From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Third most important character of a narrative
In
literature
, the
tritagonist
(from
Ancient Greek
τριταγωνιστ??
(
tritag?nist?s
)
'third actor') or
tertiary main character
is the third most important
character
of a narrative, after the
protagonist
and
deuteragonist
. In
ancient Greek drama
, the tritagonist was the third member of the acting troupe.
As a character, a tritagonist may act as the instigator or cause of the sufferings of the protagonist. Despite being the least sympathetic character of the drama, they occasion the situations by which pity and sympathy for the protagonist are excited.
[1]
: 451
History
[
edit
]
The part of the tritagonist emerged from earlier forms of two-actor drama. Where two actors only allowed for a principal character and their adversary, moving the part of adversary to a third actor (the tritagonist) allowed for the second actor (the deuteragonist) to play roles as a confidant or aide to the principal character, and thereby elicit greater character depth from the principal character by having the protagonist explain their feelings and motivations to an on-stage listener.
[1]
: 451
As Ancient Greek theater recitations were partly melodic, the role of the tritagonist would typically go to a performer with a voice in the
bass
range (as compared to the protagonist as tenor and the deuteragonist as baritone).
[2]
: 172
Cicero
, in his
Divinatio in Caecilium
, reported that the tritagonist (being a role of lesser importance than the protagonist) would often have to subdue his voice if he was naturally stronger than the protagonist.
[3]
Notable Ancient Greek actors who worked in this role include the orator
Aeschines
, who was held by
Demosthenes
to have been untalented as a tritagonist,
[2]
: 175
and Myniscus, who was tritagonist under the playwright
Aeschylus
.
[2]
: 195
In some forms of Greek theater, it was traditional for the tritagonist to enter the stage from the left.
[1]
: 404
References
[
edit
]
Look up
tritagonist
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.