The Infernal Machine
by Jean Cocteau
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At a glance:
- Author: Jean Cocteau
- First Published: 1934
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: Mythological era in ancient Greece
- Setting: Ancient Thebes
- Characters: Oedipus, Anubis, Tiresias, The Ghost of King Laius, Jocasta, Creon, The Sphinx, A Theban mother, Antigone
- Genres: Drama, Allegory, Mythological literature, Farce, Burlesque
- Subjects: Mothers, Parents and children, Mythology or myths, Murder or homicide, Blindness or blind persons, Mistaken or secret identity, Guilt, Incest, Punishment, Death or dying, Kings, queens, or royalty, Ethics, Corruption, Fate or fatalism, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Priests, Greece or Greek people, Oracles
- Locales: Europe, Greece, Greece, ancient, Thebes, ancient
The Play
Before the curtain rises on The Infernal Machine, a Voice tells the audience how Jocasta, Queen of Thebes, left her baby son, his feet mutilated, on a mountainside to die, in order to counter the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. The child was rescued and adopted by Polybus and Merope, king and queen of Corinth, who treated him as their own. As a young man, Oedipus consulted an oracle and learned the same prophecy. Believing himself the son of Polybus and Merope, he fled that city in order to counter the oracle. One day, during a...
(The entire page is 2564 words.)
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