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	{{For\|the 2007 documentary\|Protagonist (film)}}		{{For\|the 2007 documentary\|Protagonist (film)}}

	A '''protagonist''' (from the ] {{Polytonic\|πρωταγωνιστής}} ''protagonistes'', "one who plays the first part, chief actor"<ref></ref>) is the main ] (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, ], or musical ], around whom the events of the narrative's ] revolve and with whom the ] is intended to share the most ]. In the ], three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a ]; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the other roles were played by ] and the ].		A '''protagonist''' (from the ] {{Polytonic\|πρωταγωνιστής}} ''protagonistes'', "one who plays the first part, chief actor"<ref>,
			Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref><ref></ref>) is the main ] (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, ], or musical ], around whom the events of the narrative's ] revolve and with whom the ] is intended to share the most ]. In the ], three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a ]; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the other roles were played by ] and the ].

	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 ]). 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 ] is also the same person as the ], 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 his/her objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. He/she is often referred to as the "good guy." However, it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to clearly be the villain of the piece, as is evident with characters like ] (from '']''), ] ('']'') and ]('']'').		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 ]). 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 ] is also the same person as the ], 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 his/her objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. He/she is often referred to as the "good guy." However, it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to clearly be the villain of the piece, as is evident with characters like ] (from '']''), ] ('']'') and ]('']'').

Revision as of 18:04, 16 May 2010

For the 2007 documentary, see Protagonist (film).

A protagonist (from the Greek Template:Polytonic protagonistes, "one who plays the first part, chief actor") is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy. 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 his/her objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. He/she is often referred to as the "good guy." However, it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to clearly be the villain of the piece, as is evident with characters like Vic Mackey (from The Shield), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos) and Walter White(Breaking Bad).

The principal opponent of the protagonist is a character known as the antagonist, who represents or creates obstacles that the protagonist(s) must overcome. As with protagonists, there may be more than one antagonist in a story. Also the antagonist can sometimes actually be the hero, such as The Shield's Internal Affairs officers, and FBI agents and police officers from The Sopranos.

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 contains 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

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

v t e Narrative
Character	Antagonist Archenemy Character arc Character flaw Characterization Confidant Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character Foil Gothic double Hamartia Hero Anti Byronic Tragic Narrator Protagonist Stock character Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain
Plot	Ab ovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict Deus ex machina Dialogue Dramatic structure Eucatastrophe Foreshadowing Flashback Flashforward Frame story In medias res Kishōtenketsu MacGuffin Pace Plot device Plot twist Poetic justice Red herring Reveal Self-insertion Shaggy dog story Stereotype Story arc Story within a story Subplot Suspense Trope
Setting	Alternate history Backstory Crossover Dreamworld Dystopia Fictional location city country universe parallel Utopia Worldbuilding
Theme	Irony Leitmotif Metaphor Moral Moral development Motif Deal with the Devil Conflict between good and evil Self-fulfilling prophecy Time travel
Style	Allegory Bathos Comic relief Diction Figure of speech Imagery Mode Mood Narration Narrative techniques Hook Show, don't tell Stylistic device Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone
Structure	Act Act structure Three-act structure Freytag's Pyramid Exposition/Protasis Rising action/Epitasis Climax/Peripeteia Falling action/Catastasis Denouement/Catastrophe Linear narrative Nonlinear narrative films television series Premise Types of fiction with multiple endings
Form	Drama Fabliau Flash fiction Folklore Fable Fairy tale Legend Myth Tall tale Gamebook Narrative art Narrative poetry Epic poetry Novel Novella Parable Short story Vignette
Genre (List)	Fiction Action fiction Adventure Comic Crime Docu Epistolary Ergodic Erotic Historical Western Mystery Nautical Paranoid Philosophical Picaresque Political Pop culture Psychological Religious Rogue Romance Chivalric Prose Saga Satire Speculative fiction Fantasy Gothic Southern Horror Magic realism Science Hard Utopian and dystopian Underwater Superhero Theological Thriller Urban Nonfiction Autobiography Biography Novel Creative
Narration	Diegesis First-person Second-person Third-person Third-person omniscient narrative Subjectivity Unreliable narrator Multiple narrators Stream of consciousness Stream of unconsciousness
Tense	Past Present Future
Related	Dominant narrative Fiction writing Continuity Canon Reboot Retcon Parallel novel Prequel / Sequel Genre List Literary science Literary theory Narrative identity Narrative paradigm Narrative therapy Narratology Metafiction Political narrative Rhetoric Glossary Screenwriting Series of works Storytelling Tellability Verisimilitude

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