Stock character

A Stock Character is a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to all members of a given culture. Some examples of stock characters are:

The Hero
The Femme Fatale
The Fop: The fop is a man attempting but failing to rise into fashionable aristocratic culture. He is typically overdressed and his speech is characterized by over-use or misuse of popular phrases (often French phrases) or various forms of hypercorrection. The fop is never intelligent and always talkative. Zorro hid behind the image of the Fop, Don Diego.
The Fool: The fool is a clown or joker who speaks in riddles and puns. Often, the fool is intelligent and witty and reveals key truths about the characters he fools with (Shakespeare's fools, such as the ones in Twelfth Night and King Lear, are well-known examples).
The Revenger: The Revenger is a hot-blooded young man who has had a loved one (ideally a fiance) cruelly murdered and/or raped and seeks his revenge outside the law. (Laertes in Hamlet and Hamlet himself are examples of Revengers.)
The Sidekick - the Hero's helper, Sancho Panza in Don Quixote, Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes. The Sidekick is often a figure of fun, but sometimes shows surprising resourcefulness and bravery.