Final answer:
Benvolio from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a flat character because he is relatively uncomplicated and does not undergo significant changes throughout the play.
Step-by-step explanation:
Benvolio from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet can be considered a flat character. A flat character, as proposed by E.M. Forster, is one that is relatively uncomplicated and does not undergo significant changes throughout the story. In contrast, a round character is complex and undergoes development, sometimes to surprise the reader. Benvolio, while a peacekeeper and a stabilizing friend to the volatile characters around him, remains largely the same throughout the play, making him more of a flat character rather than a round one. He does not experience the kind of transformation that round characters, such as Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, do.