Editing Il Capitano (section)

==Variants==
The French coined characters such as ''Boudoufle'' ([[Norman language|Norman French]] for 'Puffed up with hurt pride'), ''Taille-bras'' (either 'Limb-Cutter' or 'Arm's Length'), and ''Engoulevent'' (either 'Night-bird' or 'Big-mouth'). England has the Irish dramatist [[George Farquhar]]'s play ''[[The Recruiting Officer]]''. [[Major Bloodnok]] of ''[[The Goon Show]]'' bears some resemblance to il Capitano and shares many of his traits, such as lust, greed, and cowardice. In [[Broadway theatre|modern theater]], the character ''[[Alazon|miles gloriosus]]'' ([[Latin]] for 'Famous or Boastful Soldier') from ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]'' is an obvious form of the character, though modeled from the earlier Roman plays.

===Types===
1. Capitan Spaventa ("fear"){{sfn|Lawner|1998|page=59}}

2. Rinoceronte ("rhino"){{sfn|Lawner|1998|page=59}}

3. Fracassa ("uproar"){{sfn|Lawner|1998|page=59}}

4. Spezzafer ("iron splitter"){{sfn|Lawner|1998|page=59}}

5. Cocodrillo ("crocodile"){{sfn|Lawner|1998|page=59}} – "a crocodile who never bites, he is all fanfare easily deflated," according to Rudlin. {{sfn|Rudlin|1994|p=}}{{page needed|date=September 2020}}

6. Matamoros (Spanish for "Killer of Moors"){{sfn|Rudlin|1994|p=120}} – the original Spanish mercenary – was created by Francesco Andreini. He is powerfully built and very lavishly dressed. The clothes of his servants were supposedly made from the turbans of his victims. Has a hedgehog on his coat of arms, the result of his exploits at the battle of Trebizonde, where he claims to have fought his way into the tent of the Sultan himself. He then dragged him through the camp with one hand while fighting off the entire enemy army with the other hand. Afterward, so many arrows were stuck in him when he fought free that he resembled a hedgehog.{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|p=}}{{page needed|date=September 2020}}

7. Scaramouche – [[Scaramouche|Scaramuccia]] (Italian), or [[Scaramouche]] (French) ("[[Skirmisher|skirmish]]") was a reinvention of the character by Tiberio Fiorilli. He is more of a man of action than he is a braggart and is clever, brave, and quick-witted rather than ignorant, cowardly, and foolish. He is also a good singer and musician and is usually depicted with a lute or guitar. Although quite a heartbreaker, he is usually indirectly or unobtrusively helpful to the ''[[innamorati]]''.
*In the [[Punch and Judy]] shows, Scaramouche is depicted as a puppet with a detachable head or an extendable neck. The former is for il Capitano's incarnation, who seeks to fight all the other characters and the latter is for a singing puppet.
*[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]], a [[play (theatre)|play]] by [[Edmond Rostand]], is the most popular variant on Scaramouche. It portrays the [[Cyrano de Bergerac|historical figure]] as a violent, easily angered braggart who is sensitive about slurs on his considerable courage, his rural Gascon heritage, or his ugly face (which is identical to the features of the Scaramouche mask). He nobly helps his friend, a handsome but naïve and foolish youth, woo Roxane whom they both love.
*An unnamed soldier in a short play by [[Miguel de Cervantes]] called ''The Vigilant Sentinel'' matched this character to the letter. In the play he waits, bespectacled and wearing ragged clothes, desperately trying to frighten away any rival suitors from the house of the girl he wishes to marry.
*[[Baron Munchausen]] is another take on Scaramouche. He is usually depicted as an elderly man in an [[anachronism|anachronistic]] 18th-century uniform, [[powdered wig]] with [[queue (hairstyle)|queue]], a beak-like and prominent nose, curling mustaches and a goatee beard, and glasses. He uses his wits, his amazing luck and superhuman skills, and his gift of blather and blarney to defeat his enemies. He is also unusual in that he is handicapped by infirmities but is superhuman when he compensates for them. Without his glasses, he is blind as a bat; with them, he can see clearer and farther than a man with perfect vision. He has a lame leg, but when he carries his cane, he is capable of running faster and jumping higher and farther than an athlete. {{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}

8. Fanfarone – pretends to be Spanish, but is just a [[Zanni]].{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|p=120}}