FREE ESSAY ON ARIOSTO

ARIOSTO

Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)
Italian poet, remembered primarily for his ORLANDO FURIOSO, published in its final
version in 1532. Ariosto's work was the most celebrated narrative poem of the Italian
high Renaissance, and the first example of modern poetry to provoke widespread critical
controvesy. 
Ariosto was born in Reggio Emilia, as the son of Count Niccolo Ariosto. At the age of
then his family moved to Ferrera, where he studied law from 1489 to1494. There he also
started to study Latin and Greek language and literature. When his father died in 1500,
Ariosto assumed for some years the management of family estates as the eldest of 10
children. In 1502 he became commander of the fort of Canossa, and the next year he
entered the service of Cardidal Ippolito d'Este. In 1513 Ariosto met Alessandra Benucci.
After the death of her husband, Tito Strozzi, she became Ariosto's mistress. 
Because the family had settled comfortably in Ferrara, Ariosto refused to accompany
Cardinal d'Este to Hungary, and entered the service of Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara,
Cardinal's brother. In 1522 he was sent to govern the Garfagnana region in the wildest
part of the Apuan Alps. He returned after three years from the bandit-ridden post to
Ferrara. 
In about 1505 Arisoto began writing Orlando Furioso. The poem was a continuation of
Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando innamorato. Its first edition appeared in Venice in 1516
and was later revised in 1521 and 1532. The main character, Orlando, goes mad (furioso)
because his love for the beautiful Angelica is not returned. Other themes are the war
between Christians and Saracens, and the secondary love story of Ruggiero and Bradamante.
Orlando Furioso presented a rich variety of characters, mixed romance, epic, and lyrical
poetry, and made fun of outmoded chivalric manners. Later the poem had a profound
influence on such poets as Tasso, Spenser, and Lope de Vega. It also fascinated artists,
and in the mid-1700s G.B. Tiepolo painted in Villa Valmarana in Vicenza frescoes
illustrating its scenes. 
Ariosto also wrote seven satires, begining in 1514, and five comedies. As a member of a
group organized to produce plays by Plautus and Terrence at the Este court of Ferrara, he
became especially familiar with their approaches to comedy, and their work later became
the model for his own dramas. In LA CASSARIA (The Coffer, prose version in 1508, verse
version in 1531) two servants succeed in arranging desirable marriages for their masters.
IL SUPPOSITI (The Pretenders, prose version 1509, verse version 1528/31) was based on
Terence's The Eunuch and Plautus's The Captives. Shakespeare used parts of the work in
his play The Taming of the Shrew. IL NEGROMANTE (The Necromancer, 1520), centered on a
marriage kept secret, GLI STUDENTI (The Students, 1519), was an unfinished comedy of
frustrated love, and LA LENA (Lena, 1528) was based on the story of Peronella in
Boccaccio's Decameron. 
Around 1527 Ariosto secretly married the widow Alessandra Benucci, and spent the last
part of his life revising and enlarging Orlando Furioso. Ariosto died in Ferrara on July
6, 1533. 
Degli uomini son vari gli appetiti;
a chi piace la chierca a chi la spada,
a chi la patria, a chi gli strani liti.
Che vuole andare a torno, a torno vada;
vegga Inghilterra, Ongheria, Francia e Spagna;
a me piace abitar la mia contrada.
(from Mal puo dirar il rosignuolo in gabbia)
Orlando Furioso (Orlando Enraged)
INTRODUCTION:
This work is a continuation of the Orlando Innamorato of Matteo Maria Boiardo, which was
left unfinished upon the author's death in 1494. It begins more or less at the point
where Boiardo left it.
This is a brief synopsis of Boiardo's work, omitting most of the numerous digressions and
incidental episodes associated with these events: To the court of King Charlemagne comes
Angelica (daughter to the king of Cathay, or India) and her brother Argalia. Angelica is
the most beautiful woman any of the Peers have ever seen, and all want her. However, in
order to take her as wife they must first defeat Argalia in combat. The two most stricken
by her are
Orlando and Ranaldo (Rinaldo in Rose).
When Argalia falls to the heathen knight Ferrau, Angelica flees -- with Orlando and
Ranaldo in hot pursuit. Along the way, both Angelica and Ranaldo drink magic waters --
Angelica is filled with a burning love for Ranaldo, but Ranaldo is now indifferent.
Eventually, Orlando and Ranaldo arrive at Angelica's castle. Others also gather at
Angelica's castle, including Agricane, King of Tartary; Sacripant, King of Circassia;
Agramante, King of
Africa and Marfisa (Marphisa in Rose), an Asian warrior-Queen. Except for Orlando and
Ranaldo, all are heathen Meanwhile, France is threatened by heathen invaders. Led by King
Gradasso of Sericana (whose principal reason for going to war is to obtain Orlando's
sword, Durindana) and King Rodomonte of Sarzia, a Holy War between Pagans and Christians
ensues. Ranaldo leaves Angelica's castle, and Angelica and a very
love-sick (but very chaste and proper) Orlando, set out for France in search of him.
Again the same waters as before are drunk from, but this time in reverse -- Ranaldo now
burns for
Angelica, but Angelica is now indifferent. Ranaldo and Orlando now begin to fight over
her, but King Charlemagne (fearing the consequences if his two best knights kill each
other in combat)
intervenes and promises Angelica to whichever of the two fights the best against the
heathen; he leaves her in the care of Duke Namus. Orlando and Ranaldo arrive in Paris
just in time to repulse an attack by Agramante. Namus' camp is overrun by the heathen.
Angelica escapes, with Ranaldo in pursuit. Also in pursuit is Ferrau, who (because he
had defeated Argalia) considers Angelica his. It is at this point that the poem breaks
off.
While the Orlando-Ranaldo-Angelica triangle is going on, the stories of other knights and
their loves are mixed in. Most important of these is that of the female knight
Bradamante
(sister of Ranaldo), who falls in love with a very noble heathen knight named Ruggiero
(Rogero in Rose). Ruggiero, who is said to be a descendent of Alexander the Great and
Hector, also falls
in love with Bradamante, but because they are fighting on opposite sides it is felt that
their love is hopeless. 
Nevertheless, it is prophecised that they shall wed and found the famous Este line, who
shall rise to become one of the major families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy (it is
worth noting
that the Estes where the patrons of both Boiardo and Ariosto). Opposed to this prophecy
is Atlantes, an African wizard who seeks to derail fate and keep Ruggiero from becoming a
Christian.
By the end of the poem, Ruggiero is imprisoned in Atlantes' castle. However, Bradamante
(who has decided to follow her heart) is in pursuit of her love, and is not too far away.
It is the
Bradamante-Ruggiero story that eventually takes center stage in Ariosto's work.
Other characters of importance: Astolfo, a Peer and friend of Orlando, who is kidnaped by
the evil witch Morgana and her sister Alcina; Mandricardo, a fierce but hot-headed
heathen; and a young knight named Brandimarte, who falls in love with (and wins the heart
of) the beautiful Fiordelisa (Flordelice in Rose). 
Allplay major or semi-major roles in the events of Ariosto's poem.