Commedia Characters

Commedia dell'arte is composed of 8 stock characters: pantalone, isabella, il dottore, il capitano, colombina, brighella, arlechinno, and pulcinella. Stock characters refer to typical character types that the audience can easily distinguish such as star-crossed lovers, the hero, or the villain.

1. Pantalone is the money-hungry character who collects gold coins and collects wives as his trophies. He is referred to as "the magnificent lion". He is portrayed as the rich old miser and the master who treats his servants harshly. When he courts young women he thinks of them as his trophies.
2. Isabella is the high status, melodramatic, inamorata lover. She is considered flirtatious, vain/self-absorbed, and fashionable. She is typically resourceful and gets her own way.
3. Il dottore is the doctor who specializes in surgery although he is a quack who makes his patients fall asleep. He is a high status character and a master. As a doctor, he has unusual solutions and medical treatments and treats women very piggishly in the same manner as when he talks about food.
4. Il capitano is a man who brags about being a military expert and being an expert on women. He is a master and thinks of himself as a "lovers man" or a "ladies man."
5. Colombina works for il dottore and is referred to as his servant. She thinks that she is unemployable and is naive, innocent, and whimsical.
6. Brighella loves gambling and he loves women. Because he is the head servant to the master he teaches the other servants how to serve and steal from their masters.
7. Arlechinno works for pantalone and typically carries the slapstick. He is first seen as being innocent but he can switch to being the trickster. He is the servant who is in love with Isabella but knows that they can never marry because of their class differences.
8. Pulcinella holds many jobs but primarily works for pantalone and il dottore. He is a servant that always gets in trouble because of his gossip. His weakness is wine, women, and food.