Commedia dell'arte the "amorosi". The servants or the clowns are referred to as the "zanni" and include characters such as Arlecchino (also known as Harlequin), Brighella, Scapino and Pedrolino. Some of the better known "commedia dell'arte" characters are Pierrot and Pierrette, Pantalone, Il Dottore, Brighella, Il Capitano, Colombina, the "innamorati", Pedrolino, Pulcinella, Sandrone, Scaramuccia (also known as Scaramouche), La Signora, and Tartaglia. In the 17th century as "commedia" became popular in France, the characters of Pierrot, Columbine and Harlequin were refined and became essentially Parisian, according to Green. Each character in Commedia dell'arte has a distinct costume that helps the audience understand
Pierrot appeared fairly regularly in English pantomimes (which were originally mute harlequinades but later evolved into the Christmas pantomimes of today; in the nineteenth century, the harlequinade was presented as a "play within a play" during the pantomime), finding his most notable interpreter in Carlo Delpini (1740–1828). His role was uncomplicated: Delpini, according to the popular theater historian, M. Willson Disher, "kept strictly to the idea of a creature so stupid as to think that if he raised his leg level with his shoulder he could use it as a gun." So conceived, Pierrot was easily and naturally displaced by the