Mountebank
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| ''[[The Conjurer]]'' by [[Hieronymous Bosch]] paints a scene of a Renaissance [[mountebank]] fleecing [[credulous]] [[gambler]]s. | ''[[The Conjurer]]'' by [[Hieronymous Bosch]] paints a scene of a Renaissance [[mountebank]] fleecing [[credulous]] [[gambler]]s. | ||
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| - | A '''charlatan''' (also called '''swindler''' or '''mountebank''') is a person practicing [[quackery]] or some similar [[confidence trick]] in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of [[false pretenses|pretense]] or [[deception]]. | ||
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| - | The word comes from [[French language|French]] ''charlatan,'' a seller of medicines who might advertise his presence with music and an outdoor stage show. The best known of the Parisian charlatans was [[Tabarin]], who set up a stage in the Place Dauphine, Paris in 1618, and whose ''[[commedia dell'arte]]'' inspired skits and whose farces inspired [[Molière]]. The word can also be traced to [[Spanish language|Spanish]]; ''charlatán'', an indiscreetly talkative person, a ''chatterbox''. Ultimately, etymologists trace "charlatan" from either the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''ciarlare'', to prattle; or from ''Cerretano'', a resident of [[Cerreto di Spoleto|Cerreto]], a village in [[Umbria]], known for its quacks. | ||
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| - | == Details == | ||
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| - | In usage, a subtle difference is drawn between the charlatan and other kinds of confidence people. The charlatan is usually a [[sales]]person. He does not try to create a personal relationship with his marks, or set up an elaborate [[hoax]] using roleplaying. Rather, the person called a charlatan is being accused of resorting to quackery, [[pseudoscience]], or some knowingly employed bogus means of impressing people in order to [[Fraud|swindle]] his victims by selling them worthless [[patent medicine|nostrums]] and similar goods or services that will not deliver on the promises made for them. The word calls forth the image of an old-time [[medicine show]] operator, who has long since [[The Sting|left town]] by the time the people who bought his "[[snake oil]]" or similarly named [[patent medicine|tonic]] realize that it [[False advertising|does not perform as advertised]]. | ||
| - | In reported spiritual communications, a charlatan is a person who fakes evidence that a spirit is "making contact" with the medium and seekers. This has been challenged successfully by skeptics who wrote passwords and gave them to people of trust, containing a password that should be spoken by the person if he ever tried to make contact, to validate the truth of the claim. No such claim has been verified. Notable people who have successfully debunked the claims of purported supernatural mediums include Brazilian writer [[Monteiro Lobato]] and magician [[Houdini]]. | ||
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| - | [[Synonym]]s for "charlatan" include "'''mountebank'''", "'''shyster'''", and "'''[[quackery|quack]]'''". | ||
| - | "[[montambanco|Mountebank]]" comes from the [[Italian (language)|Italian]] ''montambanco'' or ''montimbanco'' based on the phrase ''monta in banco'' - literally referring to the action of a seller of dubious medicines getting up on a bench to address his audience of potential customers. | ||
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| - | "Quack" is a reference to "'''[[quackery]]'''" or the practice of dubious medicine. | ||
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| - | == Famous charlatans== | ||
| - | <!--PLEASE avoid adding the names of living persons to this list, as they are potentially libelous and will be removed.--> | ||
| - | * [[John R. Brinkley]], the "goat-gland doctor" who implanted goat glands as a means of curing male impotence, helped pioneer both American and Mexican radio broadcasting, and twice ran unsuccessfully for governor of [[Kansas]]. | ||
| - | * [[Albert Abrams]], the advocate of [[radionics]] and other similar [[electrical quackery]] who was active in the early twentieth century. | ||
| - | * Italian [[Alessandro Cagliostro]] (real name Giuseppe Balsamo) who claimed to be a [[count]]. | ||
| - | * [[Charles Ponzi]], for whom the "[[Ponzi scheme]]" is named, a scam that relies on a "pyramid" of "investors" who contribute money to a fraudulent programme. | ||
| - | * [[Bernard Madoff]], an American stockbroker who ran the world's largest Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors out of $18 billion. | ||
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| - | == See also == | ||
| - | * [[Cerreto di Spoleto]] | ||
| - | * [[Confidence trick]] | ||
| - | * [[Fraud]] | ||
| - | * [[Impostor]] | ||
| - | * [[Poseur]] | ||
| - | * [[Quackery]] | ||
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| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| '''Mountebank''' may refer to: | '''Mountebank''' may refer to: | ||
Revision as of 07:35, 28 June 2014
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The Conjurer by Hieronymous Bosch paints a scene of a Renaissance mountebank fleecing credulous gamblers. |
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Mountebank may refer to:
- Charlatan, a swindler
- Monte Bank, a card game
- Three-card Monte, a confidence game
- The Mountebanks, a comic opera by Alfred Cellier and W. S. Gilbert
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Mountebank" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
