A servant of two masters was written by carlo Goldoni in the 18th century.

Carlo Goldoni began his career

in comedy de latte. Comedy de latte is a form of pantomime in which all characters wear a mask.
Typically there are 12 characters in a comedy de latte:
Arlecchino was the most famous. He was an acrobat and a wit, childlike and amorous. He wore a catlike
mask and motley colored clothes and carried a bat or wooden sword.
Brighella, Arlecchino's crony, was more roguish and sophisticated, a cowardly villain who would do
anything for money.
Il Capitano (the captain) was a caricature of the professional soldierbold, swaggering, and cowardly.
Il Dottore (the doctor) was a caricature of learningpompous and fraudulent.
Pantalone was a caricature of the Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young
wife or an adventurous daughter.
Pedrolino was a whitefaced, moonstruck dreamer and the forerunner of today's clown.
Pulcinella, as seen in the English Punch and Judy shows, was a dwarfish humpback with a crooked nose,
the cruel bachelor who chased pretty girls.
Scarramuccia, dressed in black and carrying a pointed sword, was the Robin Hood of his day.
The handsome Inamorato (the lover) went by many names. He wore no mask and had to be eloquent in
order to speak the love declamations.
The Inamorata was his female counterpart; Isabella Andreini was the most famous. Her servant, usually
called Columbina, was witty and bright.
La Ruffiana was an old woman, either a mother or a village gossip, who stopped the lovers.
Cantarina and Ballerina often took part in the comedy but for the most part their job was to sing, dance, or
play music.

Carlo Goldoni was the first play-write to a play in the style of comedy de latte but without masks and this
is portrayed very nicely in a servat of two masters. Carlo Goldoni lived in the 1700s in Italy, venice and
certain political and social strains from his time can be seen to link to his plays in many ways, such as:
womens rights, the division of peoples by wealth - very clearly shown in a servant of two masters by the
different natures of the two old men Dr Lombardi & pantaloni as regards to how they perceive
themselves. Lombardi as a well to do gentleman above the common people and pantalone, who is also a
wealthy man, but thinks of himself as no different to other people who are less wealthy - and also parents
and how they are perceived/respected by their children/others.

Carlo goldonis a servant of two masters is a long play in which too many htings happen to be able to
describe them all in meticulous detail so instead I shall give a brief plot synopsis: a party is to celebrate
the engagement of Clarice, daughter of Pantalone, to Silvio, son of Doctor Lombardi. Then Truffaldino
enters to announce the arrival of his master, Federigo Rasponi of Turin. A surprise as Federigo is
believed to have been killed in a duel with Florindo, his sister Beatrices love. However, Federigo is
actually Beatrice in disguise and she has come for the dowery that pantalone is obliged to give her. To
clarices horror, her father then says he must honor the first agreement,the one to Federigo Rasponi. Then
Truffaldino is asked to be Florindos servant, as he flees from the killing of the real Federigo. The plot
then goes out of control, as, Truffaldino manages to make Florindo and Federigo (Beatrice) believe the
other is dead. However, as they are about to commit suicide they catch site of one another. After that, all
is resolved and it ends well for everyone.

As we studied the play, certain scenes generated a greater response and we worked on htem more than
we did with others. These are scenes that I shall speak of in depth.

One of the main focuses of our practical exploration was one that is a repetitive theme throughout the
play, that of truffaldinos symmetry. He has symmetry in many scenes in many ways we explored this by
indulging in numerous practical exercises such as: Act 1 scene 1 when he enters in which he begins to
tell the people present (Dr Lombardi, Clarice, Silvio, Pantalone, Brighella (directly from comedy de late
mentioned earlier) and Smeraldina) that his master Federigo Rasponi believed to be dead is waiting
outside and requests audience this then progresses to symmetry of questioning going back and forth like
with one believing it to be a joke then the other then one takes offence then the other etc. etc.
This symmetry is also very strongly throughout act 3 scene 1 in which he is the servant of two masters
and is asked by one to do something and then again by the second from hre the play becomes
increasingly frantic as he is tasked with various things to which he muddles up we went through this as a
whole section and scene by scene by first taking out the main points however to get in the mood for that
we simply passed one member of our group across a circle until the individual was quite dizzy. In so
doing, representing the frantic things which truffaldino is set to accomplish. We then took the key ideas
and vocalised them as we enacted the scene. Adding to the tention is the fact that each master only just
leaves before the other is in asking him to do yet another task. We enacted this multiple times so that we
could all experience the disorientating, hecticness of truffaldinos role.
We then also enacted Truffaldinos dialogue with smeraldina