Pulcinella

Pulcinella is one of the puppets in Mangiafoco’s troupe, introduced onstage in a quarrel that entertains the audience before he becomes part of the troupe’s response to Pinocchio’s arrival. His brief appearances establish both the lively performance world of the theater and the coercive power Mangiafoco holds over its performers.

Stage Role and Introduction

Pulcinella appears with Arlecchino in a comedy already underway. The two puppets quarrel and threaten to trade slaps and blows, while the audience laughs at their argument and insults, delivered with such apparent conviction that the puppets seem like living people. Pulcinella’s part in this familiar comic routine presents him as a performer whose theatrical conflict is both physical and verbal.

Recognition of Pinocchio

When Arlecchino stops acting and points toward Pinocchio in the audience, Pulcinella joins the recognition at once, shouting that it really is Pinocchio. Rosaura and the rest of the puppets echo the discovery and leap out from behind the wings. Pulcinella’s exclamation helps turn Pinocchio’s presence into a collective interruption of the show: the stage’s quarrel gives way to the puppets’ shared excitement at seeing him.

Under Mangiafoco’s Command

After the performance, Mangiafoco orders Arlecchino and Pulcinella to fetch the puppet he has found hanging from a nail. He intends to burn Pinocchio as dry wood to help roast the mutton turning on his kitchen spit. The two puppets hesitate, but Mangiafoco’s threatening glare makes them obey. They return carrying Pinocchio in their arms as he struggles and cries out for his father. Pulcinella’s action is therefore not presented as an independent choice or as cruelty of his own: the scene shows him submitting to the master who controls the troupe, even as that obedience makes him an instrument in the immediate threat to Pinocchio.