Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
"Orlando Furioso," written by Ludovico Ariosto and first published in 1516, is a prominent Renaissance epic poem that intertwines themes of love, chivalry, and adventure against a backdrop of conflict between Christians and Saracens. The narrative follows the exploits of various knights, particularly Orlando, who is driven mad by his unrequited love for the beautiful princess Angelica. As Saracen forces led by kings Agramant and Rodomont invade France, the poem delves into the chaotic relationships among knights and their quests for honor, romance, and redemption.
Throughout the tale, Angelica's desire to escape from her suitors leads to a series of fantastical encounters, including battles with magical beings and treacherous sorcerers. Characters like Rinaldo, Bradamant, and Rogero navigate challenges that test their loyalty and valor, while themes of transformation and the power of enchantment are prevalent. The poem blends heroism and absurdity, showcasing the Renaissance's fascination with both chivalric ideals and the complexities of human emotion.
Overall, "Orlando Furioso" is not only a captivating tale of adventure but also a rich exploration of love and identity, making it a significant work in the canon of Western literature. Its influence extends beyond its narrative, inspiring various adaptations and interpretations in art, literature, and popular culture.
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Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
First published: 1516; second revised edition, 1521; third revised edition, 1532 (English translation, 1591)
Type of work: Poetry
Type of plot: Romance
Time of plot: Eighth century
Locale: France, Spain, and Africa
Principal characters
Charlemagne , king of FranceOrlando , his nephew, a paladin of FranceRinaldo , his nephew, a paladin of FranceBradamant , Rinaldo’s sister, a knightRogero , a Saracen prince, in love with BradamantAgramant , a Saracen leaderAngelica , princess of CathayRodomont , king of AlgiersLeo , a Greek princeAstolpho , an English knightAtlantes , an evil magicianAlcina , an evil magician
The Poem:
The Saracens (Muslims) have invaded France, led by Agramant and Rodomont, the king of Algiers, and many other kings and warriors from all over the Muslim world. French king Charlemagne and the Christian forces have retreated to Paris. Meanwhile, Angelica, a princess from Cathay, has arrived in France and has turned Charlemagne’s peers into rivals for her favor.
Angelica then flees on horseback into a forest, hoping to reach a seaport and take a ship back to Cathay. She meets Rinaldo, a suitor she hates, and flees from him. He pursues her, and they come upon Ferro, a Saracen knight. While the knights fight over her, she escapes from both. The knights follow on Ferro’s horse, but part at a fork in the road. Rinaldo comes upon his horse, Braid, but it runs away from him.
Sacripant, king of Circassia, another Saracen, stops by a forest stream and sits lamenting his unrequited love for Angelica. Angelica, who has been sleeping nearby, approaches him and, wanting his protection, pretends to be in love with him. Sacripant, however, is quickly unhorsed by a knight in white armor, the female knight Bradamant, Rinaldo’s sister. While Angelica is consoling her champion, Rinaldo arrives, and while he and Sacripant fight, Angelica flees again. She meets a hermit who is actually an evil magician. He spirits Angelica off to a remote seacoast, where he intends to rape her. He then sends a sprite to tell the combatants that Angelica has gone off to Paris with Orlando. Rinaldo finds his horse, who had actually been leading him to Angelica, and sets off in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Bradamant learns that her love, the Saracen knight Rogero, has been captured by the evil magician Atlantes by means of a hippogriff and a shield that stuns its victims with its sunlike rays. She goes in search of him accompanied by Pinabel, a treacherous knight. Pinabel pushes her into a chasm, but she is saved by an overhanging branch. Recovering, she discovers herself in Merlin’s cave. Melissa, a seer, gives her a prophecy of her many glorious descendants and tells her where she can obtain a magic ring with which she can free Rogero from his enchantment.
Leaving there and finding the castle of Atlantes, Bradamant defeats the wizard, taking the hippogriff and shield and freeing all Atlantes’s prisoners, including Rogero. Rogero mounts the hippogriff, and it unexpectedly carries him off.
Rogero arrives at the island of the enchantress Alcina and remains there under her spell, forgetting Bradamant and living in sensual idleness. Melissa borrows Bradamant’s magic ring, disguises herself as Atlantes, and comes to Alcina’s island. She shames Rogero into action, and by use of the ring breaks the enchantment and frees Alcina’s prisoners, including the peer Astolpho, who had been transformed into a laurel bush.
Meanwhile, the aged hermit/magician is about to rape Angelica. He puts her to sleep with a potion, but then cannot get an erection, and so abandons her. She is discovered by sailors looking for women to sacrifice to the orc, a sea monster. She is captured and chained naked to a rock by the sea. Arriving on a hippogriff is Rogero, just in time to rescue her. He intends to have his reward from her, but while he is eagerly tearing off his armor, she escapes by using a ring of invisibility. The hippogriff, too, flies away.
The Saracens, meanwhile, have set fire to Paris, but a God-sent rain saves the city. Orlando dreams that Angelica is in peril, and to Charlemagne’s outrage, leaves the city to seek her. Among his many adventures along the way by land and sea, he too rescues a maiden from the orc.
Rogero is again taken by the sorcerer Atlantes, who loves him and wants to keep him safe, especially from the danger of being converted to Christianity.
Angelica, still hoping to reach Cathay, and seeking Orlando or Sacripant as a protector, comes to Atlantes’s magic castle and enters using the ring of invisibility. She frees Orlando and many others, but decides to have none of them. She puts the ring in her mouth and once again vanishes, leaving the knights to search for her and quarrel among themselves.
Charlemagne prepares the defenses of Paris. Rinaldo arrives with reinforcements. The Saracens breach the first ditch and slaughter many Christians, but they are stopped by fire at the second ditch.
Two young Saracens, Cloridano and Medoro, make a night excursion into the Christian camp, killing many, but are discovered as they are escaping. Cloridano is killed and Medoro is badly wounded. Angelica finds him and nurses him back to health, then takes him to Cathay with her and makes him king. Orlando, who is still searching for Angelica, hears the story and goes mad, raging through the forest like a wild beast, killing men and uprooting trees with his bare hands.
Rogero is freed by Astolpho, who blows his magic horn, breaking the enchantment and making Atlantes flee. Astolpho then mounts the hippogriff and flies around the world, stopping to visit Prester John in Ethiopia and finally flying to the moon, where he is shown vials containing the senses of poets and lovers who have lost them on Earth. He returns to Earth with the vial containing Orlando’s senses and restores him. He and Orlando then gather an army of Nubians and take the city of Biserta.
Rogero rejoins the Saracen army. An agreement is made to settle the war by single combat. Rinaldo is chosen by the French, Rogero by the Saracens. During the combat, the Saracens break the truce and are driven back by the Christians. Rogero becomes separated from his companions and finally ends up on a desert island. There he is converted and baptized by a holy man.
The Christian forces drive the Saracens south and out of France, while Astolpho brings another force north from Ethiopia, wiping out the whole Saracen army and killing its leaders. Orlando rescues Rogero from the island. Rinaldo promises his sister, Bradamant, to Rogero, but their parents want her to wed Leo, son of the Greek emperor. They lock her up in a castle, and Rogero goes to Greece to kill Leo. While there he joins a Bulgarian army fighting against the Greeks. He kills the son of Theodora, the sister of the emperor, and is imprisoned by her. Leo, however, rescues him and gives him shelter.
Bradamant will only marry the one who can defeat her in combat, and so Leo makes Rogero his champion. Rogero defeats Bradamant, but nearly dies of sorrow when he learns who she is, and that by defeating her, he has lost her. However, when Leo learns that Rogero and Bradamant are lovers, he renounces his claim on her and goes with Rogero back to France, where Rogero and Bradamant are finally married. Rodomont comes to the court to accuse Rogero of apostasy, but Rogero kills him. Finally, for his aid in the war against the Greeks, the Bulgarians name Rogero their king.
Bibliography
Beecher, Donald, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi, eds. Ariosto Today: Contemporary Perspectives. Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 2003. Several of the essays in this collection examine Orlando Furioso, including discussions of its genesis, history, and plot structure.
Brand, C. P. Ludovico Ariosto: A Preface to the “Orlando Furioso.” Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1974. A general introduction to Ariosto and his work. Includes a biography, a survey of literary forms that influenced Orlando Furioso, a discussion of the poem’s major themes, a review of important criticism, and a bibliography.
Cavallo, Jo Ann. The Romance Epics of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso: From Public Duty to Private Pleasure. Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 2004. Cavallo’s history of the Italian Renaissance romance epic includes analysis of Orlando Furioso. Compares this work to epic poems by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Torquato Tasso, who, like Ariosto, were part of the Este court.
Craig, D. H. Sir John Harington. Boston: Twayne, 1985. Harington wrote the first important English translation of Orlando Furioso in the 1580’s. This critical study of Harington’s work, focusing especially on canto 10, sheds light on the themes and images of Ariosto’s poem. Also examines Harington’s illustrations, critical comments, and notes.
Giamatti, A. Bartlett. The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966. A scholarly but lively examination of images of a blessed landscape in European literature. Illuminating chapter on Orlando Furioso as an early Renaissance epic. Annotated bibliography.
Kisacky, Julia. Magic in Boiardo and Ariosto. New York: Peter Lang, 2000. Examines the function of magic in Orlando Furioso and Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato. Demonstrates how the authors associate magic with chaos and the irrational, in contrast with order and reason, and how they use magic to explore Renaissance debate about fortune versus self-determination.
Pavlock, Barbara. “Ariosto and Roman Epic Values.” In Eros, Imitation, and the Epic Tradition. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990. Traces the forces of love and piety as they act on the work’s two protagonists. Also takes up the centuries-old question of whether Orlando Furioso is an epic or a romance, and finds the influence of both.
Zatti, Sergio. The Quest for Epic: From Ariosto to Tasso. Translated by Sally Hill and Dennis Looney. Edited by Dennis Looney. Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 2006. Zatti, an Italian literary critic, traces the development of the epic poem in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He focuses on Orlando Furioso and Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered.