōtagōnistḗs, zu gr. prõtos erster und gr. ágōn Kampf .    Ebenso nndl.… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • Protagonist — Pro*tag o*nist, n. [Gr. prwtagonisth s; prw^tos first + agonisth s an actor, combatant, fr. agw n a contest.] One who takes the leading part in a drama; hence, one who takes lead in some great scene, enterprise, conflict, or the like. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Protagonist — Protagonist,der:⇨Vorkämpfer Protagonist 1.→Pionier 2.→Hauptperson …   Das Wörterbuch der Synonyme

  • protagonist — protagònist (protagonȉst) m DEFINICIJA 1. a. glumac nosilac glavne uloge b. nosilac radnje u književnom djelu (romanu, drami); glavni junak 2. retor. pokretač zbivanja, projekta i sl.; začetnik, inicijator ETIMOLOGIJA grč. prōtagōnistḗs …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • Protagonist — (v. gr.), 1) Schauspieler, welcher die erste Rolle spielte; 2) der zuerst in der Volksversammlung sprach; 3) Sieger in den Wettkämpfen; 4) der die Oberhand in etwas hat …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Protagonist — (griech.), der Erste im Wettkampf, auch erster Schauspieler, Hauptrolle (s. Deuteragonist) …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Protagoníst — Protagoníst, (grch.), im altgriech. Drama der erste Schauspieler, der die Hauptrollen spielte …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Protagonist — Protagonist, griech. dtsch., der erste Kämpfer, Schauspieler, Redner, Redner …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

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