History ButtMonkey / Theatre

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* Stella in ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire''. She's basically put between a rock and a hard place, forced to side with either her psycho, gold-digging, mooching sister Blanche or her boorish, abusive husband Stanley. Even after Stanley hits her ''while pregnant'' and later rapes Blanche, she ends up having to side with Stanley.

* ''Theatre/MissSaigon'': Kim. Orphaned when her parents and other family members are killed in an attack, forced to work as a prostitute to support herself--this is how she loses her ''virginity''--has the love of her life all but literally ripped away from her during the Fall of Saigon, has to endure pregnancy and childbirth all on her own, lives in poverty, has to kill her cousin when he tries to kill her mixed-race son, flees to Bangkok, finally thinks she's going to be reunited with her lover after three long years (and this belief is basically the only thing that has sustained her all this time), only to find that he's married and his wife doesn't want her or the kid around, and finally ''kills herself'' both out of grief and to force them to take the child to America with them. Oh, and by the time this is all done, she's all of 20-21 years old.

** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is Sir Andrew Aguecheek, UpperClassTwit extraordinaire. Dense, naive and good natured, with absolutely nothing going for him except for his money, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' [[GentlemanSnarker Sir Toby]] is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

*** While most of the cast gets some butt monkery, Ophelia is arguably the least deserving of her fate
* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': When Jon announces that he'll go out scouting eary the next morning, Pyp complains about he and Grenn being "left with Sam". Jon is next seen telling Sam to not let Pyp and Grenn give him a hard time, which indicates demeaning comments towards Sam are a regular occurence.

* In the ballet ''Fancy Free'', one of the three sailors always gets conned by his two buddies into having to pay for everything at the bar.

* "Theater/ByeByeBirdie": Randolph Macphee is a goodie two-shoes boy, who despite being good always seems to never get his way. Always gets yelled at by his dad. No one seems to like him.

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** "Bye Bye Birdie": Randolph Macphee is a goodie two-shoes boy, who despite being good always seems to never get his way. Always gets yelled at by his dad. No one seems to like him.

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** Thurio in "Theatre/TwoGentlemenofVerona"

* Arguably the original Butt Monkey can be found in the character of Pedrolino from the CommediaDellArte. Pedrolino is eternally in unrequited love, and is also the butt of every available joke. In family Commedia troupes, this role would be given to the youngest member of the family.
* Kilroy from ''DontDrinkTheWater'' is such an annoying kiss-ass that there's a RunningGag throughout the second act of him getting horribly injured: he slips and breaks his arm, gets hit in the head with a brick, causing him to go crazy, and to top it off Walter accidentally shoots him!

* In the ballet ''Fancy Free'', one of the three sailors always gets conned by his two buddies into having to pay for everything.

* Stella in ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. She's basically put between a rock and a hard place, forced to side with either her psycho, gold-digging, mooching sister Blanche or her boorish, abusive husband Stanley. Even after Stanley hits her ''while pregnant'' and later rapes Blanche, she ends up having to side with Stanley.
* Arguably the original Butt Monkey can be found in the character of Pedrolino from the ''Commedia dell'Arte''. Pedrolino is eternally in unrequited love, and is also the butt of every available joke. In family Commedia troupes, this role would be given to the youngest member of the family.

* MissSaigon: Kim. Orphaned when her parents and other family members are killed in an attack, forced to work as a prostitute to support herself--this is how she loses her ''virginity''--has the love of her life all but literally ripped away from her during the Fall of Saigon, has to endure pregnancy and childbirth all on her own, lives in poverty, has to kill her cousin when he tries to kill her mixed-race son, flees to Bangkok, finally thinks she's going to be reunited with her lover after three long years (and this belief is basically the only thing that has sustained her all this time), only to find that he's married and his wife doesn't want her or the kid around, and finally ''kills herself'' both out of grief and to force them to take the child to America with them. Oh, and by the time this is all done, she's all of 20-21 years old.

** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is Sir Andrew Aguecheek, UpperClassTwit extraordinaire. Dense, naive and good natured, with absolutely nothing going for him except for his money, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' [[UpperClassWit Sir Toby]] is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

* There are dozens of Shakespearean examples. The most extreme would be the entire cast of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', not just its criminally naive hero (one character, the perpetually stupid Roderigo, is even referred to in the cast list as "a gulled gentleman"). Iago, revolting creep that he is, grins as he puts them all through hell.
** Another major example would be Shylock of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''. He's forced to endure endless abuse from the Venetians, his daughter runs off with a Christian and steals his dead wife's ring, he's forced to convert and give up his profession in a trial that's completely unfair... Yes, his wish for a pound of flesh is villainous, but ValuesDissonance has made this alleged "comedy" almost unwatchable.
** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is Sir Andrew Aguecheek, UpperClassTwit extraordinaire. Dense, naive and good natured, with absolutely nothing going for him except for his money, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' [[UpperClassWit Sir Toby]] is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!
** In ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'', everyone at least breaks even, except for Hortensio, who gets beaten up by Kate and ends up marrying a [[OldMaid widow]] who hates him, but needs a husband to be reaccepted into Paduan society.
** Ophelia in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (although almost everyone in that play could qualify).

* Stella in ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. She's basically put between a rock and a hard place, forced to side with either her psycho, gold-digging, mooching sister Blanche or her boorish, abusive husband Stanley. Even after Stanley hits her ''while pregnant'' and later rapes Blanche, she ends up having to side with Stanley.
* MissSaigon: Kim. Orphaned when her parents and other family members are killed in an attack, forced to work as a prostitute to support herself--this is how she loses her ''virginity''--has the love of her life all but literally ripped away from her during the Fall of Saigon, has to endure pregnancy and childbirth all on her own, lives in poverty, has to kill her cousin when he tries to kill her mixed-race son, flees to Bangkok, finally thinks she's going to be reunited with her lover after three long years (and this belief is basically the only thing that has sustained her all this time), only to find that he's married and his wife doesn't want her or the kid around, and finally ''kills herself'' both out of grief and to force them to take the child to America with them. Oh, and by the time this is all done, she's all of 20-21 years old.
* ''Theatre/TheDuchessOfMalfi''. Poor girl. All she wanted was to get married... and look at the horrors that unleashes! Imprisonment, mental torture, her eventual murder... Her hapless husband Antonio also applies. ''Malfi'' probably has the earliest instance of the hitman being something of a Butt Monkey too.

* Herman in ''TheMostHappyFella''.

** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is [[UpperClassTwit Sir Andrew]]. Dense, naive and good natured, with absolutely nothing going for him except for his money, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' [[UpperClassWit Sir Toby]] is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is [[UpperClassTwit Sir Andrew]]. Dense, naive and good natured, with absolutely nothing going for him except for his money, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' Sir Toby is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is Sir Andrew. Dense, naive and good natured, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' Sir Toby is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

** Another major example would be Shylock of ''The Merchant of Venice''. He's forced to endure endless abuse from the Venetians, his daughter runs off with a Christian and steals his dead wife's ring, he's forced to convert and give up his profession in a trial that's completely unfair... Yes, his wish for a pound of flesh is villainous, but ValuesDissonance has made this alleged "comedy" almost unwatchable.
** Where would this list be without Malvolio in ''Twelfth Night''? He's a haughty Puritan who doesn't like roistering, it's true, and has a daft infatuation for Olivia, but being mistaken for mad and incarcerated leaves something of a bitter taste in modern viewers' mouths. Another Butt Monkey of epic proportions is Sir Andrew. Dense, naive and good natured, it's possibly a good thing he's so stupid as he never seems to realise the contempt everyone else holds him in. He tries to woo Olivia with no success, his 'friend' Sir Toby is forever sponging off him... He can't even get a challenge to a duel right!

** Ophelia in ''{{Hamlet}}'' (although almost everyone in that play could qualify).

* There are dozens of Shakespearean examples. The most extreme would be the entire cast of ''{{Othello}}'', not just its criminally naive hero (one character, the perpetually stupid Roderigo, is even referred to in the cast list as "a gulled gentleman"). Iago, revolting creep that he is, grins as he puts them all through hell.

** In ''{{The Taming of the Shrew}}'', everyone at least breaks even, except for Hortensio, who gets beaten up by Kate and ends up marrying a [[OldMaid widow]] who hates him, but needs a husband to be reaccepted into Paduan society.

* MissSaigon: Kim. Orphaned when her parents and other family members are killed in an attack, forced to work as a prostitute to support herself--this is how she loses her ''virginity''--has the love of her life all but literally ripped away from her during the Fall of Saigon, has to endure pregnancy and childbirth all on her own, lives in poverty, has to kill her cousin when he tries to kill her mixed-race son, flees to Bangkok, finally thinks she's going to be reunited with her lover after three long years (and this belief is basically the only thing that has sustained her all this time), only to find that he's married and his wife doesn't want her or the kid around, and finally ''kills herself'' both out of grief and to force them to take the child to America with them. Oh, and by the time this is all done, she's all of 20/21 years old?

* MissSaigon: Kim. Orphaned when her parents and other family members are killed in an attack, forced to work as a prostitute to support herself--this is how she loses her ''virginity''--has the love of her life all but literally ripped away from her during the Fall of Saigon, has to endure pregnancy and childbirth all on her own, lives in poverty, has to kill her cousin when he tries to kill her mixed-race son, flees to Bangkok, finally thinks she's going to be reunited with her lover after three long years (and this belief is basically the only thing that has sustained her all this time), only to find that he's married and his wife doesn't want her or the kid around, and finally ''kills herself'' both out of grief and to force them to take the child to America with them. Did I mention that by the time this is all done, she's all of 20/21 years old?

* Papageno from ''{{The Magic Flute}}''. Lips sealed with a magic lock; coerced into the initiation rites for an organization in which he has no interest; and taunted with the contrived inaccessibility of his love interest until he literally [[InterruptedSuicide attempts suicide]]. To be fair, Papageno brings the magical lock thing on himself as punishment for lying, but throughout the opera the punishments for his actions tend to be disproportionate.

* Papageno from ''{{The Magic Flute}}''. Lips sealed with a magic lock; coerced into the initiation rites for an organization in which he has no interest; and taunted with the contrived inaccessibility of his love interest until he literally [[InterruptedSuicide attempts suicide]]. To be fair, Papageno brings the magical lock thing on himself as punishment for lying, but throughout the opera the punishments for his actions tend to be disproportionate.

*** Mistaken for mad? He was framed for being mad! Every bad thing that happened to him was a plan by [[spoiler: Sir Toby and Sir Andrew]], even the yellow stockings!
*** In an alternate take on the story, in Alan Gordon's novel ''The Thirteenth Night'', the first of his Fools' Guild books, Malvolio's punishments are proven to be more deserved. [[spoiler:Malvolio, it turns out, was an agent of Saladin, sent to disrupt the regional politics by driving a wedge between Orsino and Olivia, encouraging her mourning for her brother and dissuading her from falling for Orsino. Feste was secretly an agent of The Fools' Guild, a secret society dedicated to protecting the innocent during the Dark Ages. Feste (real name Theopolus) secretly arranged for Viola and Sebastian to arrive in Illyria (by somehow causing their ship to sink), believing that Viola and Sebastian would make better matches for Orsino and Olivia, respectively, and with the aid of Toby, Andrew and Maria, running interference against Malvolio. Years later, he learned of Orsino's murder, and(correctly as it turns out) suspected Malvolio of the crime.]]
** In ''{{The Taming of the Shrew}}'', everyone at least breaks even, except for Hortensio, who gets beaten up by Kate and ends up marrying a [[ChristmasCake widow]] who hates him, but needs a husband to be reaccepted into Paduan society.

*** [[TheSimpsons But nobody out-crazies Ophelia!]]