The Braggart
He is an outsider, Il Capitano may have come fresh from battle, Spain, or loving thirty seven and a half imagined woman whatever the case may be, at the start of the scenario the captain begins mostly as a stranger. He can be described as a braggart who boasts about imaginary happenings in order to gain status over the other masks.
He can be referred to by his title, or a full name that can be created by the actor. The name tends to reflect his character, being tantalizingly tedious, with triumphant and titillating sounding titles, which may sound amazing while in actuality only describe a pathetic liar who could never live up to his own fables. Il Capitano is constantly trying to impress the other characters with fictions of battles against absurd amounts of strange animals, or achievements regarding love and wealth. The stories he tells can be believed by the more dim of masks and he uses them to his own goals of lust and wealth.
His title of captain is a lie too, if he ever had the title he lost it, take the title away and he is just a low status character like one of the servants. His walk does imitate that of a soldier and when he stands he stands at attention, his hand can be found on his back, his chest, or his sword. He would never unsheathe his sword though, it would reveal that he is a lie, so when the time does call for a fight he will try and fabricate excuses, or run away from the potential exposure. John Rudlin, in Commedia Dell'Arte An Actor's Handbook, describes his character of being a peacock with only a single tail feather remaining, but who doesn't know it yet.
