What Is A Protagonist?

A protagonist is the main character in a novel or film. A protagonist is not always a good character. They can be a bad character or a character that isn't particularly nice but somewhere in between.

Protagonists are usually put in a position where the reader may empathise with them. Protagonists usually have an arch enemy, who is known as an antagonist. Antagonists are usually a hinderance to the protagnists, preventing them from carrying out certain tasks and generally being a nuisance.

Some authors may kill off their protagonist in order to prevent other authors from using the character later on, or they may kill off a protagonist when they feel it is time to end a series of books.

Protagonists are not always portrayed as heroes characters without flaws. The character Carrie in Stephen King's 'Carrie', for example, is bullied because of her physical appearance. The readers sympathise with Carrie because of this, despite the fact that Carrie may not exactly be portrayed as a good character when she takes revenge on those that have bullied her later on the book.

A protagonist is basically the central character in a story or narrative. On the other hand, the term also indicates a primary supporter for a cause or a movement. The protagonist can be a hero or the bad guy in a story; it basically means whoever has the most prominence in the story.

In the area of literature, the protagonist is distinctive by his or her capability to alter or develop. Even though a novel may revolve around the actions of another figure, it is the self-motivated figure which generally permits the plot to develop and advance in a way which is favourable to the theory and receives the favoured response from the audience or reader. The word is derived from a Greek phrase, a combination of the words 'first' and 'one who contends for a prize'.