View source for Lothario

{{short description|Male seducer of women}}
{{for|the given name|Lotario (name)}}
{{see also|Lothar|Lothair (disambiguation){{!}}Lothair}}
[[File:1879, El ingenioso hidalgo D. Quijote de la Mancha, Arremetió á Lotario con la daga desenvainada, Mestres.jpg|thumb|Camilla threatens Lothario with a sword. Illustration by {{ill|Apeles Mestres|ca}}, engraving by [[Francisco Fusté]].|alt=A man raises a hand to stop a woman with a long dagger.]]
'''Lothario''' is an Italian name used as shorthand for an unscrupulous seducer of women, based upon a character in ''[[The Fair Penitent]]'', a 1703 tragedy by [[Nicholas Rowe (writer)|Nicholas Rowe]].<ref name="Webster">[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lothario Lothario] Dictionary by Merriam-Webster</ref><ref>[https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/lothario Lothario] Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English</ref> In Rowe's play, Lothario is a [[libertine]] who seduces and betrays Calista; and his success is the source for the proverbial nature of the name in the subsequent English culture.<ref>F. Dabhoiwala, ''The Sexual Revolution'' (2012), p. 162</ref> ''The Fair Penitent'' itself was an adaptation of ''[[The Fatal Dowry]]'' (1632), a play by [[Philip Massinger]] and [[Nathan Field]].<ref name="Britannica 1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Rowe, Nicholas | volume= 23 | pages = 782&ndash;783 |short= 1}}</ref> The name Lothario was previously used for a somewhat similar character in ''The Cruel Brother'' (1630) by [[William Davenant]].<ref name="OED" /> A character with the same name also appears in ''The Ill-Advised Curiosity'', a [[story within a story]] in [[Miguel de Cervantes]]' 1605 novel, ''[[Don Quixote]]'', Part One, however the "Lothario" there is most unwilling to seduce his friend's wife and only does so upon the urging of the former, who recklessly wants to test her fidelity. Lothario is also the name of a rakish ex-priest featured in [[Charles Beckingham|Charles Beckingham's]] 1728 poem "Sarah the Quaker to Lothario", whose perfidy drives his lover, Sarah, to suicide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beckingham (Charles) |first=Mr |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=uqtYAAAAcAAJ&hl=en |title=Sarah, the Quaker, to Lothario: Lately Deceased, on Meeting Him in the Shades |date=1728 |publisher=A. Moore |language=en}}</ref>

It was first mentioned in the modern sense in 1756 in ''[[The World (1753 newspaper)|The World]]'', the 18th century London weekly newspaper, No. 202 ("The gay [meaning ''joyful, merry''] Lothario dresses for the fight").<ref name="OED">Lothario. Oxford English Dictionary</ref> [[Samuel Richardson]] used "haughty, gallant, gay Lothario" as the model for the self-indulgent Robert Lovelace in his novel ''[[Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady|Clarissa]]'' (1748), and Calista suggested the character of Clarissa Harlowe.<ref name="Britannica 1911" /> [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] used the name allusively in his 1849 novel ''[[The Caxtons]]'' ("And no woman could have been more flattered and courted by Lotharios and lady-killers than Lady Castleton has been").<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=adNLAAAAcAAJ&dq=Lothario&pg=PA342 Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Works, Vol. 3.] Google Books</ref> [[Anthony Trollope]] in ''[[Barchester Towers]]'' (1857) wrote of "the elegant fluency of a practised Lothario".<ref>R. Gilmour ed., Anthony Trollope, ''Barchester Towers'' (2003), p. 286 and 520</ref>

Because of the allusive use the name sometimes is not capitalised.<ref name="Webster" />

==See also==
* [[Giacomo Casanova]]
* [[Don Juan]]
* [[Lotario (name)]]
* [[Rakehell]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{wiktionary|Lothario}}
{{wikisource|The Fair Penitent}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=2_MR0tj2qukC&dq=lothario&pg=PA239 ''The World'', No. 157-209]. The British Essayists in Forty-Five Volumes. Vol. XXIX. London: 1823. Includes a reprint of the No. 202 issue of ''The World'', November 11, 1756.

[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Male characters in theatre]]
[[Category:Characters in plays]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for men]]
[[Category:Seduction]]