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One of the two key tasks of a story is to keep the audience engaged. From this idea we get our dramatic tools including dramatic tension, dramatic irony, promises, and mystery. This is drama.
Of course, the drama that arises from these tools doesn't just happen spontaneously. It's driven by characters. And within each dramatic situation, each character plays a role. A dramatic role is the part that a character plays in the ingredients of drama.
Recall that dramatic tension arises when a character has a goal, there's opposition to that goal, and something's at stake if the character fails.
The character with the goal is called the protagonist. This character provides the central energy that drives the story forward. They take action toward their goal in the form of a plan. This is the primary dramatic role in a story.
Luke wants to defeat the Empire. Woody wants to get back to Andy. Marlin wants to rescue Nemo.
But a protagonist without opposition makes for a boring story. This is where the antagonist comes in. The antagonist is the one who opposes the protagonist's goal (whether intentionally or incidentally). This is the other primary dramatic role.
Dramatic tension doesn't specifically require an *opponent*, however. It just requires *opposition*. It's for this reason that the "antagonist" doesn't need to be a character. Instead we can think of this role as the "forces of antagonism."
Whoever or whatever opposes the protagonist's goal may be thought of as the antagonist. Sometimes this opposition comes in the form of nature, an institution, the supernatural, etc.
When the protagonist and the forces of antagonism collide, conflict arises.
It's All About Perspective
It's important to note that our definition of protagonist says nothing about the character having a noble or heroic goal. There's nothing inherently virtuous about a protagonist. It just requires that a character want something.
And this brings us to an important point about drama: it's all relative.
Stories are typically told from the perspective of the "hero." We see a relatively moral person (or at least someone good at heart) pursuing a goal. They're the protagonist. But sometimes these stories have antagonists who want something too. These antagonists can be villains. They can want some dastardly things. But they still desire. They still have goals.
In Die Hard, John McClane wants to rescue his wife and stop the terrorists. He's the protagonist. But Hans Gruber wants something too. He wants to get inside the vault. He just happens to be the antagonist when we're telling the story from John McClane's perspective.
But couldn't we tell the same story of Die Hard from the antagonist's perspective? Absolutely. In that case, Hans Gruber becomes the protagonist with the central goal. And John McClane is an antagonist who opposes Hans' goal.
The terms "protagonist" and "antagonist" say nothing of morality. These dramatic functions are relative. They're based on the perspective from which we're telling the story. And that means the protagonist can be a villain and the antagonist can be a hero.
As far as dramatic roles go, we can also say that anyone who supports the protagonist's goal is an ally. This again depends on the perspective from which we're telling the story, of course. The ally of the protagonist is seen as an opponent from the antagonist's perspective.
Additionally we can say that an opponent is anyone who opposes the protagonist. And again, if the story were told from the villain's perspective, then the allies of the hero would be the opponents. It's all relative in drama.
Next we'll dive into thematic roles where things aren't so relative.
The terms "protagonist" and "antagonist" are relative. The villain might be the protagonist. The hero might be the antagonist. These terms a
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