What is the difference between the title role and the main

The phrase "title role" is found in colloquial speech, literary works and newspaper publications quite often, and not only with respect to theatrical and cinematographic productions. It is talked about when they want to emphasize the exclusivity of someone's participation in an enterprise, a conflict, a dispute, a charity event. What is more important - the title role or the main role?

Close in sound but different in meaning

Definitions "main" and "capital" are paronyms, that is, words that are similar in morphological composition, but have a different interpretation of meanings.

The first adjective characterizes something meaningful, prominent, more significant. For example: the main event.

The second definition is formed from the word "title", that is, so it can be said about something that is contained in the title, the title.

Now it is not difficult to guess that the main role on the stage or in the cinema is the action performed by the central character. But the title role belongs to the hero, whose name appears in the title of the play or script.

For example, a ballerina can dance the title part in the play "Carmen", but not in "Swan Lake".

One and more title roles

In the world literature there are many works named after the names of the heroes. For example: Anna Karenina, Poor Liza, Taras Bulba, Queen Margot, Eugene Onegin, Romeo and Juliet, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Tristan and Isolde, Master and Margarita And so on. Obviously, in the same theatrical productions or movies, there will be one or two title roles performed by the actors creating the images of the respective characters.

If the hero's name is not present in the title, then no matter how significant this role might seem, it can only be called the main one. Take the sensational in its time series "Brigade". Here the main role was played by Sergey Bezrukov. But in the film "Yesenin" this popular Russian artist has a major role.

It is impossible to speak about the presence of several title roles in cases when the name contains collective or numerical values. For example, in the films "Three in a boat, not counting a dog", "Seven Spartans", "Four against a Cardinal", there are only main roles, since the names or surnames of the central characters are not specified.

The use of the phrase in a figurative sense

Sometimes you can hear statements like this: "The title role in the formation of personality belongs to family education." Although the sentence is perceived quite logically by ear, but from the point of view of linguistics is incorrect. We have already found out that the title - it refers to the title. Therefore, here and in other similar formulations, where it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the subject, phenomenon or event, it is necessary to say "the main role".

When a statement about this kind of plan sounds from the lips of a literary character : "Baba Manya played the title role in all village intrigues" - one must understand that the writer intentionally makes the mistake of trying to convey the nuances of speaking.

Therefore, there is nothing reprehensible when such turnovers are used in private conversations, but official publications still need to adhere to the established norms and rules of the Russian language.

Typical speech errors

The phrase "the title role in the comedy The Inspector-General" belongs to Khlestakov has become a cliche "contains several semantic inaccuracies. First, Khlestakov is not an actor, and the actor can not perform plays and roles. Secondly, there are no title roles in this stage work, since the name does not mention personal names. Thirdly, the word "role" in this context has a synonymous meaning "mission".

It would be more correct to say: "The main hero of the comedy is Khlestakov" or "The main mission in the ongoing events is assigned to Khlestakov."