The tricky slave is a stock character. He is a clever, lower-class person who brings about the

happy ending A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/antagonists are dead/defeated. In storylines where the protago ...

of a comedy for the lovers. He is more clever than the

upper-class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

people about him, both the lovers and the characters who block their love, and typically also looking out for his own interests. In the

New Comedy Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, an ...

, the tricky slave or ''dolosus servus'' aimed to get his freedom by assisting his young master in love.

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...

, ''

Anatomy of Criticism ''Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays'' (Princeton University Press, 1957) is a book by Canadian literary critic and theorist Northrop Frye that attempts to formulate an overall view of the scope, theory, principles, and techniques of literary cr ...

'', p 173, Besides the actual slaves of classical theater, he also appears as the scheming valet in Renaissance comedy, called the '' gracioso'' in Spanish. The zanni of Commedia dell'arte are often tricky slaves, as are Puss-in-Boots in Perrault's fairy tale,

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Berti ...

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

's work and Figaro. In fairy tales, the same function is often fulfilled by

fairy godmother In fairy tales, a fairy godmother () is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's ''Cinderella'', he concludes the tale wit ...

s, talking animals, and like creatures.

identified him as a central portion of the Myth of Spring comedy and a type of

eiron In the theatre of ancient Greece, the ''eirōn'' ( grc, εἴρων) "dissembler" was one of various stock characters in comedy.Carlson (1993, 23) and Janko (1987, 45, 170). The usually succeeded by bringing down his braggart opponent (the "boas ...

character. A female version of the tricky slave would be Morgiana, a clever slave girl from " Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" in the '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (''Arabian Nights''). She is initially in Cassim's household but on his death she joins his brother Ali Baba and through her quick-wittedness she saves Ali's life many times and eventually kills his worst enemy, the leader of the Forty Thieves. As reward, Ali frees her and Morgiana marries Cassim's son. There is a Korean folktale of The Cunning Servant.

References

{{Stock characters Stock characters in ancient Greek comedy Fictional slaves Male characters in theatre