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45-521: Harlequin is a comic servant character. Harlequin may also refer to: Harlequin Harlequin ( / ˈ h ɑːr l ə k w ɪ n / , Italian : Arlecchino , Italian: [arlekˈkiːno] ; Lombard : Arlechin , Lombard: [arleˈki] ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters ( Zanni ) from the Italian commedia dell'arte , associated with the city of Bergamo . The role

90-544: A "self-derogatory and understating character". In American popular films, there are a wide range of stock characters, which are typically used as non-speaking extras in the background, bit parts with a single line, minor secondary/supporting roles, or major secondary/supporting roles. Stock characters in American films have changed over the decades. A 1930s or 1940s film's stock characters include newspaper vendors, ice vendors, street sweepers, and cigarette girls; in contrast,

135-399: A 1990s film has homeless " bag ladies ", pimps, plainclothes police, business women, and Black and Hispanic stereotypes. Stock characters in American popular culture, especially racial and ethnic stereotypes, often came to be seen as offensive in later decades and were replaced with new stereotypes. For example, the " lazy Black " and the " treacherous bespectacled Japanese " were replaced in

180-582: A creative writing professor and prolific fiction author, all characters begin as stock characters and are fleshed out only as far as needed to advance the plot. E. Graham McKinley says "there is general agreement on the importance to drama of 'stock' characters. This notion has been considerably explored in film theory, where feminists have argued, female stock characters are only stereotypes (child/woman, whore, bitch, wife, mother, secretary or girl Friday , career women, vamp , etc.)." Ulrike Roesler and Jayandra Soni analyze "not only with female stock characters in

225-419: A dimwitted fool and an intelligent trickster. Arlecchino is sometimes referred to as putting on a show of stupidity in a metatheatrical attempt to create chaos within the play. Physically, Arlecchino is described as wearing a costume covered in irregular patches, a hat outfitted with either a rabbit or fox's tail, and a red and black mask. The mask itself is identified by carbuncles on the forehead, small eyes,

270-519: A favourite of Henry IV of France , to whom he addressed insolent monologues ( Compositions de Rhetorique de Mr. Don Arlequin , 1601). Martinelli's great success contributed to the perpetuation of his interpretation of the Zanni role, along with the name of his character, after his death in 1630, among others, by Nicolò Zecca , active c.  1630 in Bologna as well as Turin and Mantua . The character

315-616: A knight from the 9th century, Hellequin of Boulogne, who died fighting the Normans and originated a legend of devils. In Cantos XXI and XXII from Dante 's Inferno there is a devil by the name of Alichino. The similarities between the devil in Dante's Inferno and the Arlecchino are more than cosmetic. The prank-like antics of the devils in the aforementioned antics reflect some carnivalesque aspects. The first known appearance on stage of Hellequin

360-399: A mustache. His bat is shaped like a scimitar-esque sword. Zaccagnino . Character dating to the 15th century. Bagatino . A juggler. Pedrolino or Pierotto . A servant or valet clad in mostly white, created by Giovanni Pellesini. 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century The Harlequin character came to England early in

405-577: A romantic character. The most influential portrayers of the Harlequin character in Victorian England were William Payne and his sons the Payne Brothers , the latter active during the 1860s and 1870s. The name Harlequin is taken from that of a mischievous "devil" or "demon" character in popular French Passion Plays . It originates with an Old French term herlequin , hellequin , first attested in

450-408: A snub nose, hollow cheeks, and sometimes bushy brows with facial hair. Arlecchino is often depicted as having a wooden sword hanging from a leather belt on his person, and sometimes holding a marotte (fool's scepter). Aside from his acrobatics, Arlecchino is also known for having several specific traits such as: and several other techniques. One of the major distinctions of commedia dell'arte

495-531: A time- and effort-saving shortcut for story creators, as authors can populate their tale with existing well-known character types. Another benefit is that stock characters help to move the story along more efficiently, by allowing the audience to already understand the character and their motivations. Furthermore, stock characters can be used to build an audience's expectations and, in some cases, they can also enhance narrative elements like suspense, irony, or plot twists if those expectations end up subverted. There

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540-432: A variation of the 17th century where the triangular patches were replaced with moons, stars, circles and triangles. In 18th century France, Trivelino was a distinct character from Harlequin. They appeared together in a number of comedies by Pierre de Marivaux including L'Île des esclaves . Truffa, Truffaldin or Truffaldino . Popular characters with Gozzi and Goldoni, but said to be best when used for improvisations. By

585-590: Is dated to 1262, the character of a masked and hooded devil in Jeu da la Feuillière by Adam de la Halle , and it became a stock character in French passion plays. The re-interpretation of the "devil" stock character as a Zanni character of the commedia dell'arte took place in the 16th century in France. Zan Ganassa , whose troupe is first mentioned in Mantua in the late 1560s,

630-703: Is often confusion between stock characters, archetypes , stereotypes , and clichés . In part this confusion arises due to the overlap between these concepts. Nevertheless, these terms are not synonyms. The relationship is that basic archetypes (such as " hero " or " father figure ") and stock characters (such as " damsel in distress " and " wise fool ") are the raw source material that authors use to build on and create fleshed-out, interesting characters. In contrast, stereotypes and clichés are generally viewed as signs of "bad writing or shallow thinking". Some stereotypes, such as racial stereotype characters, may be offensive to readers or viewers. According to Dwight V. Swain ,

675-424: Is one of the earliest known actors suggested to have performed the part, although there is "little hard evidence to support [it]". Ganassa performed in France in 1571, and if he did play the part there, he left the field open for another actor to take up the role, when he took his troupe to Spain permanently in 1574. Among the earliest depictions of the character are a Flemish painting ( c.  1571–1572 ) in

720-423: Is that, as with films, these stock characters can incorporate racial stereotypes , and "prejudicial and demeaning images". One concern raised with these gay stock characters is they tend to be shown as just advice-giving "sidekicks" who are not truly integrated into the narrative; as well, the gay character's life is not depicted, apart from their advice-giving interactions with the main characters. This also echoed

765-435: Is the use of regional languages. Arlecchino's speech evolved with the character. Originally speaking in a Bergamo dialect of Lombard language , the character adopted a mixture of French, Lombard and Italian dialects when the character became more of a fixture in France so as to help the performers connect to the common masses. Various troupes and actors would alter his behaviour to suit style, personal preferences, or even

810-478: Is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan Ganassa in the late 16th century, was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in Paris in 1584–1585, and became a stock character after Martinelli's death in 1630. The Harlequin is characterised by his checkered costume. His role is that of a light-hearted, nimble, and astute servant , often acting to thwart

855-508: The Payne Brothers , active during the 1860s and 1870s, who contributed to the development of 20th-century "slapstick" comedy. Representations of or characters based on Arlecchino in contemporary popular culture include Harley Quinn , an American comic book character originally serving as a sidekick to the Joker , and Arlekin, a puppet from Karabas Barabas' theatre in the Soviet children's film and

900-503: The innamorata , although rarely with success, as in the Recueil Fossard of the 16th century where he is shown trying to woo Donna Lucia for himself by masquerading as a foreign nobleman. He also is known to try to win any given lady for himself if he chances upon anyone else trying to woo her, by interrupting or ridiculing the new competitor. His sexual appetite is essentially immediate, and can be applied to any passing woman. Between

945-402: The "first" Zanni Harlequin takes little or no part in the development of the plot. He has the more arduous task of maintaining the even rhythm of the comedy as a whole. He is therefore always on the go, very agile and more acrobatic than any of the other Masks. Early characteristics of Arlecchino paint the character as a "second" Zanni servant from northern Italy with the paradoxical attributes of

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990-476: The 11th century, by the chronicler Orderic Vitalis , who recounts a story of a monk who was pursued by a troop of demons when wandering on the coast of Normandy , France, at night. These demons were led by a masked, club-wielding giant and they were known as familia herlequin (var. familia herlethingi ). This medieval French version of the Germanic Wild Hunt , Mesnée d'Hellequin , has been connected to

1035-521: The 16th and 17th centuries Harlequin gained some function as a politically aware character. In the Comédie-Italienne Harlequin would parody French tragedies as well comment on current events. Duchartre lists the following as variations on the Harlequin role: Trivelino or Trivelin . Name is said to mean "Tatterdemalion". One of the oldest versions of Harlequin, dating to the 15th century. Costume almost identical to Harlequin's, but had

1080-530: The 17th century and took center stage in the derived genre of the Harlequinade , developed in the early 18th century by the Lincoln's Fields Theatre's actor-manager John Rich , who played the role under the name of Lun. He developed the character of Harlequin into a mischievous magician who was easily able to evade Pantaloon and his servants to woo Columbine . Harlequin used his magic batte or "slapstick" to transform

1125-530: The 17th century and took centre stage in the derived genre of the Harlequinade , developed in the early 18th century by John Rich . As the Harlequinade portion of the English dramatic genre pantomime developed, Harlequin was routinely paired with the character Clown . As developed by Joseph Grimaldi around 1800, Clown became the mischievous and brutish foil for the more sophisticated Harlequin, who became more of

1170-414: The 18th century was a Bergamask caricature. Guazzetto . In the seventeenth century, a variety of anonymous engravings show Guazzetto rollicking, similar to Arleqin. He wears a fox's brush, a large three-tiered collarette, wide breeches, and a loose jacket tied tightly by a belt. He also dons a neckerchief dropped over the shoulders like a small cape. Guazzetto's mask is characterised with a hooked nose and

1215-405: The 1990s with the " street-smart Brother " and the "camera-happy Japanese tourist". Other groups more frequently represented as stock characters include women, Native Americans, Hispanics, Arabs, Gays/Lesbians, Jews, and Italians. Other briefly popular stock characters include the 1950s "overweight Communist cell leader" and the 1970s " Black Panther revolutionary". Even in timeless occupations,

1260-399: The English figure of Herla cyning ('host-king'; German: Erlkönig ). Hellequin was depicted as a black-faced emissary of the devil, roaming the countryside with a group of demons chasing the damned souls of evil people to Hell. The physical appearance of Hellequin offers an explanation for the traditional colours of Harlequin's red-and-black mask. The name's origin could also be traced to

1305-523: The Flying World at Sadler's Wells Theatre . For this elaborate production, Dibdin and Grimaldi introduced new costume designs. Clown's costume was "garishly colourful ... patterned with large diamonds and circles, and fringed with tassels and ruffs", instead of the tatty servant's outfit that had been used for a century. The production was a hit, and the new costume design was copied by others in London. Later

1350-637: The Museum of Bayeux and several woodblock prints probably dating from the 1580s in the Fossard collection, discovered by Agne Beijer in the 1920s among uncatalogued items in the Nationalmuseum , in Stockholm . Tristano Martinelli is the first actor definitely known to have used the name "Harlequin" (or "Arlequin") from French folklore and adapted it for the comic secondo Zanni role, and he probably first performed

1395-456: The audience. In the late 1990s, there was a trend for screenwriters to add a gay stock character, which replaced the 1980s era's "African-American workplace pal" stock character. In the 1990s, a number of sitcoms introduced gay stock characters with the quality of the depictions being viewed as setting a new bar for onscreen LGBT depiction. One challenge with the use of stock characters in TV shows

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1440-751: The novel it was based on, The Adventures of Buratino . Video game representations of the character include the Knave from Genshin Impact , Fourth of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers and Father of the House of the Hearth, Arlecchino , King of Riddles from Lies of P , and Arlecchino from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III , a French Army soldier from the commedia della morte . Stock character There are several purposes to using stock characters. Stock characters are

1485-441: The part in France in (or just before) 1584 and only later did he bring the character to Italy, where he became known as Arlecchino. The motley costume is sometimes attributed to Martinelli, who wore a linen costume of colourful patches, and a hare-tail on his cap to indicate cowardice. Martinelli's Harlequin also had a black leather half-mask , a moustache and a pointed beard. He was very successful, even playing at court and becoming

1530-475: The part. The rhombus shape of the patches arose by adaptation to the Paris fashion of the 17th century by Biancolelli. The primary aspect of Arlecchino was his physical agility. He was very nimble and performed the sort of acrobatics the audience expected to see. The character would never perform a simple action when the addition of a cartwheel , somersault, or flip would spice up the movement. By contrast with

1575-403: The particular scenario being performed. He is typically cast as the servant of an innamorato or vecchio much to the detriment of the plans of his master. Arleqin often had a love interest in the person of Columbine , or in older plays any of the soubrette roles, and his lust for her was only superseded by his desire for food and fear of his master. Occasionally, Harlequin would pursue

1620-574: The person in the job has changed, reflecting cultural and demographic changes. In the 1990s, a hairdresser (previously French) was often depicted as a gay man, a gardener (previously White) as Asian or Hispanic, a bartender (previously White) as Black, and a maid (previously Black) as Hispanic. Due to the scheduling constraints on television production, in which episodes need to be quickly scripted and shot, television scriptwriters often depend heavily on stock characters borrowed from popular film. TV writers use these stock characters to quickly communicate to

1665-502: The plans of his master, and pursuing his own love interest, Columbine , with wit and resourcefulness, often competing with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot . He later develops into a prototype of the romantic hero . Harlequin inherits his physical agility and his trickster qualities, as well as his name, from a mischievous " devil " character in medieval Passion Plays . The Harlequin character first appeared in Bergamo, Italy, early in

1710-507: The plays' comic business and royal pomp." Tara Brabazon discusses how the "school ma'am on the colonial frontier has been a stock character of literature and film in Australia and the United States. She is an ideal foil for the ill mannered, uncivilised hero. In American literature and film, the spinster from East – generally Boston – has some stock attributes." Polly Welts Kaufman shows that

1755-585: The same year, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , in Harlequin Amulet; or, The Magick of Mona. Harlequin was modified to become "romantic and mercurial, instead of mischievous", leaving Grimaldi's mischievous and brutish Clown as the "undisputed agent" of chaos, and the foil for the more sophisticated Harlequin, who retained and developed stylized dance poses during the 19th century. The most influential pair playing Harlequin and Clown in Victorian England were

1800-512: The scene from the pantomime into the harlequinade and to magically change the settings to various locations during the chase scene. As the Harlequinade portion of English pantomime developed, Harlequin was routinely paired with the character Clown . Two developments in 1800, both involving Joseph Grimaldi , greatly changed the pantomime characters. Grimaldi starred as Clown in Charles Dibdin's 1800 pantomime, Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in

1845-456: The schoolma'am's " genteel poverty , unbending morality, education, and independent ways make her character a useful foil for the two other female stock characters in Western literature: the prostitute with the heart of gold and the long-suffering farmer's wife.'" Stock characters can be further identified as an alazon , the "impostor and self-deceiving braggart" in a story, or an eiron ,

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1890-521: The sense of typical roles in the dramas, but also with other female persons in the area of the theatrical stage..." Andrew Griffin, Helen Ostovich, and Holger Schott Syme explain further that "Female stock characters also permit a close level of audience identification; this is true most of all in The Troublesome Reign , where the "weeping woman" type is used to dramatic advantage. This stock character provides pathos as yet another counterpoint to

1935-415: The way that Black and Latino characters were used in 1980s and early 1990s shows: they were given a stock character role as a police chief, which in put them in a position of power, but then these characters were used as minor characters, with little narrative interaction with main characters. In the 2000s, with changing views on depicting race, Latino/a characters are both typecast into stock characters and

1980-483: The writers play with viewer expectations by making a seemingly stock Latino/a character act or behave "against type". Southern sheriff stock characters are depicted with a negative stereotype of being obese, poorly trained, uneducated, and racist, as was done with Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane from The Dukes of Hazzard . In the United States , courts have determined that copyright protection cannot be extended to

2025-672: Was also performed in Paris at the Comédie-Italienne in Italian by Giambattista Andreini and Angelo Costantini ( c.  1654–1729 ) and in French as Arlequin in the 1660s by Dominique Biancolelli (1636–1688), who combined the Zanni types, "making his Arlecchino witty, neat, and fluent in a croaking voice, which became as traditional as the squawk of Punch ". The Italians were expelled from France in 1697 for satirizing King Louis XIV 's second wife, Madame de Maintenon , but returned in 1716 (after his death), when Tommaso Antonio Vicentini ("Thomassin", 1682–1739) became famous in

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