A harlequin is one of the stock characters of Italian commedia dell’arte. In seventeenth century commedia plays, the harlequin is usually a servant who is clever, witty and amoral. Unlike other characters, he tricks people to escape difficulties, not to achieve revenge. The harlequin character wears a black half mask and a costume with diamond shapes. Sometimes, he plays the lute or carries a wooden sword. Because the group that became the Harlequins was formed after the Sixteenth Century, it seems clear that this group either adopted the term to conceal their nature or that it was given to them by the civilian population. The key similarities are the half mask (a secret, concealed identity), the sword and the amoral philosophy.