List of stock characters
A stock character is a dramatic or literary character representing a generic type in a conventional, simplified manner and recurring in many fictional works. The following list labels some of these stereotypes and provides examples. Some Archetypal [literary criticism|character archetype]s, the more universal foundations of fictional characters, are also listed.
Some characters that were first introduced as fully fleshed-out characters become subsequently used as stock characters in other works — for example, the Ebenezer Scrooge character from A Christmas Carol, upon whom the "miser" stereotype is based, and whose name now has become a shorthand for it. Some stock characters incorporate more than one stock character; for example, a bard may also be a wisecracking jester.
Some of the stock characters in this list — reflecting the respective attitudes of the people of the time and the place in which they have been created — in hindsight, may be considered offensive due to their use of racial stereotyping, homophobia, or other prejudice.