Many common elements are evident throughout Shakespearean tragedy with regards to plot, theme, and, above all, character. Shakespeare used many similar ingredients when designing his characters, creating what is referred to as a stock character, defined as apersonality type with a few obvious traits who appears again and again in different plays? (Andrews: World and Work Vol 1. Pg 50). This definition enhances our ability to understand the concept of a stock character and to identify them in Shakespearean tragedy. The termstock character? derives from the classic period when playwrights such as Plautus and Menander used very similar characters in their comedies. This eventually leaked into tragedy and became one of the most influential aspects of Elizabethan drama. One of the most famous and widely discussed classifications of stock characters in Shakespearean tragedy is the vice, a term which refers to evil devious characters in Shakespearean tragedies. Although the vice is a principal aspect of Shakespearean tragedy, this paper will concentrate on two types of minor stock characters, more specifically, the innocent female victim and the loyal friend to the tragic hero. The characters to be discussed will be Ophelia and Cordelia, who play the role of the innocent victim, as well as Kent and Horatio, who play the role of the loyal friend to the tragic hero. This combination of characters has been drawn from two of Shakespeare's most renowned tragedies - King Lear and Hamlet. This paper will also discuss how Shakespeare uses stock characters to contribute to the themes and to.
further the plots of their respective tragedies.
The two characters to be discussed first are Ophelia and Cordelia. These two characters share many attributes, most importantly that they were both innocent victims who were the only characters to be killed without justification in their respective plays. Ophelia's only crime was that of love for Hamlet, and Cordelia's lone wrongdoing was that of loyalty to her father.
