Il Dottore (, 'the Doctor'), commonly known in Italian as ''Dottor Balan'' or simply ''Balanzone'' (;

Bolognese Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nati ...

egl, Dutåur Balanzån) is a ''

commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charac ...

'' stock character, in one

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally p ...

being an obstacle to young lovers. Il Dottore and

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 ...

are the

comic foil A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...

of each other, Pantalone being the decadent wealthy merchant, and Il Dottore being the decadent erudite. He has been part of the main canon of characters since the mid-16th century.

Overview

Il Dottore was born from the city of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He is comically inept. He is usually extremely rich, though the needs of the scenario might have things otherwise, and extremely pompous, loving the sound of his own voice and spouting

ersatz An ersatz good () is a substitute good, especially one that is considered inferior to the good it replaces. It has particular connotations of wartime usage. Etymology ''Ersatz'' is a German word literally meaning ''substitute'' or ''replacement' ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Il Dottore is known to be overly self loving and greedy. His interaction in the play is usually mostly with

, either as a friend, mentor or competitor.

History

Il Dottore first originated as the

of Pantalone. The character has his performance origins in the year 1560 with the actor Lucio Burchiella; two other mentions follow soon after, with a pair of being mentioned in the year 1565, and another mention of ''Dottore Gracian'' in 1574. Since his introduction, he has existed in some form or other due to his popularity and interactions with Pantalone; however, his popularity did wane in Italy by the 1800s. He has gone by many names besides ''Il Dottore'', those being ''Dottore Gratiano'', ''Dottore Baloardo'' ("Dr. Dolt"), ''Dottore Spaccastrummolo'' ("Dr. Hack-and-Bandage"), ''Dottore Scarpazon'', and ''Dottore Forbizone'' ("Dr. Large Scissor"). His many names reflect his buffoonish nature, and call attention to his positive traits. Il Dottore migrates to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

with the Gelosi troupe during the year 1572, still performed by Lucio Burchiella. Since performers were itinerant by nature, it is only natural that his character was transplanted to other countries. By the late 17th century, Il Dottore was firmly embedded in the public eye, as evidenced by the playwright

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's inclusion of a Docteur-style character in his play '. In contemporary media, Il Dottore can be found in many common characters, such as Sheldon from ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'' and Dr. Zoidberg from '' Futurama''.

Characteristics

Rotund and fond of drink and food but he loves chocolate the most. Il Dottore is also fond of girls however is untruthful and gets caught cheating several times; he is a love rat. Il Dottore is representative of the learned intellectual class, and as such is meant to playfully parody the educated elite. He attended the University of Bologna, and pretends to be an expert in many subjects, talking constantly, but usually having no idea about that of which he speaks. Depending on the portrayal, however, he can actually be very educated, and bore the other players into leaving the stage. The preferred crowd favorite, however, is the Dottore who speaks nonsense. Il Dottore walks with his chest up, knees bent, and with a bouncy movement, taking small steps; he gesticulates with his hands and fingers, making room around him by keeping others at bay. He stands in one position and plants himself to make a point. Il Dottore can be the father to one of 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 pos ...

'', usually either

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. Rudlin ...

or Isabella. There are, however, existing scenarios in which Dottore is not a father, specifically "the Tooth-Puller", or ''Il Cavadente''. There is also precedence for Il Dottore to be

cuckold A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife; the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not genetically his offspring. A husband who is a ...

ed.

Mask and costume

Unlike the majority of half masks in , Il Dottore's mask is unique in that it is a one-third mask; the mask itself is meant to be a parody of a Bolognese jurisconsult. The actor's cheeks may sometimes have rouge applied to imply that Il Dottore is fond of drinking. His costume is usually all or mostly black and he frequently wears a black felt hat with long, trailing robes. Under his black robes are shorter black robes and black shoes. The ruff around Il Dottore's neck didn't come into play until his popularity in France grew, at which point it was adopted in 1653 by Agostino Lolli.

References

*{{cite book , title=Commedia dell'arte , last=Rudlin , first=John , author2=Oliver Crick , year=2001 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-0-415-20409-5 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgMKhwelZzUC&q=the+art+of+commedia , access-date=August 4, 2009 *''The Italian Comedy'' by

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 ...

External links