HARLEQUIN

Italian ARLECCHINO.
French ARLEQUIN.

One of the principal stock characters of the Italian commedia dell´arte; often a facile and witty gentleman´s valet and a capricious swain of the serving maid.

In the early years of the commedia (mid-16th century) he had been a zanni (a wily and covetous comic servant) and he was cowardly, supertitious and plagued by a continual lack of money and food.

By the early 17th century Harlequin had become a faithful valet, patient, credulous and amorous. This last quality often led him into difficulties from which he managed to extricate himself by cleverness and irrepressible high spirits.

He was amoral without being vicious and unlike his fellow commedia servants he did not hold a grudge or seek revenge against those who tricked or cheated him.

Harlequin´s costume was originally a peasant´s shirt and long trousers both covered with many coloured patches. This later became a tight-fitting costume decorated with triangles and diamond shapes and it included a batte or slapstick. His black half mask had tiny eyeholes and quizzically arched eyebrows that were accentuated by a wrinkled forehead. The effect was of satyric sensuality, catlike slyness and astonished credulity.

Popular in the commedia from the 16th century Harlequin survived the commedia dell´arte to take a place in later theatrical productions. He occupied a central role in the comédie-italienne, the Gallicized adaptation of commedia dell´arte; in mid-18th-century England, John Rich incorporated the role into dance pantomines based on the combination of a commedia plot and a classical fable.