Your favorite protagonist(s)

[adamgurri]

All the interesting protagonists could be construed as antagonists (like Herbert West).

[vortexgods]

I don't think Herbert West is the antagonist, that's like saying Sherlock Holmes is the antagonist in the Holmes stories.  (In fact, if you've seen the modern day version of Sherlock Holmes they made for the BBC, Holmes is portrayed very like West, a single minded sociopath who just has the one friend.)

Yes, he's a bad person, but so was Frankenstein, Othello, Macbeth, Richard the 3rd, Dexter, Walter White, Tony Soprano, etc...

Still I'm going to have to go with "Nameless Narrator" as my favorite... unless I can choose the old man in "The Picture in the House." 

Darn it, now I'm feeling peckish... and for 'vittles' I can neither raise nor buy....

[MediaGhost]

I don't think Herbert West is the antagonist, that's like saying Sherlock Holmes is the antagonist in the Holmes stories.  (In fact, if you've seen the modern day version of Sherlock Holmes they made for the BBC, Holmes is portrayed very like West, a single minded sociopath who just has the one friend.)

I think we're wandering in to anti-hero territory here.

Darn it, now I'm feeling peckish... and for 'vittles' I can neither raise nor buy....

 

[vortexgods]

I think we're wandering in to anti-hero territory here.

Yes, I think that's fair.

[Bob Lovecraft]

I don't know... I still see antagonist as a "bad guy" and a protagonist as a "good guy". Very narrow definitions, I know, but ones I am most comfortable boiling things down to. The thing about Lovecraft's writings is that there aren't really that many "good guys" in them. You mainly get "bad guy" and "guy caught up in bad guy's work" or "guy caught up in eldritch horror and trying not to die" and, every once in a while, a straight-up "good guy" like Professor Armitage, or Randolf Carter, or Dr. Willet.

To me, Herbert West was never a protagonist in the "good guy" sense. He was driven to the point of sociopath, and by common outlook, sociopaths are not considered to be good people. That, to me, says antagonist, as he is the cause of trouble and grief to so many of the unnamed people he interacted with. Likewise, Pickman was not only an obsessive painter of what society of the time considered unwholesome subject (thus making him something of a pariah), but was an active masochist (if his reactions of delight to his own work is any indication) and carrion eater. Again, he was antagonistic to society as a whole and to the bodies he desecrated to feed on later in his life as a ghoul.

Now none of this is meant to belittle anyone's preferences to a favorite protagonist, but rather to better define my view of the antagonist/protagonist idea.

Bob

[MediaGhost]

Well, strictly speaking, the "protagonist" of a story is simply the character around whom the plot revolves.  The "antagonist" is the principle opponent of the protagonist.  Protagonists and antagonists can be either "good guys" or "bad guys" or anything in-between.

So, again remaining strictly within literary definitions, Herbert West would definitely be the protagonist of the story since the entire plot revolves around his actions.  Whether or not he's also an "anti-hero" is certainly up for debate.  One might make the case that West is an anti-hero because his goal is the reduction of human suffering.  At least, it was before he became obsessed with his work and turned into an a-moral monster.

Holy crow, that's a couple of dull paragraphs.  Sorry 'bout that!   

[vortexgods]

I don't think that's dull, it's important to have everyone on the same page, correct? 

It's kind of like the term antisocial.  When my Mom uses the term antisocial, she means I don't want to come to visit when my aunts and cousins are there.  However, when I use the term antisocial, I mean it in the psychological sense, like someone who cannibalizes his neighbors.

While I'm at it, I'll just make the point that if you've ever taken a Shakespeare class, you'll notice that many of Shakespeare's heroes are kind of awful people.  I'm thinking Richard the III, Macbeth, or Othello to name a few.  They are still considered tragic heroes though (of course, they are also villains, in fact I think the word villain may actually be used to refer to Macbeth in the play, and he's definitely called tyrant). 

Seriously, Macbeth and Herbert West have a lot in common.  They could probably hang out... well, until one inevitably killed the other.

[Bob Lovecraft]

Yeah, but this is Herbert West you're talking about, just one shot and they'd both be hanging out again.

Bob

[Lambda]

Armitage! 'cause I freaking love The Dunwich Horror. When I lie in my bed having fever, I want to babble of alien gods and Wilbur Whateley, too. 

[Bob Lovecraft]

Armitage! 'cause I freaking love The Dunwich Horror. When I lie in my bed having fever, I want to babble of alien gods and Wilbur Whateley, too. 

Dude, I don't want to tell you what I babble about when I'm hot and sweaty in bed...

Bob

[Lambda]

Armitage! 'cause I freaking love The Dunwich Horror. When I lie in my bed having fever, I want to babble of alien gods and Wilbur Whateley, too. 

Dude, I don't want to tell you what I babble about when I'm hot and sweaty in bed...

Bob

Uch. Naughty tentacles. 

[MediaGhost]

If this is turning into another "Japanese" thread, I'm going to lunch.