stock characters
Commedia dell'arte figures
Stock characters are familiar, conventional character types that recur across stories and genres—the wise mentor, the scheming villain, the comic sidekick.
They come with recognizable traits and behaviors that audiences immediately understand, saving writers the work of establishing personality from scratch.
Stock characters risk being dismissed as clichés, but skilled writers use them as foundations to build on or subvert: The film starts with stock characters but develops them in surprising ways.
One admired for courage
- villainWicked story antagonist
- mentorTrusted wisdom-giving advisor
- sidekickSubordinate adventure partner
- tricksterCunning deceiver in myth
fool · sage · ingenue · damsel · rogue · jester · buffoon · matriarch
Recurring narrative device
- typecastRepeatedly assigned similar roles
- formulaicFollowing a set template
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
cliché · derivative · predictable · recognizable · familiar · archetypal · conventional · recurring
hero
One admired for courage
- villainWicked story antagonist
- mentorTrusted wisdom-giving advisor
- sidekickSubordinate adventure partner
trickster · fool · sage · ingenue · damsel · rogue · jester · buffoon · matriarch · patriarch
trope
Recurring narrative device
- typecastRepeatedly assigned similar roles
- formulaicFollowing a set template
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
stereotype · cliché · derivative · predictable · recognizable · familiar · archetypal · conventional · recurring · type
- character typesprotagonist, hero, antagonist, villain, heroes
- comedy tropespratfall, parody, sight gag, running gag, satire
- bad writingflat characters, cliches, derivative work, purple prose, one-dimensional
- Elizabethan comedyTwelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice
- farceslapstick, pratfall, mistaken identity, pratfalls, buffoonery
- Italian theaterHarlequin, scenario, scenarios, theatrical companies, La Scala
stock characterscomplex characters
Multidimensional literary personas
original characters · dynamic characters · antiheroes · character studies · protagonists
stock, character, stocks, livestock, stocking, stocked, stock company, restock, stockroom