The Zanni
Arlecchino
Arlecchino-http://italophiles.com/commedia.htm
Servant, usually to Pantalone, but also frequently Il Capitano or Il Dottore. Second zanni if Brighella is in the company. A central figure in Goldoni's Commedia-based plays written in the first half of the eighteenth century. Always carries his batocchio. It is a phallic symbol, but without menace- which is also true of its use as a weapon, usually against Pantalone, though often the tables are turned and it is Arlecchino who finds himself on the receiving end. Never pathetic, always knows: he is never the loser. Never just does something. For example, if, in the heat of the moment, his slapstick gets left on the ground, he somersaults to pick it up again. His paradox is that of having a dull mind in an agile body. (Rudlin, 76-79) In both The Servant of Two Masters and The King Stag, playwrights Goldoni and Gozzi use Truffaldino as their main servant. Though in Servant, Truffaldino has a much more pivotal role in the play by being the central character and cause most of confusion within Goldoni's play.
Brighella
Brighella-http://www.clownlink.com/2010/05/roving-commedia-classical-university-summer-workshops-rccu-ny-va/brighella/
Whenever Brighella appears he is always first zanni- he's the boss. In the social scale only a little boss, but in the Commedia world, the very fact that he has managed to better himself to that extent gives him high status. He is never the victim and always maintains his status. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries his status went down again and the role of Brighella became that of a mere valet.
In The Servant of Two Masters Brighella is reduced to second zanni and merely an Inn Keeper. He is brought down in status by Truffeldino which reaffirms that by the eighteenth century his ranking keeps dropping lower and lower. Though in Gozzi's The King Stag he is slightly more elevated by being the Kings Butler. Both examples prove that by this time in history Arlecchino/Truffaldino had usurped Brighella as first zanni.
In The Servant of Two Masters Brighella is reduced to second zanni and merely an Inn Keeper. He is brought down in status by Truffeldino which reaffirms that by the eighteenth century his ranking keeps dropping lower and lower. Though in Gozzi's The King Stag he is slightly more elevated by being the Kings Butler. Both examples prove that by this time in history Arlecchino/Truffaldino had usurped Brighella as first zanni.
Smeraldina/Colombina
Smeraldina-http://piccolotheatrechicago.blogspot.com/2011/04/commedia-character-shorts-smeraldina.html
The female zanni, her status is personal maid to the prima donna innamorata, and is initially strong and attractive, like a artiste, later petite and pretty. The only lucid and rational person in commedia dell'arte. (Rudlin, 130)
Both playwrights use the character of Smeraldina in the conventional way as described by Rudlin.
Both playwrights use the character of Smeraldina in the conventional way as described by Rudlin.