Influence of Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'Arte has two major elements: improvisation and stock characters (Brockett 150). Stock characters were so important that usually one actor played the same role throughout his career. Commedia dell'Arte was created for the common people since most earlier Italian shows were put on for an aristocratic audience. The characters of commedia dell'Arte were either straight or exaggerated roles (Brockett 150). The young lovers were like the pop culture in Italian theater. They dressed in the styles of the time, they were clever, and they were attractive (and not masked). They could illustrate how strange the other characters were. The male lover's father rejected the son's lover. The young woman had both old and young male lovers (Brockett 150). The character roles were usually master or servant. The masters were usually ridiculous. There was the Capitano, who was an exaggerated character who bragged about his ample love abilities and fighting, but who was actually a coward and not so great in the sack. Pantalone was an old man, a merchant, who would pretend to be a young man and court the young ladies. Il Dottore was Pantalone'
There are also Olivia and Sebastian, another pair of young lovers. He is lusting after Orgon's wife and yet still sneaking into Orgon's favors because of his cleverness. Life is a Dream's main Commedia counterpart is the character of Clarion. Dorine, Mariane's maid, provides the moving of the action. Sir Andrew can be seen as a Pantalone. He has no reverence for anything other than himself. The action is almost always the same- there is a rivalry between two men and the maid is always there to move the action along- a similar role played by the zanni in Commedia dell'Arte. There was Harlequin, who was "a mixture of cunning and stupidity" (Brockett 152), usually a dancer. The cast consisted of between ten and twelve actors. There are young lovers in the play- Rosaura and Astolfo- who more straight characters. The servants and young lovers are the only characters who know the truth about Tartuffe.
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