Protagonist and antagonist
In storytelling, the protagonist is the main character around whom the narrative revolves, often embodying traits that the audience is encouraged to empathize with. Traditionally perceived as the "hero," the protagonist may have flaws that complicate their journey, such as greed or gullibility, which they must overcome to achieve their goals. Key to the structure of the plot, the protagonist typically faces various forms of adversity and pursues desires that drive the story, such as love, justice, or redemption.
On the other hand, the antagonist serves as the opposing force, challenging the protagonist's objectives and often being viewed as the "villain." While there may be one or multiple antagonists in a narrative, their role involves creating conflict that leads to the story's climax, where the protagonist's struggle against the antagonist reaches its peak. Interestingly, authors may also develop antagonists in a way that evokes sympathy, providing depth to their motivations. Classic examples of these dynamics can be seen in well-known works, such as Harry Potter vs. Voldemort and Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, illustrating how these character relationships are central to the dramatic tension and resolution in storytelling.
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Protagonist and antagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a story and is often viewed as a “good” character or the hero of a story. A protagonist is the character with whom the audience empathizes. The word “protagonist” comes from the Greek protagonistes, meaning “the chief actor.” An antagonist is a character or group of characters who challenge a protagonist. An antagonist is often viewed as the enemy or villain of a story. Antagonists obstruct protagonists from achieving their desires. The word “antagonist” comes from the Greek antagonistes, meaning “opponent or rival.” Sometimes, an antagonist and a protagonist are the same character.
Overview
A protagonist is the character at the center of a story and is the one whose goals readers are intended to support. While protagonists are usually supposed to be likable, they often have flaws, such as greed, gullibility, or naivety. These flaws provide obstacles that protagonists must overcome in order to reach their goals. In contrast to their flaws, protagonists also tend to have strong positive attributes, such as wisdom, courage, or kindness. Narrative plot is often structured around protagonists’ main desires. Usually this involves the protagonist overcoming adversity (such as discrimination), acquiring something (such as love or money), preventing an action from taking place (such as a murder or world-threatening event), or getting even with another character. The ways in which a character fights to achieve these main desires form the plot of the story. Like real people, protagonists possess their own values, morals, ambitions, psychological traits, and inner contradictions that inform their actions.
An antagonist directly opposes the agenda of the protagonist and is often considered the villain of the story. Though many stories have only one antagonist, some have multiple antagonists, working independently or together. An author may portray details of an antagonist’s life that contextualize and make more complex their plight within the story. An audience may even feel sympathy for the plight of the antagonist and the seeming inevitability of the situation.
In most stories, protagonists and antagonists have minor skirmishes throughout, but the major clash between them forms the climax of the story. This is when the antagonist directly blocks the protagonist from achieving his or her desire and the tension is at its highest point in the story. Some climaxes contain a “dark moment” when the protagonist reaches an ultimate low and it is not clear to the audience whether or not the protagonist will prevail over the will of the antagonist. During the climax, either the antagonist or the protagonist succeeds and the story either resolves or ends ambiguously.
Famous examples of protagonist and antagonist duos in literature and film include Harry Potter and Voldemort in the Harry Potter novels (1997–2007), Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977), Ralph and Jack in Lord of the Flies (1954), and Romeo and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (first published, 1597).
Bibliography
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