Character : First “Doctor” does not mean a medical expert. It is a respectful title given to a well-educated person and the Doctor will tell you that there is no one on earth as knowledgeable as he is. He knows it all, has seen it all, he is pedantic and appears impressive, but most often he only exhibits sheer nonsense.
In fact, the Doctor is an idiot, a pompous individual. He uses beautiful speeches to ensure that he is invited daily to dinner. The doctor is not only stupid and vain, he is equally a cheat and king of the gluttons.
The Doctor is at times a lawyer, a judge, or a minister to some Prince, but rarely is he a medical doctor. He has the reputation of prattling incessantly and talking through his hat. He varnishes his never-ending discourses with dubious Latin citations and absurd maxims. Any attempt to interrupt him is dommed to fail.
If perchance he qualifies as a medical doctor, he is more of a quack who prescribes bizarre medicines. On stage his acting is more static than that of Pantalone. It consists of word games and long, meaningless sentences sustained only by the pseudo-gravity of his character. According to the plot, he can either be Pantalone’s rival or his assistant.
Costume and Mask : This character is a man in his sixties with an enormous belly and wine-colored cheeks from which arises a large wart. A dark, half-mask covers only his forehead and nose. His nose is rather bulbous and fleshy and often shows warts. It lies between two large, dark moustaches.
As do the Bolognese erudite, he wears an ample black frock which reaches down to his knees and above it there is a longer one of the same shade. His coat shows a white bib (often a neck ruff) and his head is covered with a bonnet as worn by notaries, or a wide-brim doctor’s hat.