The Mistress of the inn is one of the most popular theatre play by Goldoni, and was written in 1750. Goldoni was the
comedy writer who revolutioned the classic
italian theatre tradition, replacing the masks of the
Comedy of Art with individual actors performing realistic people who face realistic situations.
The Misstress of the inn is a well representative product of the Goldoni conception of realism. The protagonist is Mirandolina, a beatiful and cunning woman who has herited the inn from his father, that she manages with help of a faithful waiter, Fabricus.
Among the habitual guests of the inn there are the Marquis of Forlimpopoli and the Count of Albafiorita. The first one is an old nobleman who has lost the ancient economical fortune, and now can boast nothing else than his aristocratic title and his name.
The second one is an “acquired” aristrocrat, so a merchant who got his richness and was so able to buy a brand new noble title. Both these two characters, according at Goldoni’s intentions, represent two different kinds of social parassytes. Both are attracted by Mirandolina, which takes distance from the twos, anyway without refusing their attentions. Mirandolina knows that it’s always better to accommodate to customer’s will, and also she knows that some aristocrat – even if poor and fool – can make good advertising to her businness.
With her behaviour, she appears as the typical figure of a new social class that was rising at that age: Mirandolina would represent the most common example of the bourgeois attitude.
The daily life is pretty boring, until the appearance of a new guest in the inn: the Cavalier of Ripafratta. This man is an aristocrat, but he’s different from the previous two noblemen, who are represented just as fool parassytes cheating everybody. The Cavalier has had a bad love experience in his past, and for this reason has developed a strong misogyny. He’s known for being a woman hater, and so she acts towards Mirandolina.
The woman feels offended by the indifference that the new guest shows against her. So she decides to trick on him, and let him fall in love. The other two noblemen are jealous and angry, in the meanwhile, because they notice that their chances to conquer the woman’s heart are sinking down.
The Cavalier reveals a vulnerable personality and goes out of mind for her. He feels ready to do everything for her love, but at this point she turns back. So he gets incredibly angry, and he cannot do anything else than leaving the inn. Finally Mirandolina announces that she’ll marry the faithful waiter Fabricus, who has always been interested in Mirandolina – even for the material opportunity to become the owner of the inn.
The decision claimed by Mirandolina makes also the first two noblemen feel better; they felt in competition with the Cavalier, but the decision to refuse finally the Cavalier’s proposal brings new harmony in the place. Actually, looks quite clear that Mirandolina and Fabricus get married for reciprocal interest: Mirandolina couldn’t get real benefit, for her businness, from the wedding with one of the aristocrats. She needs somebody who’d bring not words but actions, and Fabricus looks to be the good one. By his side, Fabricus can also improve his professional position in the inn.
Upon the aspects that we have remarked, it’s evident that the Mistress of the inn is a very modern story, which could work and appear as believable in our society as well as in the 1750.
Goldoni’s realism here appears with a vein of slight cynicism: real feelings are ridiculed, because material interests and profit deserve the most of care in the human relations.