ShmoopTube

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Most stories are based around some sort of conflict. [Man wearing a Sherlock costume]

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Y'know, like…the detective needs to catch the murderer, the guy needs to beat the other

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team to win the sportsball tournament, the ring must be destroyed…not all at once of [Guy dives onto a football]

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course, but you get the picture. [Man hits a ring with a hammer]

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Often the main conflict will be between two particular characters: the protagonist and

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the antagonist.

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The protagonist is the main character of the story. [Batman sign being projected into the sky]

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They're the good guy, the square-jawed hero, the one we're supposed to be rooting for. [Batman appears]

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The antagonist, on the other hand, is the bad guy…no word on what his jaw looks like, [Joker appears and an explosion goes off]

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though.

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Their main function in the story is to cause problems for the protagonist.

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The protagonist is not a big fan of this guy.

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He is a problem causer after all. [Batman punches the joker]

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And as the reader, you're not supposed like him either.

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That said, not all antagonists are stereotypical villains, with twirly moustaches and top hats. [Man wearing the typical villain costume]

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They can be anything that causes trouble for the protagonist.

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Lots of stories are about a protagonist grappling with some huge problem: maybe a natural disaster, [House takes off in a storm]

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or some kind of harsh environment.

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In cases like this, nature itself is the antagonist, since it's the thing that's causing all the [Witch in a window turns into 'nature']

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trouble for the protagonist.

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And an antagonist like nature must be dealt with very differently than a human antagonist. [Man punches a tree that has nature written on it]

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Fist fights won't do much good.

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Another option is for the protagonist to be their own antagonist.

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Whoooa.

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Trippy.

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This doesn't mean that the protagonist wants to trick himself into stepping on a bear trap,

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or anything.

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It just means that the protagonist might be their own worst enemy. [Man walks onto a bear trap]

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In stories like this, the protagonist tends to have a personal weakness, or maybe they

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made some sort of big mistake.

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By solving these personal problems, the protagonist "defeats" their internal antagonist. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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For example, maybe the protagonist has a really bad cookie addiction. [Man takes a cookie out a pot]

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We're…not speaking from experience here or anything.

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Ahem.

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In this case, cookies aren't the antagonist: the protagonist is. [Jars of cookies are crossed out and the man is circled]

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However, if through the story he manages to overcome this addiction, he can defeat the

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antagonist within and resolve the conflict of the story. [Man chucks a cookie jar in the bin]

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Yeah, it's not exactly Rocky, but hey, it works.

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