Pantaloon, stock character of the 16th-century Italian commedia dell’arte—a cunning and rapacious yet often deceived Venetian merchant.
Pantaloon dressed in a tight-fitting red vest, red breeches and stockings, a pleated black cassock, slippers, and a soft brimless hat. Later versions of the character sometimes wore long trousers (pantaloons). His mask was gaunt and swarthy with a large hooked nose, and he had a disorderly gray goatee.
The humour of the role stemmed from Pantaloon’s avarice and his amorous entanglements. An abject slave to money, he would starve his servant until he barely cast a shadow. If he discharged him, he made certain to do so before dinner. If married, he was a foil for his wife, who was young, pretty, disrespectful, and completely untrustworthy, and he was also a foil for the intrigues and deceits of his daughters and servant girls. Although anxious about his reputation, he engaged in flirtations with young girls who openly mocked him.
In the Italian commedia, Pantaloon was frequently paired with Dottore (q.v.) as a parent or guardian of one of the lovers. The French variant evolved from Pantalone when the commedia dell’arte companies played in France. In Elizabethan England, Pantaloon came to mean simply an old man. In 18th-century London, Pantaloon, minus his long coat, was one of the characters of the harlequinade (q.v.), the English pantomime version of the commedia dell’arte.