La Signora (; ) is a character in

commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...

. She is the wife of

Pantalone Pantalone (), spelled Pantaloon in English, is one of the most important principal characters found in commedia dell'arte. With his exceptional greed and status at the top of the social order, Pantalone is "money" in the ''commedia'' world. His ...

and the mistress of

Pedrolino Pedrolino is a ''primo'' ('first') Zanni, or comic servant, of the commedia dell'arte; the name is a hypocorism of ''Pedro'' ('Peter'), via the suffix ''-lino''. The character made its first appearance in the last quarter of the 16th century, app ...

. La Signora is tough, beautiful and calculating, and wears very wide dresses along with very heavy makeup. She walks with a flick of the toe and her arms held far out to the sides of her body. La Signora could be a "courtesan" (high class

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

), but typically manages to wrangle her way into the household of an old man, usually Pantalone, where she would inevitably

cuckold A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife (or partner for unmarried companions); 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 geneti ...

him. She was an older, sexually experienced

Columbine Columbine may refer to: Places * Columbine, Colorado, a census-designate place in Jefferson and Arapahoe counties in Colorado, United States ** Columbine High School, a high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States *** Columbine Memorial, a ...

, known as Rosaura. * ''Appearance'': overdresses, wearing too many jewels, flowers, feathers and ribbons, and wearing too much hair and makeup. * ''Physicality'': like

il Capitano Il Capitano (; ) is one of the four stock characters of commedia dell'arte. He most probably was never a "Captain", but rather appropriated the name for himself. Its genesis dates back to the Pyrgopolinices of Titus Maccio Plautus' Miles glor ...

, she uses excessive and big gestures. * ''Character traits'': main aim is satisfaction of physical needs – more jewels, dresses and sex. She will scheme to have them assured. She has an immediate attraction to her counterpart, il Capitano, and they must be together. However, she is married to Pantalone, and she cheats on him regularly. A common '' lazzo'' of la Signora is to have a fight with another woman, as she is very proud and often ridicules others.

Popular culture

Representations of or characters based on la Signora in contemporary popular culture include la Signora from ''

Genshin Impact ''Genshin Impact'' is a 2020 action role-playing game produced by MiHoYo, MiHoYo/HoYoverse. The game features an anime-style open world environment and an action-based Role-playing battle systems, battle system using Classical element, element ...

'' (where she is the Eighth of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers), and la Signora from the comic book series ''

Power Man and Iron Fist ''Power Man and Iron Fist'' (originally ''Luke Cage, Hero for Hire'' then ''Luke Cage, Power Man'') was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the superheroes Power Man and Iron Fist. Publication history ''Hero ...

'', where she is a minor villain, part of the ''commedia della morte''.

References

Commedia dell'arte female characters Fictional courtesans Female stock characters {{Theater-stub