Méduse (Medusa) petrified most of the king Céphée’s (Cepheus) subjects. Mérope, the sister of the queen Cassiope (Cassiopeia), is in love with Persée (Perseus), but she must compete with her niece Andromède (Andromeda), who rejects the advances of her uncle Phinée (Phineus). At Cassiope’s request, everyone prays to Juno, but the latter shows them anger in return. Céphée and Cassiope tell Phinée that his rival Persée promised to cut Méduse’s head. Andromède tells Persée that she must marry Phinée, while she simultaneously confesses her love to him. Mercure (Mercury) appears and tells Persée that Jupiter will help him by giving him magical weapons. Mercure puts Méduse to sleep so that Persée can cut her head. Idas tells Céphée and Cassiope that their daughter Andromède must be given to a monster. As Persée is setting her free, Phinée kills Mérope, then searches for Andromède: he wants to kill her too but Méduse’s head, brandished by Persée, petrifies him.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Carolet Denis

France

Paris

Manuscript

Monster

Unrequited love

Love

Incest

Sacrifice

Comical

Parodistic

Polichinelle Persée, manuscript, Soleinne collection, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Ms FF 9313)

French

Perseus

Polichinelle

Cepheus

Pierrot

Phinée

Scaramouche

Cassiopeia

Andromeda

Mercury

Medusa

Love story

Apparition of a god

Aria

Monologue

Polichinelle Persée

Polichinelle Perseus

In the prologue, Laius asks the oracle about his son’s fate and, when he learns that his son will kill him and marry his mother Jocasta, he orders Creon to kill his son. Creon, however, abandons the child in a forest instead, where he is found by a shepherd named Faggiolino, who brings the infant to the king of Corinth, Polybus. The action of the play starts twenty years later. Oedipus consults the oracle about his fortune and he learns what was already predicted and told to Laius: he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus goes in search of his true parents and, on the way there, he fights Laius and kills him. Upon his arrival in Thebes, Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sfinge (Sphinx) who then kills herself. In return for his victory, Oedipus is made king of Thebes and the widowed Jocasta, his mother, becomes his wife. The gods, irritated by this incestuous union, start an epidemic in Thebes, which lasts until the prophet Esone explains its cause. Upon learning the truth, Oedipus, horrified, gouges out his own eyes and kills himself.