Beatrice's servant, the exceptionally quirky and comical Truffaldino, is the central figure of this play. He is always complaining of an empty stomach, and always trying to fulfill his hunger by eating everything and anything in sight. In one famous scene, it is implied that he eats Beatrice's beloved cat. When the opportunity presents itself to be servant to another master (Florindo, as it happens) he sees the opportunity for an extra dinner.
As Truffaldino runs around Venice trying to fill the orders of two masters, he is almost uncovered several times, especially because other characters repeatedly hand him letters, money, etc. and say simply "this is for your master" without specifying which one. To make matters worse, the stress causes him to develop a temporary stutter, which only arouses more problems and suspicion among his masters. To further complicate matters, Beatrice and Florindo are staying in the same hotel, and are searching for each other.
In the end, with Clarice's and Smeraldina's (Pantalone's feisty servant, who is smitten with Truffaldino) help, Beatrice and Florindo finally find each other, and with Beatrice exposed as a woman, Clarice is allowed to marry Silvio. The last matter up for discussion is whether Truffaldino and Smeraldina can get married, which at last exposes Truffaldino's having played both sides all along. However, as everyone has just decided to get married, Truffaldino is forgiven. Truffaldino asks Smeraldina to marry him.
The most famous set-piece of the play is the scene in which a starving Truffaldino tries to serve a banquet to the entourages of both his masters without either group becoming aware of the other, while desperately trying to satisfy his own hunger at the same time.
ThemesOne of the main themes of this play is found in the character development of Truffaldino. As mentioned above, he is always hungry. That is his action: it is what he wants in the play. Yet, the play does not end when he finally gets a meal and a full belly; it ends with a kiss shared between him and Smeraldina. Truffaldino, it is implied, was hungry for love. CharacterizationThe characters of the play are taken from the Italian Renaissance theatre style Commedia dell'arte. In classic commedia tradition, an actor learns a stock character (usually accentuated by amask) and plays it to perfection throughout his career. The actors had a list of possible scenarios, each with a very basic plot, called a canovaccio, and throughout would perform physical-comedy acts known as lazzis and the dialogue was improvised.[1] CharactersThe characters from 'A Servant to Two Masters' are derived from "stock characters" used incommedia dell'arte. True commedia dell'arte is more or less improvised without a script, so Servant of Two Masters is not true commedia. The stock characters were used as guides for the actors improvising.Pantalone: The old, rich, lecherous man with a single motive of money.
"In Servant to two Masters", 'Pantaloon' originates in 'Pantalone'.
A zanni is a tricky servant, in "A Servant to Two Masters", 'Truffaldino' is the 'zanni'.
Brighella is the only character whose stereotype has not been translated to the play. In this play, Brighella can be played in several different ways, all of which are open to interpretation. Most commonly, he's portrayed as the 'jolly, enterprising servant' or something of a Jack Falstaff-esque character.
The other characters have all been taken from the stock characters of commedia dell'arte:
One of the most successful recent production was of Lee Hall's translation by the Young Vic(2000), for which Jason Watkins received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance as Truffaldino. Other notable English adaptations have been written by Edward J. Dent, Tom Cone for the Stratford Festival, and Jon Mullich which set the action of the play in Prohibition-era Chicago(with the famous banquet scene taking place in a speakeasy)[3]. The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee's production in 1974 was chosen as one of the ten best productions in the country, and was performed at the American College Theater Festival in Washington, DC, where the entire cast emerged from a single Volkswagon that drove onto the stage at the start of the play. A classicCommedia dell'arte production was memorably staged by the International City Theatre in Long Beach, California in 2001 and Treat Williams once played Truffaldino at the Cincinnati Playhouse.
Servant of Two Masters was also performed at the Colorado State Thespian Conference at theWells Fargo Theatre in Denver, Colorado on December 10, 2010. Because the audience was comprised mostly of High School Theatre Students, the actors decided to poke fun at the goings on backstage. Also, the director would storm onstage to berate the actors and explain the at times complicated plot.[4][5]
AdaptationsThere have been several adaptations of the play, for the cinema and for the theatre:Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury Arts Magnet School Directed By Mr.Shulte
NotesThe difference is in the type character represented in a general class of people (braggart servant)and the other is the stock character(braggart soldier) noteable for individuality eg: the miles glorious.
a stock character in a play is the typical character in a play
Maria is a soubrette, a witty kind of female servant who was a stock character in the Commedia dell'Arte, usually under the name of Columbine. They're all witty, these soubrettes.
A stock character is immediately recognised by the audience. They are often not the main character in the book or play. Stock characters have no requirement to be developed by the reader. An example of a stock character is the 'hero'.
Falstaff is one of the variations of a classic stock character.
No, Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is not considered a stock character. She is a well-developed and complex character with her own unique personality, motivations, and emotions.
A stock phrase used to describe a character is known as a character trope. These tropes can be helpful for quickly conveying certain qualities or characteristics of a character to an audience.
I would recommend a masters degree.
Lil B "The Based God".
a naive servant
A stock character is a stereotypical fictional character that is easily recognizable and fits a common stereotype or archetype. Stock characters often have exaggerated or limited traits and are used to quickly convey specific traits or roles in a story.
A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. has_s_kid2k8 brap brap