“’K moet u eerst iets fraaijs verkoopen…”: Harlekijn “verhollandst” in Langendijks Arlequin Actionist (1720)
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2025-07-11
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nl
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With the play Arlequin Actionist (1720), playwright Pieter Langendijk introduced a
transformed version of the traditional figure of the harlequin Arlecchino to the Netherlands. This
“Dutchified” harlequin, portrayed as a bold actionist, humorously offered audiences a moment of
reflection on the speculative trading practices known as the windtrade. This thesis focuses on the
transformation of the harlequin into a distinctly Dutch actionist within the context of the
eighteenth-century financial speculation. Through a textual analysis of both the original play as its
accompanying title engraving, various concepts from Erika Fischer-Lichte’s The Semiotics of
Theatre from 1992 are applied to Langendijks version of the harlequin as actionist. The analysis
shows that the harlequin as an actionist manipulates his environment on linguistic level through
confusion, irony and knowledge of Dutch trading traditions. Arlequin’s kinetic expressions in the
play are characterized by a clownesque form of gesture and dance, with which he theatrically
exaggerates the commercial mindset. On a visual level, forms of humanization are introduced to
the character in several aspects, which makes him appear more as an actionist. This adaptation of
Arlequin into a Dutch actionist turns him into a theatrical medium for reflection on the speculative
trading culture of the Netherlands in the eighteenth century.
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