In several Shakespeare plays, characters like Benvolio are ever present. If anything, they embody the earnest, trying to be helpful "hanger on", that often gets in the way of the plot. However, if they were NOT there, then the plays would not move as sweetly as they do, for Benvolio, et al, makes up the ballast in plays that solely concentrate on just two or three main roles, leaving all the rest to the rest.
