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values assuming the superiority of the ruling class.45 Prodded by his rival’s
success and fearful of losing his audience, goldoni included exotic locales
and characters in some plays.
Yet goldoni continued his reform in the realistic comedies of this
period. they embody some of his greatest dramatic accomplishments,
especially the probing of the complex entwining of positive and negative
features in aspects of human conduct. While continuing the strategy of
paired characters representing the two sides of a feature, e.g., the studious
brother Florindo versus the gambler brother Lelio of Il padre di famiglia
[The Father of the Family] of 1750, he moved toward the internalization of
the conflict. the first signs of this development appear early, in his female
characters who both daringly initiate their suitors’ rivalry and then, real-
izing the risks of continuing it and various advantages to ending it, settle
upon one of them (La donna di garbo, La vedova scaltra, La locandiera). his
male characters achieve such complexity only in this period. they include
the Cavaliere of Il campiello [The Courtyard; 1756], who is no longer an
arrogant cardboard figure but recognizes that he is in love and yields to
his feelings, and the Conte dell’isola of L’amante di se medesimo [The Man
in Love with Himself; 1756], who recognizes his needs for both freedom
and connectedness. these figures also reflect a greater humanization of
the aristocracy that came in this period with their increased patronage of
and intimacy with goldoni. in this period too the controlling female fig-
ures such as L’amante’s Marchesa ippolita and Campiello’s gasparina also
recognize powerful feelings of love rather than single-mindedly pursuing
their own interests.
Goldoni’s Final Years in Venice, Carlo Gozzi, Gasparo Gozzi
toward the end of the 1750s, a second rival to goldoni emerged: Carlo
gozzi, who positioned himself as the perpetuator of traditional Venetian
theater and the defender of its patrician social structure and moral
code, especially regarding women. their morals, it was feared, would be
corrupted by plays depicting female freedom of action. his works both
reproposed the Commedia dell’arte’s L’amore delle tre melarance [The
Love of the Three Bitter Oranges] of 1761 parodying both Chiari and goldoni
and emphasized exotic locales and absolute rulers.
45 Laura riccò, “Parrebbe un romanzo”: polemiche editoriali e linguaggi teatrali ai tempi
di Goldoni, Chiari, Gozzi (rome, 2000); roberta turchi, “il teatro del secondo settecento,”
in borsellino and Pedullà, eds., Il secolo riformatore, pp. 626–27.