protagonist

(prō-tăg'ə-nĭst)
n.

1. The main character in a drama or other literary work.
2. In ancient Greek drama, the first actor to engage in dialogue with the chorus, in later dramas playing the main character and some minor characters as well.
3. 1. A leading or principal figure.
   2. The leader of a cause; a champion.
4. Usage Problem. A proponent; an advocate.

[Greek prōtagōnistēs : prōto-, proto- + agōnistēs, actor, combatant (from agōnizesthai, to contend , from agōn, contest , from agein, to drive, lead).]

USAGE NOTE   The protagonist of a Greek drama was its leading actor; therefore, there could be only one in a play. The question for speakers of modern English is whether a drama can have more than one protagonist. When members of the Usage Panel were asked "How many protagonists are there in Othello?" the great majority answered "One" and offered substitutes such as antagonist, villain, principal, and deuteragonist to describe Desdemona and Iago. Nevertheless, the word has been used in the plural to mean "important actors" or "principal characters" since at least 1671 when John Dryden wrote "Tis charg'd upon me that I make debauch'd persons ... my protagonists, or the chief persons of the drama." Some writers may prefer to confine their use of protagonist to refer to a single actor or chief participant, but it is pointless to insist that the broader use is wrong. • The use of protagonist to refer to a proponent has become common only in the 20th century and may have been influenced by a misconception that the first syllable of the word represents the prefix pro-, "favoring." In sentences such as He was an early protagonist of nuclear power, this use is likely to strike many readers as an error and can usually be replaced by advocate or proponent.

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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 its literary use, protagonist meant 'first actor', i.e. the chief character in a play (often also the name by which the play is known, as with Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Euripides' Orestes). The protagonist was accompanied by a deuteragonist and sometimes by a tritagonist, representing dramatic roles of second and third importance.

2. One consequence of all this for the use of protagonist in English is that there is strictly only one protagonist in any given situation. Another is that to speak of a chief protagonist or leading protagonist is tautological, since a protagonist is by definition the leading personage. The second point is cogent, but the first has little validity outside the context of ancient drama, beyond which the word had already progressed by the 19th century:

If social equity is not a chimera, Marie Antoinette was the protagonist of the most...execrable of causes—J. Morley, 1877.

The objection sometimes heard, that only one person can truly be 'first', belongs to the realm of philosophy, not language. We may therefore refer to the protagonists, the chief characters in a piece of literary fiction or the leading figures in various walks of life, as well as to the protagonist:

The two protagonists, the cuckoo and the nightingale, present a series of antithetical statements about the power of love, in which the cuckoo finally gains the edge—Dictionary of National Biography, 1993

By then most of the original protagonists had gone their separate ways and the Salon itself was divided and no longer held in much esteem—Oxford Companion to Western Art, 2001.

3. A further development in meaning represents a more serious departure from the word's origins, and is illustrated by these examples:

There is a tendency of protagonists of the computational theory of mind to boast that they are restoring the Aristotelian emphasis on cognition and thought—R. Tallis et al., 1991

These may be worthy views but they are not those of a true protagonist of the arts-Scotland on Sunday, 2003.

Here, protagonist (perhaps influenced by the coincidence of the word's form with the common prefix pro-) has come to mean 'advocate or proponent' rather than 'leading figure' (one may involve the other, but we are concerned here with meaning and not implication). In this meaning, alternatives such as advocate, proponent, or supporter are normally preferable, although it is true that they do not convey quite the same sense of innovation and personal involvement. Although this sense of protagonist is fast becoming established, a caveat should be entered that it is still regarded by many as a serious error.

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noun

The main performer in a theatrical production: lead, principal, star. See performing arts.

n

Definition: person who takes the lead
Antonyms: antagonist, minor character

protagonist [proh‐tag‐ŏn‐ist], the chief character in a play or story, who may also be opposed by an antagonist. Originally, in ancient Greek theatre, the protagonist was the principal actor in a drama. See also hero.

(proh-tag-uh-nist)

The principal character in a literary work. Hamlet, for example, is the protagonist of the play by William Shakespeare that bears his name.

IN BRIEF: A leader in any enterprise. Also: The main character in a play, novel or story.

The protagonist of the story was a teacher who had unusual ideas about literature.

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For a list of words related to protagonist, see:

• Literary Characters and Practitioners - protagonist: main character in narrative; hero or heroine
• Actors, Characters, and Theater People - protagonist: main character in drama; hero or heroine

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See words rhyming with "protagonist."

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Common misspelling(s) of protagonist

• protaganist

Dansk (Danish)
n. - hovedperson, forkæmper

Nederlands (Dutch)
hoofdpersoon

Français (French)
n. - protagoniste

Deutsch (German)
n. - Protagonist, Hauptperson, Vorkämpfer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πρωταγωνιστής

Italiano (Italian)
protagonista

Português (Portuguese)
n. - protagonista

Русский (Russian)
главный герой, исполнитель главной роли, приверженец

Español (Spanish)
n. - protagonista

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - huvudperson, förkämpe, protagonist

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
主演, 主唱者, 主角

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 主演, 主唱者, 主角

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 주역 , 주인공

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 主役, 主人公, 主唱者, 指導者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نصير, بطل, داعيه الى‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נושא דגל, תומך (ברעיון), גיבור, שחקן ראשי‬

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