Strategic Character Placement in Shakespeare's Works

When it comes to William Shakespeare's works there are no coincidences in regard to which characters are present on stage and when. The first act of a play in particular proves essential in dictating the audience’s initial impressions, and therefore, Shakespeare strategically uses characters such as servants or messengers to foreshadow the imminent plot points and tone that will play out in the next five acts to effectively create obstacles for his protagonists that his audience is able to track. Shakespeare's supporting characters can best be defined as those who lack a true arc or developement from their initial characterization, where there words and actions are not nearly as important as the way in which the stories protagonists react

Through his incorporation of supporting characters into the foreshadowing and final resolutions of his plots, Shakespeare complicates the arcs of his main protagonists, effectively demonstrating to his audience that their is intention and purpose behind every character and piece of dialogue on stage.

Through the presence of ostensibly irrelevant characters in the first scene of his plays, Shakespeare introduces his audience to the initial obstacles of his protagonists effectively setting his plots in motion within the first lines. Romeo and Juliet particularly, sees Shakespeare introduce the Montague serving men, Sampson and Gregory, before his title character Romeo as a means to show that the family fued between the Capulets and Montagues looms larger than any one single character. While Shakespeare's audience may

Where Shakespeare uses the characters of Sampson and Gregory to illustrate the potential obstacle that Romeo faces in attempting to lead his decision making with his heart instead of his sword, the fallout from Mercutio and Tybalt’s duel sees Romeo confront the implications of this obstacle directly when the two become one in the same. Again, it is the conflict between these supporting characters that springs Romeo into action. After seeing his friend slain at the hands of the fiery Tybalt, Romeo feels guilt suggesting that, “Juliet’s beauty hath made [him] effeminate” and that he should have fought in Mercutio’s place. To compensate, Romeo lets “fury be [his] conduct now” and strikes Tybalt in an act of rage. The death of his friend challenges Romeo’s loyalties with potential for high stakes consequences that ultimately come to fruition through a domino effect of tragic events resulting in the suicides of the two title characters. In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows how the tragedy will end as early as the prologue, what is far more important is the events leading up to it. Shakespeare consciously highlights the battle between Tybalt and Mercutio, given that these two are foils to his title character, to set the tragedy