Commedia Del'Arte - Character Analysis and Traits of Pantalone, Il'Capitano and Il Dottore.

PANTALONE:

Pantalone is of top pecking order. He is wealthy and controls the finance in the character world of commedia, therefore his orders are usually obeyed by all. He is the father of Isabella.

He wears dark colours of black, grey and red; dynamic Pantaloons, tight-fitting long red trousers or red breeches and stockings, a short tight-fitting jacket, a loose long black cloak with plain sleeves, red-woollen skull-cap and yellow turkish slippers.

He is lean and scrawny and often short in stature. He wears a mask with a long, hooked nose with bushy eyebrows, sometimes also a moustache. Pointed beard just forward as if to meet the nose coming down, thus giving a very dynamic profile.

His signature props are a gold chain hung around his neck with a large medallion as well as a dagger and a money pouch. He also carried a ubiquitous handkerchief and used a walking cane.

His back bends giving him a hunched old man's stoop, which protected his purse and effectively restricted the motion of his legs. His feet are together, toes apart, knees well bent and facing apart creating a focus on his crutch. His legs are also much more muscled with the possibility of sustaining extreme forward positions of the torso or making large strides.

Bullying, aggressively and mean-minded, Pantalone, a pauper who had squandered his dignity along with his cash. He's always on the prowl and he could be termed a Beelzebub of sex. Any woman who happens to cross his path becomes at once an object of winks, leers and nudges... he parades up and down in a series of showily self-important struts, trips, trots and sudden halts.

His walk is small and slow and he can only walk at one pace; whatever his feet do his legs cannot go...