- Title role
The title role in the
performing arts is the performancepart that gives the title to the piece, as in "Aida ", "Giselle ", "Michael Collins" or "Othello ". Theactor ,singer ordancer who performs that part is also said to have the "title role".The actor playing the title role is not always the lead; the title role may or may not be the
protagonist . In thetelevision miniseries "Shogun", for example,Toshiro Mifune had the title role, but the lead was played byRichard Chamberlain . It can be even more complicated when the title role and the lead are in different genders; for example, in the recent revival ofAugust Wilson 's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ",Whoopi Goldberg , afilm star , had the title role, but the lead wasCharles S. Dutton .Title character
The title character in
fiction is thefictional character whose name is contained in the title, as in "Marjorie Morningstar", byHerman Wouk , "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ", byMark Twain , "Harry Potter " byJ.K. Rowling , and "Dracula ", byBram Stoker . A more indirect example isSauron in "The Lord of the Rings " byJ. R. R. Tolkien .Title characters are distinguished from real people, living or dead, since a fictional character is a construct of fiction. For example, US President
John F. Kennedy is "not" the title character of abiography entitled "John F. Kennedy", since he was a real person.A title character may not actually be named in the title. Instead, he or she is "described", as in "The French Lieutenant's Woman". Another example is "
An Ideal Husband " byOscar Wilde , where the 'ideal husband' (the title role) may be the apparently-perfect Sir Robert Chiltern, or it may be the enigmatic Lord Goring, supposedly a confirmed bachelor. Wilde's deliberately ambiguous title createsdramatic irony in this case, since it is difficult to say which of the acting co-leads has the title role.Like title roles in film and theater, the title character need not be the protagonist. In "The Lord of the Rings", for instance, Sauron, the title character, is the primary
antagonist ; in "Stranger in a Strange Land " byRobert A. Heinlein , the title character is Valentine Michael Smith but the character accepted as being the main character in that novel isJubal Harshaw . This also applies tovideo games . The most well-known example is "The Legend of Zelda", in which the title character isPrincess Zelda , but the protagonist is Link.See also
*
Character actor
*Role (performing arts)
*Leading actor
*Supporting actor
*Eponym
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