The Little Tramp, also known as The Tramp (Charlot in several languages) was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era.
The Tramp, as portrayed by Chaplin, is a childlike, bumbling but overall good-hearted character who is most famously presented as a vagrant who endeavors to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman despite his actual social status. However, while he is ready to take what paying work that is available, he also uses his cunning to get what he needs to survive and escape the authority figures who will not tolerate his antics. Chaplin's films did not always portray the Tramp as a vagrant, however. The character (or "The Little Fellow," as Chaplin called him) was rarely referred to by any names onscreen, although he was sometimes identified as "Charlie" and rarely, as in the original silent version of The Gold Rush, "The Little funny Tramp".
Read more about The Tramp: History, Characteristics, Significance, Chaplin's Views, The Short Film
Famous quotes containing the word tramp:
“In the small circle of pain within the skull
You still shall tramp and tread one endless round
Of thought, to justify your action to yourselves,
Weaving a fiction which unravels as you weave,
Pacing forever in the hell of make-believe
Which never is belief: this is your fate on earth
And we must think no further of you.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)