Orlando furioso

Orlando Furioso , or furious Roland is a Poème epic of 40 Chant S, written by Ludovico Ariosto , called in French Arioste , written at the beginning of the 16th century, the Italian Cinquecento , it will be published in 1516.

Falling under the cycle Carolingian like a distance going down from the Song of Roland (or Song of Roncevaux) and presented, at its exit, like a continuation of the Orlando Innamorato ( Roland in love ) of Matteo Maria Boiardo.

The poem was written ferrarais some, the Dialecte used with Ferrare, then Arioste itself adapted it in Tuscan literary, so that it is more accessible for the remainder from the Italy.

Roger and Bradamante are presented there like the legendary ancestors of the dukes of Ferrare, and thus of the cardinal Alphonse d' Este who was the guard of Arioste and undoubtedly the Commanditaire of the book.

Weave account

The poem is the intersection of the actions of three groups of characters:
  1. the couple of Roger and Bradamante,
  2. Charlemagne and its knights in war against the Buckwheats,
  3. the trio formed by Angelica and Médor, and Roland.

Angelica is a queen of the East. The Roland knight, fallen in love with it, takes along it with him to France. It is removed by pirates and is delivered to a monster, but the Roger knight, assembled on a Hippogriffe, manages to deliver it. Angelica meets a soldier wounded buckwheat thereafter, Médor, which it looks after and will end up marrying. When Roland discovers their love, it becomes insane furious.

Furious Roland leaves then for the war where it achieves many exploits. The chief of Buckwheats, Agramant, and the king of Algiers, Rodomont, had progressed through Spain then France during the quarrel of Roland and Renaud, both in love with Angelica. Astolphe, the friend of Roland, assistance to recover the reason, and the army of Charlemagne manages to triumph over Buckwheats to the doors of Paris; those are then driven out country.

Bradamante, the sister of Renaud, loves the Roger knight, who also likes it but refuses their union because of a prophecy which predicts the death of Roger to the birth of a child of him and Bradamante.

Critical

If it is supposed to be a question of the same Roland discovered by the Occident in the Song of Roland , Chanson de geste of the end of the 11th century allotted to Turold ( Ci falt epic that Turoldus declinet ), of texto, no fact truly does not attach it to it. the Song is an account of chivalrous exploits which reports the defeat of the Count Roland, supposed nephew of Charlemagne with Roncevaux in 778 (historical episode without common measurement with immense literary success which will result from this); the text of Arioste, is much more extravagant to him: travel in the Moon, with the Enfer S and the Paradis where Roland meets the apostle Jean accompanied by Énoch and Élie, ride of the Hippogriffe, etc

The Song, written at the time of the first Crusade (1096 - 1099), made Charlemagne a pre-crossed whose principal concern (if not single) would be the defeat of the Sarrasin S. But, contemporary of the Song, appears a text Latin, the Historia Karoli Magni and Rotholandi , reporting the same facts and allotted to the archbishop Turpin; he will be unceasingly called upon by the later poets like source of authenticity come from a contemporary of Charlemagne. And if Arioste, it, refer to it also several times, it is always to make fun about it.

In the same way, although presented to its exit like a continuation of the Roland in love , the furious Roland of it is rather distant, since it does not preserve the humanistic concept of the Knight-errant; it does not approach any more this topic but superficially, and rather shows a “culture of the contradiction” which echoes more Érasme or with Rabelais.

Later, Hegel will consider that the many allegories and metaphors of the poem are there to show the fallibility of the directions and the judgment, rather than to illustrate the myths of the Chevalerie.

Finally an idea seems to show through: Orlando Furioso , although built on a chivalrous screen, would be a chivalrous pseudo-account , the Knighthood constituting only the preparing of a psychological account much more Intellectuel even . In fact, it is halfway maintained Fantastique, Épique, Poétique and Philosophique, which makes all its price.

Representations

Music

Among the opera S inspired by this work at the time Baroque, one can quote:

Painting

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