While we’re in the world of stages, let’s take a look at the players too. The first one is quite literally called the protagonist. “Protos” is the Greek root for “first”, or “principal”, accounting for words like prototype, protozoa, protean (the first son of Oceanus, who became the god of sea. He could change his form at will, and thus, the word), protein (the first discovered “quality”), protocol, etc.
The other root that forms “protagonist” is “agon-” which in Ancient Greek means “contest, or a struggle”. We can break up “agon-” further into a PIE root “ag-“, which is more aptly translated to “move, or to drive”. So the primary person who drives ahead a contest, or an event, like a drama, is a protagonist. Their side-kick is the deuteragonist, and the one who works against this idea of “moving it ahead” is the antagonist (I don’t think I can justify the irony here).
Original Picture: Evan Augistini, Deadline
Whatever it is that needs to be “moved” is thus, the “agenda”, and the means through which it moves on, is the “agent” or an “agency”. If it gets confusing, as to where it is that one is actually “moving” the plot, like that of Rowling’s Cursed Child, it leads to “agitation”.
As we saw, this “agitation” only takes a slight push from PIE to Greek, to turn into a struggle, which may cause “agony”. It can get worse though, and result in antagonization, especially if you’re hell-bent on perpetrating hate speech. #transRightsMatter
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