Jim
Letchworth [Oct 4, 2002] from the Commediadellarte
Yahoo Group
First,
I do not know who Agnan is or was. Thank you
for pointing him out and raising the question.
I pulled out my Ducharte and have a few ideas.
If anyone has a better command of French than
I, there may be more clues revealed in the accompaning
text. First, I agree has the appearence of a
Dottore in robes, but without a mask. He is
clearly a leacherous (who isn't) man, middleaged.
He is duped into ravishing a man disguised as
a woman, Julian le debauche (Julian the debauched?
a transvestite clearly). Agnan seems to bear
tools of trade on his person, a quill behind
his ear, I think, a bottle of ink and a sack
of sand for blotting the ink, I would guess.
This would make him a scribe or notary, a local
minor official. Maurice Sand illustrates a Notary
in the mid 19th century. This would give Agnan
some social position by virtue of his office
and letters over the illiterate servants but
below Dottore, the Professor, Pantalone, the
rich merchant and their literate children, the
innamoratti. The need for notes, deeds, wills
letters etc. would give him a place in most
any senario, that added to his ability to read
someone else's note (for a fee).
Because he only appears in the beginning of
the Recueil Fossard, as a prologue, dumbshow
or most probably an opening act to the commedia,
I suggest he is part of a seperate company fulling
the role of the "old man" such as
Dottore or Pantalone. The plot seems to go along
these lines:
Scene 1: Agnan, the virtuous citizen
happily plays traditional music on his flute
but notes a young (and different from the one
who appears later) Harlequin traveling peddlar
flirting sucessfully with the girls at the water
well.
Scene 2: Emboldened, Agnan, the magistrate
makes a play for his attractive neighbor, Peronne,
apparently trying to use his civil position
as leverage but he is restrained by his goodwife,
Guillemette.
Scene 3: Peronne hires (note the coins
changing hands) Julien the Debauched and his
assitant Mathieu Bouclon in mask & phallus.
Scene 4: Mathieu immitates a philossopher
(ie magician) and conjures up Julien disguised
as a woman for the delighted Agnan.
Scene 5: As Agnan ravishes the resisting
Julian, he is surprised and attacked by his
long-suffering goodwife accompanied by the servant,
Mathieu with slapsticks or maybe just regular
sticks. Justice is served. We can guess that
Agnan repents his folly (at least for a while).
