In fiction, an anti-hero is a protagonist who is lacking the traditional heroic attributes and qualities, and instead possesses character traits that are antithetical to heroism. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story.

The word anti-hero itself is fairly recent, and its principal definition has changed through the years. The 1940 edition of Merriam-Webster New International Dictionary listed anti-hero, but did not define it. Webster's Dictionary is the name given to a common type of English language dictionary in the United States. ^[1] Later sources would call the anti-hero a persona characterized by a lack of "traditional" heroic qualities. ^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 Contemporary literature 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

History

There is no definitive moment when the anti-hero came into existence as a literary trope. A literary trope (from Greek τρόπος - tropos "turn" related to the root of τρέπω - trepō "to turn to direct Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica portrays Jason as a timid, passive, indecisive man that contrasts sharply with other Greek heroes. Jason ( Greek: Ἰάσων, Etruscan: Easun, Laz: Yason) was a late ancient Greek mythological ^[3] The anti-hero has evolved over time, changing as society's conceptions of the hero changed, from the Elizabethan times of Christopher Marlowe's Faust and William Shakespeare's Falstaff, to the darker-themed Victorian literature of the 19th century, such as John Gay's The Beggar's Opera or Philip Meadows Taylor's Confessions of a Thug. The term Elizabethan literature refers to the English literature produced during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story in which a man sells his soul to the devil William Shakespeare ( baptised Sir John Falstaff is a Fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal the future King Henry V. Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901 and corresponds to the Victorian era. John Gay ( 30 June, 1685 - 4 December, 1732) was an English Poet and Dramatist. The Beggar's Opera is a Ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay. Philip Meadows Taylor ( September 25, 1808 &ndash Menton May 13, 1876) an Anglo-Indian administrator and Novelist Confessions of a Thug is an English Novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1839 based on the Thuggee cult in The Byronic hero also sets a literary precedent for the modern concept of the anti-hero. The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb

Contemporary literature

In modern times, heroes have enjoyed an increased moral complexity. Mid-20th century playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard showcased anti-heroic protagonists recognizable by their lack of identity and determination. Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989 was an Irish Writer, Dramatist and poet Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE (born 3 July 1937 is a British Screenwriter playwright The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. Pulp fiction and noir detective stories of the mid-20th century saw characters such as Sam Spade, who lacked the glorious appeal of previous heroic figures, become popular. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the Sam Spade is a Fictional character who is the Protagonist of Dashiell Hammett 's novel The Maltese Falcon Influenced by the pulps, early comic books featured anti-heroic characters such as Batman (whose shadowy nature contrasted with their openly "heroic" peers like Superman) and Sub-Mariner (who would just as soon conquer humanity as try to save it). A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon Humanity or mankind is the Human species Human nature (eg Compassion, Altruism) and the Human condition (the totality ^[4] Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns" showcased a wandering vigilante (the "Man with No Name" played by Clint Eastwood) whose gruff demeanor clashed with other heroic characteristics. Sergio Leone ( January 3, 1929 &ndash April 30, 1989) was an Italian Film director. Spaghetti Western, also known in some countries in mainland Europe as the Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western A vigilante is a person who ignores Due process of law and enacts their own form of Justice in response to a perception of insufficient response by the The Man with No Name is a Stock character in western films but the term usually applies specifically to the character (or possibly characters played by Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Spider-Man has been considered the most influential antihero archetype in the superhero genre. Spider-Man is a Fictional character appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The young, flawed, and brooding antihero [Spider-Man] became the most widely imitated archetype in the superhero genre since the appearance of superman.
Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation: The transformation of Youth Culture in America 212
Superman on the Couch by Danny Fingeroth 151

Many modern anti-heroes possess, or even encapsulate, the postmodern rejection of traditional values symptomatic of Modernist literature in general, as well as the disillusion felt after World War II and the Nuclear Age. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Modernist literature is the literary form of Modernism and especially High modernism; it should not be confused with modern literature, which is the history World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of Nuclear weapons, fissile material and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations It has been argued that the continuing popularity of the anti-hero in modern literature and popular culture may be based on the recognition that a person is fraught with human frailties, unlike the archetypes of the white-hatted cowboy and the noble warrior, and is therefore more accessible to readers and viewers. This popularity may also be symptomatic of the rejection by the avant-garde of traditional values after the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s. Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard Counterculture (also " counter-culture " is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a Cultural group, or ^[5]

In the postmodern era, traditionally defined heroic qualities, akin to the classic "knight in shining armor" type, have given way to the "gritty truth" of life, and authority in general is being questioned.

See also

• Anti-villain
• Byronic hero
• Tragic flaw
• List of fictional anti-heroes
• Tragic hero
• Tweener, a similar type of character in professional wrestling
• Vigilante

Notes

References

External links

• Salon.com: Anti-heroes (May 15, 2000)
• The Gallery of Anti-heroes and Villains: What is an Anti-Hero?

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