ShmoopTube

00:04

Who is the Antagonist? a la Shmoop Every good book needs conflict, whether it's

00:09

a showdown with the scariest, most evil wizard of all time, or the heroine trying to decide

00:15

who to take to the big dance. It takes at least two to tango... or to duel...

00:21

and conflict just wouldn't be conflict without an antagonist.

00:30

How do you identify the Antagonist in a novel? Simply put, the antagonist is the villain

00:35

or otherwise nasty character in the novel that you root against.

00:39

You know, the person who stands in the way of the protagonist.

00:46

You should know by now, however, that literature is never simple.

00:48

Yes, many times, the antagonist is clearly evil. He's the guy who, if you saw him coming

00:53

down the street, you'd move to the other side.

00:57

Sometimes though, the antagonist is the traditional other figure, the person who finds himself

01:01

on the opposite side of the tracks from the person who is lucky enough to have his name

01:05

on the cover of the book. And if the protagonist is an anti-hero, the

01:11

antagonist might be someone who is traditionally considered a good guy.

01:14

In Paradise Lost, Satan is the protagonist, making the big G-O-D the antagonist of the

01:21

story. The antagonist doesn't have to be God, Satan,

01:24

or the spawn of Satan, either. It can just be a person, or entity, with an

01:29

opposing point of view, whether it's a rival sports team, or a rival suitor.

01:39

Finally, the antagonist might not even be human.

01:46

It could be anything from a maybe-mythical white whale, to unachievable hopes and dreams,

01:51

to simply...humanity in general. Whatever or whoever throws up major roadblocks

01:58

for the protagonist. So when you have your eyes peeled for the

02:02

antagonist, remember the following: The antagonist opposes the protagonist, and

02:06

is usually the source of all the conflict. However, the antagonist isn't necessarily

02:12

evil. He or she just has a conflicting point of view.

02:15

And the antagonist... might not even be human...

Full Transcript