Costume

Character : Harlequin is a humble, fun-loving, witty, buffoon, dumb, credulous and lazy servant. Always famished, his obsession with food brings him to appear more stupid than he really is in order to deceive his victim. He invents all sorts of tactics, stratagems, somersaults and acrobatics. The rest of the time, he seeks above all to lay around and avoid the least possible effort. Sometimes he is Columbine’s lover, and, therefore, Pedrolino’s rival. Costume and Mask : Harlequin’s original costume was a white suit so worn that he had constantly mend it with patches to hide the holes. Little by little it becomes a multicolored quilt of a suit. Thus was conceived Harlequin’s costume which everyone can now easily identify with its colorful diamond-shaped patches. Harlequin also carries a wooden bat, a slapstick, as a relic of his old trade as a cowherd in Bergamo. His mask is rather coarse. It is pug-nosed and shows a lump on the forehead, symbol of all the blows he has endured. His cheeks are gaunt as witness to his perpetual hunger.