Commedia dell'Arte Stock Characters

Why This Matters

Commedia dell'Arte isn't just theatre history—it's the DNA of physical comedy that you're still seeing in sitcoms, improv, and sketch comedy today. When you study these stock characters, you're learning the original templates for social satire, physical storytelling, and comedic timing that actors have drawn from for over 500 years. Understanding how each character functions within the ensemble reveals how playwrights and performers create conflict, drive plot, and land jokes through physicality, status, and archetype.

You're being tested on more than character names and costumes. Examiners want to see that you understand why these characters exist dramatically—what social tensions they expose, how their physicality communicates status, and how they interact as a system of contrasts. Don't just memorize who wears what mask; know what each character does to the story and how their body tells their story before they speak a word.

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The Masters (Vecchi): Authority Figures Ripe for Ridicule

The vecchi (old men) represent wealth, education, and power—but Commedia uses them to expose how those in authority are often the most foolish. Their physicality typically features bent spines, restricted movement, and exaggerated facial features that telegraph their obsessions and limitations.

Pantalone

• The miserly Venetian merchant—his hunched posture and grasping hands physically embody greed before he speaks a word
• Red tights, black cape, and hooked-nose mask create an instantly recognizable silhouette that actors still reference in miser characters today
• Dramatically functions as an obstacle to young lovers, his obsession with money creating the central conflict in countless scenarios

Il Dottore

• The pompous academic from Bologna—his inflated belly and wide stance physically represent his bloated self-importance
• Speaks in macaronic gibberish mixing Latin, Greek, and nonsense, satirizing intellectuals who use jargon to mask ignorance
• Serves as Pantalone's friend and foil—where Pantalone hoards money, Il Dottore hoards useless knowledge

La Signora

• A high-status woman of refinement and manipulation—her controlled, elegant physicality contrasts sharply with the servants' chaos
• Uses charm and wit as weapons, often catalyzing conflict by playing characters against each other
• Represents power dynamics in relationships, showing how women navigated influence in patriarchal structures

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The Servants (Zanni): Physical Comedy Engines

The zanni are the working-class characters whose hunger, cunning, and physical virtuosity drive the comedy. Their low status frees them to be acrobatic, irreverent, and physically extreme in ways the masters cannot. The term "zanni" itself gives us the word "zany."

Arlecchino (Harlequin)

• The acrobatic trickster servant—his diamond-patterned costume evolved from patches, visually marking him as resourceful and adaptable
• Physicality defined by agility and appetite—he's always hungry, always scheming, always in motion with lazzi (comic bits)
• Represents social mobility through wit, outsmarting his betters and embodying the fantasy that cleverness can overcome class

Brighella

• The cunning first servant—more calculating and less innocent than Arlecchino, often running schemes for profit
• Green and white costume signals his position between the colorful Arlecchino and the masters he manipulates
• Functions as a fixer or schemer, willing to serve whoever pays, making him morally flexible and dramatically useful

Pulcinella

• The hunchbacked Neapolitan fool—his distinctive hooked nose and white costume influenced later characters like Punch
• Physicality centers on his hump and belly, creating a distinctive silhouette that suggests both vulnerability and crude appetite
• Voices lower-class frustrations through seemingly foolish behavior that often contains sharp social critique

Zanni (Generic Servant)

• The archetypal comic servant—the template from which more specific servants evolved
• Defined by naivety and physical hunger—their desperation for food drives much of their lazzi and slapstick
• Provides chaos and plot momentum, their mistakes and misunderstandings creating the complications other characters must navigate

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The Lovers (Innamorati): Straight Players in a Crooked World

The innamorati stand apart from other stock characters because they typically don't wear masks and speak in elevated, poetic language. Their sincerity and beauty create contrast with the grotesque comedy around them—they're the romantic stakes that justify everyone else's scheming.

Innamorati (The Lovers)

• Young, beautiful, and hopelessly naive—their idealized love creates the plot that everyone else complicates
• Unmasked faces and elegant movement set them apart physically, requiring actors to convey status through grace rather than grotesquerie
• Function as the dramatic engine—their desire to unite despite obstacles (usually Pantalone) motivates servant schemes and master machinations

Colombina

• The clever maid and voice of reason—she sees through everyone's pretensions and often orchestrates solutions
• Typically Arlecchino's love interest, creating a parallel romance that's earthier and funnier than the innamorati
• Represents female agency, using wit and practicality to navigate and influence a male-dominated world

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The Braggart: Military Satire

Il Capitano

• The cowardly braggart soldier—his flamboyant military costume and exaggerated poses promise heroism his actions never deliver
• Physicality built on puffed chest and wide stance that collapses into cowering whenever real danger appears
• Satirizes military pretension and false masculinity, a type that remains relevant from ancient Greek comedy through modern film

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two characters both represent authority figures whose obsessions make them ridiculous, and how do their physical centers differ in performance?

2. Compare and contrast Arlecchino and Brighella: what do they share as servants, and what distinguishes their dramatic functions and moral positions?

3. Why do the innamorati perform unmasked while most other stock characters wear masks? What does this choice communicate about their role in the ensemble?

4. If you were asked to demonstrate how Commedia satirizes false masculinity, which character would you choose and what specific physical choices would you make?

5. How does Colombina's function in the plot differ from La Signora's, despite both being female characters who use wit to influence others?