1 Answer

pro·tag·o·nist
/pr??tag?nist/

Noun
1, The leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

2. The main figure or one of the most prominent figures in a real situation.

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A protagonist is the leading character in a work, often playing the role of the hero or heroine. The word "protagonist" comes from the Greek word protagonistes, meaning “first combatant,” and referred to the leading character, aided by the chorus, in classical Greek tragedy. Examples of classic literary protagonists are Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse, and Howard Roark in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

If the main actor is foiled by conflict with another character, that character is referred to as an antagonist. An evil antagonist is often referred to as a villain, and this battle between the protagonist and malefactor is often what puts the story line of the work into action. For example, in his play Antigone, Sophocles utilizes the classic struggle between the antagonist and the protagonist. The main character, Antigone, must fight against Creon in an attempt to give her brother a decent burial. King Creon declares that by law her brother is a traitor, and must be left to decompose without burial, thus attempting to stymie Antigone’s progress. Her struggle to achieve a decent burial for her brother is what puts the characters and plot into motion.

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