Characters of commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte originated in Italy to counter the strict conventions of classic theatre. Instead, commedia dell'arte abandoned such rules and allowed actors room for improvisation and brought in characters who were loud and colourful, rather than the flat characters of classical theatre. There are a variety of these characters, who I suppose can be called caricatures of certain people and classes.

Harlequin: the best known of these stock characters with his patched outfit and mask. He is basically a trickster, and, though he is poor, is able to survive through his wit and creativity.

Scaramouche (Scaramouche, can you do the Fandango?): a captain who doesn't seem to do much fighting (his name meaning small,fast fray) and is more of a ladies man. He is clever (but also lucky) enough to escape out of any awkward situations he finds himself in and hand the blame to somebody else.

Pantaloon: an old, greedy merchant who does all he can to keep his money. He is opposite to the Harlequin, who is young and poor but is able to trick the Pantaloon out of his gold.

The Doctor: known as Balanzone, he is rich, fat and thinks he knows everything. His meaningless dialogues may contain (wrong) citations in Latin or Greek and he impersonates any important person, whether it is a doctor, or more likely a lawyer or judge. This character allows a break in the running of the commedia dell'arte and is the sort of 'know-it-all' character that the audience can resent.

Innamorati: pair of lovers (often the son and daughter of the Pantaloon and the Doctor) who are important in the commedia dell'arte as their situations (eg. contrasted love and envy) give rise for the entrance of the more comedic characters, in particular the Harlequin and Pantaloon.