So, I’m reading the Wallander series by Henning Mankell and while I enjoy the books and like the character, I can help thinking Jesus Christ, what an Eeyore!
Any other otherwise sympathetic characters who could use a Paxil, a bouquet of daffodils and a month at the beach?
Hamlet and young Werther come to mind. I don’t know about the Paxil though. They wouldn’t have been interesting enough to carry the story if they weren’t depressed.
Inspector Morse never seemed very cheery. (Did he ever smile?) And once they started running the Lewis sequel series, Lewis seemed to inherit Morse’s melancholy.
Stewart on The Big Bang Theory: destitute, mentally ill, homeless failed businessman, with literally a box of pharmaceuticals to get him through the day.
Sad Sack - a person who is not successful or able to do things well; an inept person who causes feelings of pity or disgust in other people. That would be Stan Laurel, of course!
Perhaps an even closer silent comic to the type would be Harry Langdon, who was Oliver Hardy’s teammate before Stan Laurel proved to be better as half a duo. Langdon’s character was a bewildered child-man bordering on the mentally retarded.