When the protagonist is also the antagonist?

So my main character (a.k.a MC) is a happily married guy when, basically, all heck breaks loose. Everything would gradually come back to normal if he would only do this small thing, but being the hard-headed idiot he is, he runs away from the problem instead.
The problem just haunts him until he finally confronts it head-on. He has tried several different ways to make the problem leave, but only one way is the right way.

Would this mean that the MC is both the pro/antagonist? Or is it the problem that is the antagonist?
How can I successfully make the problem haunt him?



If I'm being confusing, just give me a cookie and put me in the closet. I stayed up too late last night.

That'd be one of the seven stories: man vs. self. (All stories, supposedly, fall into one of the seven.) I think that makes him both the protagonist and the antagonist. Nothin' wrong with that.

As for how to write it ... I have no idea. It will depend a lot on what the problem is, how he avoids it, and how honest you (the writer) are about his problems.

Yeah, that is the only case possible. E.g. Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. Such characters are extremely rare as Robert L. Stevenson broke the mould anyway.

However, it is more often the case that the protagonist displays 'evil' traits or features you might associate with an antagonist; such protagonists are commonly called 'anti-heroes'. Dexter (in the TV series of the same name) is one very good example.

Hope that helps.