Little Dorrit · Character

Signor Cavalletto

A talkative, good-humored Italian fugitive who turns up in Marseilles and, against the odds, becomes one of Arthur Clennam's most dependable friends.

supporting

Also known as Cavalletto, John Baptist Cavalletto, John Baptist

First appearance: ii fellow travellers

As a supporting figure in Little Dorrit, Signor Cavalletto is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

A fellow prisoner, he is a small, contented Italian man who accepts his confinement with equanimity, eating bread and smoking cigarettes.

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Cavalletto arrives in the novel as a stranger in a strange country, cheerful, voluble, and entirely without the English instinct for keeping one's business to oneself. His loyalty to Arthur is offered freely and repaid in kind, and his foreignness makes him both a comic presence and a moral one. He matters because he shows the story's warmth is not reserved for the respectable.

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Character Web

19 connections

A slice of how Signor Cavalletto sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Household and Loyal Companions
Financial and Medical Figures
Inventors, Artists, and Shadows
Legal and Investigative Support
Circumlocution Office and Society
Protagonist

+14 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This excerpt represents the story's dramatic climax because it depicts Arthur Clennam’s psychological nadir an…

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In the story

Signor Cavalletto appears across 8 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Sun and Shadow
A fellow prisoner, he is a small, contented Italian man who accepts his confinement with equanimity, eating bread and smoking cigarettes. He listens to Rigaud's story with skepticism.
XI: Let Loose
A fellow traveler sharing Rigaud's room; he listens to Rigaud's threats and later flees at dawn to escape his dangerous companion.
Appearance and Disappearance
Offered by Arthur to accompany the Meagles, but Mr. Meagles declines.
The Progress of an Epidemic
Cavalletto is agitated and fearful after glimpsing a bad man from his past, whom he hopes did not see him.
Who Passes by This Road So Late?
Recognizes the man from the handbill as an assassin he knew in Marseilles; agrees to help Arthur find him.
Mistress Affery Makes a Conditional Promise, Respecting Her Dreams
His disclosure about Blandois's criminal past is the catalyst for Arthur's actions in this chapter.
An Appearance in the Marshalsea
Helps track down Rigaud and guards the door during the confrontation.
XXIX: A Plea in the Marshalsea
Mentioned as being away with Pancks.

Chapter companion notes

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See Signor Cavalletto in ii fellow travellers

See Signor Cavalletto in Sun and Shadow