In King Lear (III:vii) there is a
man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare has not given him even a
name: he is merely “First Servant.”
All the characters around him –
Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund – have fine long-term plans. They think they know
how the story is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant has no
such delusions. He has no notion of how the play is going to go. But he
understands the present scene. He sees an abomination (the blinding of old
Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand it.
His sword is out and pointed at
his master’s breast in a moment: then Regan stabs him dead from behind. That is
his whole part: eight lines all told. But if it were real life and not a play, that is the part it would be best to have
acted. – C.S. Lewis, “The World’s Last
Night”