A Variety of Morbid Symptoms

Pantalone is a stock character of the “Commedia dell’arte”, a popular, touring theater group originating in Renaissance Italy. The characters were fixed types having roughly standardized costumes. Either as a wealthy merchant or elected official, Pantalone is a boss, greedy and stingy, an egotist, hungry for money and power.
Ajax, a hero from the Iliad, had acted unreasonably and foolishly in the presence of his peers. When he came to his senses he realized he had humiliated himself. In ancient times a hero, a person of honor, could only restore dignity by “falling on their own sword”.
Although this scene takes place in an American landscape, the human "comedy" could take place anywhere at any time.

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