Il Dottore

Il Dottore (pronounced [il dotˈtoːre], "the Doctor"; commonly known in Italian as Dottor Balanzone or simply Balanzone [balanˈtsoːne]; Bolognese Emilian: Dutåur Balanzån) is a commedia dell'arte , one of the vecchi, or "old men", whose function in a scenario is to be an obstacle to the young lovers. Il Dottore and Pantalone are the comic foil 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 1500s.

Il Dottore hails from the city of Bologna, Italy. He is said to have been educated at the University of Bologna, but he is comically inept. He is often 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 Latin and Greek. His interaction in the play is usually mostly with Pantalone, either as a friend, mentor or competitor.

Il Dottore first originated in the 1500s as the comic foil 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 vecchi 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 with the Gelosi troupe during the year 1572, still performed by Lucio Burchiella. Since Commedia dell'Arte 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's inclusion of a Docteur-style character in his play La Jalousie du Barbouillé (). In contemporary media, Il Dottore can be found in many common characters, such as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory and Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama.

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