He deserts her to marry Hermione, who, in order to dispose of her husband's former mistress and her child, recruits her father, Menelas. Only the holy shrine of Thetis protects Andromaque from her enemies, but she is lured away when Menelas brings out her son. In the end, Pelee is saved from despair by the sudden appearance of Thetis herself, who decrees that Andromaque must marry Achille's remaining son. The tragedy begins with a clear focus on Andromaque, who has left the stage by the middle of the play. The focus then swerves, first toward Hermione, then toward Pelee.
Episodes follow, one after the other, in a disjointed fashion and with little sense of continuity.
Yet Lassalle sought, through his production, to mitigate or outshine many of these dramatic flaws through visual effect. Thetis appeared from a window in the Popes' Palace amid a profusion of tiny white lights and glittered rather like Glenda, the good witch in the film version of The Wizard of Oz . Spectators hardly had time to note what problems the script held because they were too busy being astounded by the ingenuity of the staging. And many of the performances were remarkable as well. And old Pelee, played by Hubert Gignoux, managed to reach out in his moments of anguish.