Scapino
Encyclopedia
Zanni
Zanni or Zani is a character type of Commedia dell'arte best known as an astute servant and trickster. The Zanni comes from the countryside. The Zanni is known to be a “dispossessed immigrant worker”. "Immigrant" in Italy at the time of the city-states, did not necessarily mean someone from...
character from the commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...
. His name is related to the English word "escape" in reference to his tendency to flee from fights, even those he himself begins. He has been dated to the last years of the 16th century, and his creation is sometimes credited to Niccolò Barbieri
Niccolò Barbieri
Niccolò Barbieri was an Italian writer and actor of the commedia dell'arte theatrical genre. He was also known as Beltrame di Milano in reference to one of his most popular characters, Beltrame; this was the main character of one of Barbieri's best known plays, L'inavertito, which is known to...
. He is a Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
native, and was popularized by the actor Gabrielli.
Later versions show his costume with green (or sometimes turquoise) and white stripes, similar to Mezzetino
Mezzetino
Mezzetino, also Mezzettino, is a character from the commedia dell'arte and is considered by Duchartre to be a variant on the stock character Brighella. His name means "Half-Measure " in Medieval Italian, and he is sometimes called in French and English plays "Mezzetin"...
's red and white, but Callot shows Scapino in an outfit similar to the early Brighella
Brighella
Brighella is a comic, masked character from the Commedia dell'arte. His early costume consisted of loosely-fitting, white smock and pants with green trim and was often equipped with a battachio or slapstick, or else with a wooden sword. Later he took to wearing a sort of livery with a matching cape...
's, white with a tabaro and a sword on his belt, and topped with a torn hat adorned with feathers. He is in fact a variant on Brighella, more cowardly and less clever. Some people call him Brighella's brother, some his son.
Scapino tends to make a confusion of anything he undertakes and metaphorically "flees" from one thought, activity or love interest to another, as his name implies, although he usually will return to it -- eventually. Self-preservation and self-interest are his main concerns. This is not to say his wits are without merit. In Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's play Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin is a three-act comedy by French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged in 1671 in Paris....
, Zerbinette mentions what “a clever servant [Léandre] has. His name is Scapin. He is a most wonderful man and deserves the highest praise.” He is a schemer and scoundrel, and takes a certain pride in these facts. He was originally a masked character, although later versions usually have the actor simply powder his face. He is traditionally shown with a hooked nose and a pointed beard.
Like Brighella, Scapino is a jack-of-all-trades
Jack of all trades, master of none
"Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a person that is competent with many skills but is not necessarily outstanding in any particular one....
and depends on the needs of the scenario for his occupation.
Examples of Scapino's character
From MolièreMolière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin is a three-act comedy by French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged in 1671 in Paris....
:
SCAPIN: To tell you the truth, there are few things impossible to me when I once set about them. Heaven has bestowed on me a fair enough share of genius for the making up of all those neat strokes of mother wit, for all those ingenious gallantries to which the ignorant and vulgar give the name of impostures; and I can boast, without vanity, that there have been very few men more skilful than I in expedients and intrigues, and who have acquired a greater reputation in the noble profession. But, to tell the truth, merit is too ill rewarded nowadays, and I have given up everything of the kind since the trouble I had through a certain affair that happened to me.
OCTAVE: How? What affair, Scapin?
SCAPIN: An adventure in which justice and I fell out.
OCTAVE: Justice and you?
SCAPIN: Yes; we had a trifling quarrel.
SILVESTRE: You and justice?
SCAPIN: Yes. She used me very badly; and I felt so enraged against the ingratitude of our age that I determined never to do anything for anybody. But never mind; tell me about yourself all the same.
___
Scapin pretends to be mortally wounded and begs forgiveness for his wrongdoings.
SCAPIN. (to GÉRONTE.) It is you, Sir, I have offended the most, because of the beating with the cudgel which I....
GÉRONTE. Leave that alone.
SCAPIN. I feel in dying an inconceivable grief for the beating which I....
GÉRONTE. Ah me! be silent.
SCAPIN. That unfortunate beating that I gave....
GÉRONTE. Be silent, I tell you; I forgive you everything.
SCAPIN. Alas! how good you are. But is it really with all your heart that you forgive me the beating which I...?
GÉRONTE. Yes, yes; don't mention it. I forgive you everything. You are punished.
SCAPIN. Ah! Sir, how much better I feel for your kind words.
GÉRONTE. Yes, I forgive you; but on one condition, that you die.
SCAPIN. How! Sir?
GÉRONTE. I retract my words if you recover.
SCAPIN. Oh! oh! all my pains are coming back.