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Protagonist

By N.S. Gill, About.com

mask of tragedy picture

Mask of tragedy

ArtToday
Definition: Modern screenplays consist of dialogues among individuals. Ancient tragedy began as a conversation between a single actor and a chorus. A second and third actor were added -- eventually. The first actor was the main actor whom we still refer to as protagonist. The deuteragonist was the second actor. The third actor was the tritagonist. All actors in Greek tragedy played multiple roles.

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