The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Hero/heroine

Hero/heroine: Often considered synonymous with protagonist, a term referring to the main character of a work. Sometimes a work is said to have both a hero and a heroine, even if there is a wide discrepancy in their importance. When this is the case, the main character is the protagonist; the other may be either a major or minor character.

The term antihero refers to a protagonist who does not exhibit the qualities of a traditional hero and who may be pathetically ordinary or even criminal.

EXAMPLES: Governess Jane Eyre is the heroine and protagonist of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847); her employer and future husband, Mr. Rochester, is the hero. In the movie Walk the Line (2005), singer June Carter is the heroine, but her troubled lover Johnny Cash is the hero and protagonist.