Alazon

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Some travellers are apt to advance more than is perhaps strictly true; if any of the company entertain a doubt of my veracity, I shall only say to such, I pity their want of faith, and must request they will take leave before I begin the second part of my adventures, which are as strictly founded in fact as those I have already related.

No, but love hath, as it were, milked my thoughts and drained from my heart the very substance of my accustomed courage. It worketh in my head like new wine, so as I must hoop my sconce with iron lest my head break, and so I bewray my brains; but I pray thee, first discover me in all parts, that I may be like a lover, and then will I sigh and die. Take my gun, and give me a gown.One might say: “The alazon in this story is particularly funny.” Or, “Did you hear what he said? He’s like a modern-day alazon.” Frye, Northrop. 1957. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. London: Penguin, 1990. ISBN 0-14-012480-2. This character, exemplified through Il Capitano in Commedia dell’arte, The Captain, whose title likely doesn’t belong to him, was unsympathetic and annoying. He bragged about his military experiences and pretended to have accomplished more than he did. The word alazon comes from the Ancient Greek meaning “boaster.”

Here, readers can get a sense of Parolles’ confidence as he speaks to Bertram and his style of speech. Aside: a dramatic device that is used within plays to help characters express their inner thoughts.

Tragedy: refers to a type of drama that explores serious, sometimes dark, and depressing subject matter. In the novel, " A Confederacy of Dunces", the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, believes himself to be better than everyone because of his apathy towards modern society and his Medievalist views. Shakespeare uses the type most notably with the bombastic and self-glorifying ensign Ancient Pistol in Henry IV, Part 2, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V. [4] Other examples are "fashion's own knight", the Spaniard Armardo, in Love's Labour's Lost, the worthless Captain Parolles in All's Well That Ends Well, and Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir Tophas of John Lyly's Endymion also fits the mold.