Il Capitano (,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for "The Captain") is one of the four stock characters of '' Commedia dell'arte.'' He most likely was never a "Captain" but rather appropriated the name for himself. 1600spanishcapitano

He is often a

braggart Boasting or bragging is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities. Boasting occurs when someone feels a sense of satisfaction or when someone feels that whatever occurred proves thei ...

and a swaggerer who can maintain his claims only by benefit of the fact that none of the locals know him. He is usually a

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both i ...

, given the fact that for most of the late Renaissance to well into 17th century, parts of Italy were under Spanish domination. He was most likely inspired by the boisterous Iberic

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

s who told tall tales of their exploits either in the

conquest of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short ter ...

or in the wars with Germany. Il Capitano often talks at length about made-up conquests of both the militaristic and the carnal variety in an attempt to impress others, but often ends up impressing only himself. He gets easily carried away in his tales and doesn't realise when those around him don't buy his act. He would be the first to run away from any and all battles, and he has trouble talking to and being around men. He is also extremely opportunistic and greedy. If hired by

Pantalone Pantalone , spelled Pantaloon in English, is one of the most important principal characters found in . With his exceptional greed and status at the top of the social order, Pantalone is "money" in the commedia world. His full name, including fam ...

to protect his daughter from her many suitors, Capitano would set up a bidding war for his services or aid between the suitors and Pantalone while wooing her himself. If he is hired to fight the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

, he will bluster about fighting them to his last drop of blood, but when the Turks seem to be winning, he will join them. When they are driven off, he will change sides again and boast about his loyalty and bravery.

Role

"I think of him as a peacock who has moulted all but one of his tail feathers, but does not know it," notes author John Rudlin. In this case, his cowardice is usually overcome by the fury of his passion, which he makes every effort to demonstrate. Typically, however, his cowardice is such that when one of the characters orders him to do something, he often steps down out of fear, but is able to make up an excuse that ensures the other characters still see him as a brave and individual.

Columbina Columbina (in Italian Colombina, meaning "little dove"; in French and English Colombine) is a stock character in the ''commedia dell'arte''. She is Harlequin's mistress, a comic servant playing the tricky slave type, and wife of Pierrot. Rudli ...

sometimes uses him to make

Arlecchino Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally ...

jealous, much to Capitano's bewilderment and fright.

Origin

The origin of Capitano comes from 2 literary sources:

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the ...

's ''

Miles Gloriosus ''Alazṓn'' ( grc, ἀλαζών) is one of three stock characters in comedy of the theatre of ancient Greece. He is the opponent of the '' eirôn''. The ''alazṓn'' is an impostor that sees himself as greater than he actually is. The ''senex ...

'' and Terence's ''Eunuchus''. The first famous Captain, Capitano Spavento, appeared in

Francesco Andreini Francesco Andreini (c. 1548 – 1624) was an Italian actor mainly of commedia dell'arte plays. He began his career playing the role of the unsophisticated love-stricken young man. Later he played the role of Capitan Spavento ("Captain Fright ...

's ''Bravure di Capitan Spaventa (The Boast of the Terrifying Captain).''

Lazzi

# Whenever Capitano sees the audience, he stops to be admired. # Capitano gloats to

(Harlequin) about his expertise with the ladies and then proceeds to demonstrate on Arlecchino how he would make love to a woman. # He wakes up to find he is not the only one in the room. There is someone crouching in the corner. He shakes his fist at the person, the person shakes their fist back at the same time. It turns out the person in the room is just Capitano's reflection in a full-length mirror. # When frightened, he often screams in a high and womanly falsetto, or else faints.

Stance

He stands in a high posture, occupying as much space as possible, with a straight back and his chest pushed forward .

Plot function

To be exposed or 'de-masked'. He exists to be stripped of his excessive confidence and shown in a moment of panic and humility.

Famous actors

Antonio Fava Antonio Fava (born May 28, 1949) is an actor, comedian, author, director, musician, mask maker and Internationally renowned Maestro of Commedia dell'arte who lives in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Born in Scandale, a small village in the province of ...

Description of the character

Mask

His mask is described as having "a long nose, often unambiguously phallic": "Long nose, often unambiguously phallic". The nose for Captain Spavento's mask is fairly large, but it lengthens with Matamoros, and becomes absolutely gargantuan for Coccodrillo. Originally, the color of the mask was probably flesh tone, now it can be many flamboyant colors such as bright pink, yellow and light blue. The mask often has a strong mustache and brow lines that can be black or have a purple/blue tone. UNmasked Capitano: II Cavaliere (The Lover Capitano).

Costume

Military-esque uniform (a satire on the period). 1500s: feathered helmet or hat (''mom panache''), exaggerated garters, extraordinarily long sword and a plethora of ruffles. 1600s: coat, breeches, and he would mostly have a musket instead of a sword. In one famous scenario, the Captain makes up a lie regarding the reason for his lack of an undershirt by claiming that it got that way because "I used to be an exceedingly fierce and violent man, and when I was made angry the hair which covers my body in goodly quantity stood on end and so riddled my shirt with holes that you would have taken it for a sieve." The real reason is that he has become too poor to afford one. Sometimes he wears it with a helmet or a

bicorne The bicorne or bicorn (two-cornered) is a historical form of hat widely adopted in the 1790s as an item of uniform by European and American army and naval officers. Most generals and staff officers of the Napoleonic period wore bicornes, whic ...

tricorne The tricorne or tricorn is a style of hat that was popular during the 18th century, falling out of style by 1800, though actually not called a "tricorne" until the mid-19th century. During the 18th century, hats of this general style were refer ...

hat with a huge plume. Spanish characters often wear an exaggerated large neck-ruff. He is usually always wearing his trademarked sword. If he were to ever work up enough nerve to draw it, it is usually too long to draw easily or too heavy or wobbly to wield properly. Even if he cut somebody with it, he would faint at the very sight of the blood.

Noms de guerre

Il Capitano usually has a properly showy name for himself, preferably several lines long and followed by many made-up titles and lists of relations. Some names are fierce-sounding, like "''Escobombardon''" ("Fired out of a cannon"), "''Rodomonte''" ("Mountain-crumbler"), "''Sangre y Fuego''" (Spanish: "Blood and Fire"), "''Spaccamonti''" ("Mountain splitter"), "''Spezzaferro''" ("Iron-breaker"), or "''Terremoto''" ("Earthquake"). Some names are ironic, like: "''Bellavista''" ("Beautiful view", a vain but ugly man) or "''Fracasso''"/"''Fracassa''" (the correct masculine version and an invented feminine version for "Fracas", "Skirmish" or "Big noise"). Some are dismissive, like "''Cerimonia''" ("Ceremony", all proper manners and rigid, slavish devotion to pointless details), "''Coccodrillo''" ("Crocodile", because he preys on others), "''Fanfarone''" ("Trumpeter" or "Loudmouth"), "''Giangurgulo''" ("John the Glutton"), "''Grillo''" ("Grasshopper", because he is small and 'hops' sides), "''Malagamba''" ("Lame leg"), "''Squaquara''" ("Little Shi*"), "''Papirotonda''" ("Round letter", a complaint signed by mutinous soldiers or sailors in a circle around the main text so the ringleaders or originators cannot be discerned), "''Tagliacantoni''" ("Small-sized"), and "''Zerbino''" ("Doormat"). He is also prone to awarding himself ridiculous titles like "''Capitan Spavento della Vall'Inferna''" ("Captain Fear, (Lord) of Hell's Valley"; the name of ''Vall'Inferna'' also sounds similar to "Va' all'Inferno!", " hen you dieGo to Hell!", an Italian-language imprecation), "''Salvador de los Vírgenes Borrachos''" (Spanish: "Savior of Drunken Virgins"), or "''Sieur de Fracasse et Brise-tout''" ( French: "Lord of 'Knock it down' and 'Break everything'").

Variants

The French coined characters like ''Boudoufle'' ( Norman French: "Puffed up with hurt pride"), ''Taille-bras'' (either "Limb-Cutter" or "Arm's Length"), and ''Engoulevent'' (either "Night-bird" or "Big-mouth"). England has the Irish dramatist George Farquhar's play ''

The Recruiting Officer ''The Recruiting Officer'' is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury (the town where Farquhar himse ...

''.

Major Bloodnok Major Denis Bloodnok is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy ''The Goon Show''. He was voiced by Peter Sellers. Basis of character Bloodnok's army career is notable for cowardice and monetary irregularities. He was discharged aft ...

of the ''

Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1 ...

'' bears some resemblance to Il Capitano and shares many of his traits, such as lust, greed and cowardice. In modern theater, the character

(Latin: "Famous or Boastful Soldier") from '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' is an obvious form of the character, though modeled from the earlier Roman plays.

Types

1. Captain Spaventa ("fear") 2. Rinoceronte ("rhino") 3. Fracassa ("uproar") 4. Spezzafer ("iron splitter") 5. Cocodrillo ("crocodile") - "A crocodile who never bites, he is all fanfare easily deflated," according to Rudlin. 6. Matamoros (Spanish: "Killer of Moors") – the original Spanish mercenary – was created by Francesco Andreini. He is powerfully built and very lavishly dressed. The clothes of his servants were supposedly made from the turbans of his victims. Has a hedgehog on his coat of arms, the result of his exploits at the battle of Trebizonde, where he claims to have fought his way into the tent of the Sultan himself. He then dragged him through the camp with one hand while fighting off the entire enemy army with the other hand. Afterwards, there were so many arrows stuck in him by the time he fought free that he resembled a hedgehog. 7. Scaramouche- ''

Scaramuccia Scaramouche () or Scaramouch (; from Italian Scaramuccia , literally "little skirmisher") is a stock clown character of the 16th-century commedia dell'arte (comic theatrical arts of Italian literature). The role combined characteristics of the ...

'' (Italian), or ''Scaramouche'' (French) ("

skirmish Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

") was a reinvention of the character by Tiberio Fiorilli. He is more of a man of action than he is a braggart and is clever, brave, and quick-witted rather than ignorant, cowardly and foolish. He is also a good singer and musician, and is usually depicted with a lute or guitar. Although quite a heartbreaker, he is usually indirectly or unobtrusively helpful to the

innamorati ''Gli Innamorati'' (, meaning "The Lovers") were stock characters within the theatre style known as commedia dell'arte, who appeared in 16th century Italy. In the plays, everything revolved around the Lovers in some regard. These dramatic and po ...

. *In the

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character ...

shows, Scaramouche is depicted by a puppet with a detachable head or an extendable neck. The former is for the Capitano incarnation, who seeks to fight all the other characters and the latter is for a singing puppet. *

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

, a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

by Edmond Rostand, is the most popular variant on Scaramouche. It portrays the

historical figure A historical figure is a significant person in history. The significance of such figures in human progress has been debated. Some think they play a crucial role, while others say they have little impact on the broad currents of thought and social ...

as a violent, easily angered braggart who is sensitive about slurs on his considerable courage, his rural Gascon heritage, or his ugly face (which is identical to the features of the Scaramouche mask). He nobly helps his friend, a handsome but naïve and foolish youth, woo Roxane whom they both love. *An unnamed soldier in a short play by

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

called ''The Vigilant Sentinel'' matched this character to the letter. In the play he waits, bespectacled and wearing ragged clothes, desperately trying to frighten away any rival suitors from the house of the girl he wishes to marry. *

Baron Munchausen Baron Munchausen (; ) is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book ''Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia''. The character is loosely based on a real ...

is another take on Scaramouche. He is usually depicted as an elderly man in an

anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...

18th century uniform, powdered wig with

queue __NOTOC__ Queue () may refer to: * Queue area, or queue, a line or area where people wait for goods or services Arts, entertainment, and media *''ACM Queue'', a computer magazine * ''The Queue'' (Sorokin novel), a 1983 novel by Russian author ...

, a beak-like and prominent nose, curling moustaches and goatee beard, and glasses. He uses his wits, his amazing luck and superhuman skills, and his gift of blather and blarney to defeat his enemies. He is also unusual in that he is handicapped by infirmities but is superhuman when he compensates for them. Without his glasses, he is blind as a bat; with them, he can see clearer and farther than a man with perfect vision. He has a lame leg, but when he carries his cane, he is capable of running faster and jumping higher and farther than an athlete. 8. Fanfarone- Pretends to be Spanish, but is actually just a Zanni.

References

Works cited

* *

General references

* *

John Rudlin John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, ''Commedia dell'arte: An Actor's Handbook'', *

Pierre Louis Duchartre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, ''The Italian Comedy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Capitano, Il Commedia dell'arte male characters Fictional military captains Fictional impostors Fictional Spanish people