"The Furious Roland" was begun by Ariosto in 1506 and first printed in 1516. In this first edition the poem had 40 cantos. In 1521, its second, revised edition was published, which was reprinted many times without the permission of the author. Meanwhile, Ariosto continued to work on the poem and added 6 more songs to it. In its final form, the poem was published a year before the author's death, in 1532. Ariosto's poem is structured as a continuation of Boiardo's poem, which Ariosto was very passionate about, like all his contemporaries. He begins the narrative from the place where it ends in Boiardo, bringing out the same characters in the same positions. As a result, Ariosto does not have to introduce readers to his heroes. It was rightly noted that for Ariosto, Boiardo’s poem seemed to play the role of a tradition from which the epic poet took characters and plot motifs.

Ariosto also borrows techniques from Boiardo plot construction of his poem. The composition of “Furious Roland” is based on the principle of unexpected transitions from one episode to another and on the interweaving of several narrative lines, which sometimes acquires an unusually bizarre, almost chaotic character. However, the chaos of Ariosto's poem is imaginary. In fact, conscious calculation reigns in it: each part, scene, episode occupies a strictly defined place; not a single piece of the poem can be rearranged in place of another without violating the artistic harmony of the whole. The entire poem as a whole can be compared to a complex symphony, which seems like a jumbled collection of sounds only to unmusical or inattentive listeners.

In the complex and multifaceted plot of "Furious Roland" three main themes can be distinguished, which are accompanied by many small inserted episodes.

The first theme is traditional, inherited from the Carolingian epic - the war of Emperor Charles and his paladins with the Saracens. This theme outwardly covers the entire labyrinth of events depicted in the poem. At the beginning of the poem, the army of the Saracen king Agramant stands near Paris, threatening the capital of the most powerful Christian state. At the end of the poem, the Saracens are defeated and Christendom is saved. In between, countless events are depicted, the participants of which are knights of both hostile armies, periodically leaving their camps. This fact alone has considerable compositional significance in the poem: it connects the disparate threads of its episodes. The very theme of the struggle Christendom with paganism does not have for Ariosto the fundamental ideological significance that it would later receive from Tasso. True, he takes it more seriously than Pulci and even Boiardo, because he wants to raise the knightly prestige of his heroes. Nevertheless, Ariosto interprets some episodes of the war humorously and ironically.

The second theme of the poem is the story of Roland's love for Angel, which is the cause of his madness, which gave Ariosto's poem its name. Roland follows on the heels of a flighty and cruel pagan beauty, who becomes a bone of contention between Christian knights. During her wanderings, Angelica meets the beautiful Saracen youth Medor, seriously wounded. She looks after him, saves him from death and falls in love with him. Roland, pursuing Anjslika, ends up in the forest in which not long before Angelica and Medor enjoyed love. He sees monograms drawn by lovers on the trees, hears a story from a shepherd about their love affairs and goes crazy with grief and jealousy. The madness of Roland, depicted in accordance with tradition as the most valiant of the knights of Charlemagne, is, as it were, a punishment for his reckless passion for Angelica, unworthy of him. This theme is developed by Ariosto with genuine drama and, in places, psychological subtlety. However, the final episode of this story is of a comic nature: Astolf finds Roland’s lost sanity on the moon, where the sanity of many people who lost it on earth is stored in bottles with labels with the names of the owners. But human stupidity, notes Ariosto, cannot be found on the moon: it all remains on the earth.

The third theme of the poem is the love story of the young Saracen hero Ruggiero for the warlike maiden Bradamante, Rinaldo's sister. The union of Ruggiero and Bradamanta should mark the beginning of the princely house of Este: therefore Ariosto sets out their history in particular detail. This theme introduces an extremely abundant supernatural, fantastic element into the poem.

In addition to the three main themes, the poem contains many other heroic and romantic episodes in which a huge number of people participate. Total quantity There are up to two hundred characters in the poem. Among them there are wizards, fairies, giants, cannibals, dwarfs, wonderful horses, monsters, etc. Alternating episodes, Ariosto mixes the serious with the playful and easily moves from one tone of the narrative to another; comic, lyrical, idyllic, and epic styles are interspersed depending on the course of the stories. Ariosto is afraid of monotony and monotony: that is why he often combines the tragic with the comic in one song. Thus, in the 43rd canto, the sad story of Bradamanta’s death stands next to two humorous stories about female seduction.

The main stylistic point of "Furious Roland" is irony. Boiardo already used it, telling about the extraordinary exploits and adventures of knights. Ariosto goes further than Boiardo along this path. He adopts a consistently ironic attitude towards the fantastic world of miracles, exploits and knightly ideals he depicts. The critical consciousness of a humanist poet, confident in the reality of the world and a person free from superstitions and religious prejudices, naturally ironizes the medieval material developed in his poem. Ariosto easily plays with this material, constantly reminding the reader of himself with critical remarks, appeals, etc. Speaking about supernatural things, he deliberately materializes them, thereby revealing their absurdity. This is, for example, the description of Roland’s struggle with the sea monster. By depicting Astolfo's visit to the underworld, Ariosto is clearly parodying. The cruel beauties, hanging as punishment for their coldness in a cave full of fire and smoke, clearly parody the episode of Francesca da Rimini. When Astolf comes to heaven, he is given food and bed, and his horse is stabled; Astolfo eats the apples of paradise with pleasure, noting that Adam and Eve deserve leniency, etc.

For all his skepticism and irony, Ariosto does not ridicule chivalry. On the contrary, he is trying to reveal the positive aspects of chivalric ethics, the cult of high human feelings- loyalty, generosity, courage, nobility. He endows chivalry with a positive, humanistic content, removing from it the dilapidated feudal veils and exposing with his irony the illusory nature of the revival of outdated forms of knightly life.

"Furious Roland" is undoubtedly the largest poetic work late Italian Renaissance. This is a kind of poetic encyclopedia of Italian life at the beginning of the 16th century, reflecting with exceptional breadth all the contradictions of the era of the beginning of the collapse of the feudal world, all the cultural gains of a society that had thrown off the shackles of medieval scholasticism, life-denial and asceticism. Ariosto's main artistic task is to show the greatness, richness, diversity and beauty of earthly life, to create a bright, harmonious picture of this earthly world, populated by joyful and beautiful images. As a true Renaissance artist, Ariosto, as it were, rediscovers the world and man for poetry, freed from all shy shackles. Immersing his reader in the world of poetic fiction, he at the same time does not take him away from reality, but, on the contrary, strives to strengthen with his ironic narration some elements of this reality. In this sense, we can talk about the realistic orientation of Ariosto’s fantastic poem.

Many of the progressive aspirations of the Renaissance were reflected in the work of Ariosto. The poet passionately protests against the endless, unjust, predatory wars that are tearing apart and bleeding “unfortunate Italy” (canto XVII); he expresses his deep sympathy for the people suffering from these wars:

Ah, forever unhappy,

There the people are considered sheep,

Where does the wicked tyrant see the benefit in that!

He expresses disgust at the firearms that appeared in his time, weapons of mass destruction of people, exclaiming:

He is the most malicious, fierce villain

Of all that only people knew,

Who invented such a vile kind of weapon!

As a true patriot, his greatest dream is to see Italy free from “barbarians,” that is, foreign predatory conquerors. Among the fighters for the national unity of Italy, Ariosto has an honorable place along with Dante, Petrarch and later patriotic poets late XVIII and the first half of the 19th century.

As a court poet, Ariosto was forced to glorify his “most august” patrons, the Ferrara Dukes of Este. But with what bitter irony he speaks of these praises well paid by monarchs: “Aeneas was not so pious, Achilles so powerful and Hector so proud, as legend says, and they could have been successfully opposed by thousands and thousands of other people. But the palaces and estates distributed by their descendants forced the venerable hands of writers to render such magnificent and endless honors to their ancestors.”

With caustic irony, Ariosto always speaks about religious ideas, about piety, asceticism, holiness, etc. In Canto VIII, he gives a completely Boccaccian scene depicting how a certain “holy hermit” euthanizes Angelica, who fell into his hands, in order to give give in to your “predatory desires.” And in canto XIV, in extremely harsh tones, he paints a “vile pack” of monks, in whose monastery “Stinginess, Envy, Anger, Cruelty, Laziness with Gluttony and Pride” reign; he calls this monastery hell, “where the song of the Lord sounds.” Such attacks against churchmen and monks connect Ariosto with the anti-clerical tradition of Italian humanism of the 14th and 15th centuries.

As a humanist poet, Ariosto praised the beauty and valor of man, portraying love as a strong, natural feeling that is the source of “great heroic deeds.” This is how the famous scientist Galileo, who highly appreciated the art of Ariosto, expressed himself about him. In the work of the author of “Furious Roland,” one is struck by the maturity of feelings, the exceptional completeness of perception of life, the expressiveness of specific details, the ability to give his poetic visions unprecedented material tangibility, concreteness - all the features of mature Renaissance art that has reached its highest point.

The Renaissance full-bloodedness of Ariosto's work is also expressed in the poetic form of his poem. It is written in magnificent, sonorous, melodious octaves, which for their beauty have long been called “golden octaves” in Italy. For all their apparent lightness and ease, these octaves are the result of long, painstaking work, clearly noticeable when comparing the first edition of the poem with the final one. Ariosto’s language is distinguished by the same qualities, unusually clear and specific, devoid of any rhetorical embellishment.

Ariosto's poem had a great influence on the development of European poetry, especially the genre of humorous poems. With the tradition of this genre in varying degrees were connected (“The Virgin of Orleans”), Wieland (“Oberon”), Byron (“Don Juan”), Pushkin (“Ruslan and”).

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  "Roland in Love" was a huge success and prompted many attempts to continue this unfinished poem. All the unskilled successors of “Roland in Love” were eclipsed by Lodovico Ispit: Literature beyond the borders). ...to sleep Foreign literature", Жанр лицарської поеми в італійській літературі епохи Відродження (М. Боярдо, Л. Ариосто). "Цитування тексту взяте із книги: століття й Відродження" у Дигестах, поринув у вивчення класиків; він настільки засвоїв форми й розміри В конце XV в. в северной Италии появляется новый культурный очаг, оказавшийся весьма жизнеспособным в годы наступления феодально-католической реакции. Этим !}

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Noun. Saturating the text with nouns can become a means of linguistic figurativeness. The text of the poem by A. A. Fet “Whisper, timid breathing...”, in his

; full text"Roland the Furious" has 38,736 lines, making it one of the longest poems European literature.

Plot

The work is based on the legends of the Carolingian and Arthurian cycles, transferred to Italy from France in the 14th century. Like Boiardo, only the names of the characters remained from the Carolingian epic songs, and the entire plot was taken from the Breton chivalric romance. The plot of "Furious Roland" is extremely confusing and breaks up into many separate episodes. Nevertheless, the entire content of the poem can be reduced to fourteen storylines, of which eight are large (Angelica, Bradamanta, Marfisa, Astolfo, Orlando, Rinaldo, Rodomont, Ruggiero) and six small (Isabella, Olympia, Griffin, Zerbino, Mandricardo, Medoro) . And there are thirteen more inserted short stories. Main storylines poem - the unrequited love of the strongest Christian knight Roland for the Cathayan princess Angelica, leading him to madness, and the happy love of the Saracen warrior Ruggiera and the Christian warrior Bradamanta, who, according to the poem, are to become the founders of the Ferrara ducal dynasty d'Este.

Poetics

The author treats the adventures he describes with emphatic irony, expressing his assessment both in descriptions and in numerous lyrical digressions, which later became the most important element of the modern European poem. The author's digressions also discuss quite “serious” topics; Thus, Ariosto talks with the reader about the art of poetry, criticizes the Italian wars and settles scores with his envious people and ill-wishers. Various kinds of satirical and critical elements are scattered throughout the text of the poem; in one of the most famous episodes, the knight Astolf flies on a hippogriff to the moon to find the lost mind of Roland, and meets the apostle John who lives there. The Apostle shows him the valley where lies everything that people have lost, including the beauty of women, the mercy of sovereigns and the Gift of Constantine.

Without moving to the side psychological analysis, Ariosto is completely immersed in fabulousness, which, as indicated, constitutes only the lower foundation of the novel's structure. Hegel is inaccurate when he writes that “Ariosto rebels against the fabulousness of knightly adventures.” At the cost of an ironic interpretation and playful interpretation, Ariosto, as it were, acquires the right to revel in fairy-tale fiction with its hyperbolic exaggerations and bizarre images, complex heaps of plot lines, extraordinary and unexpected turns in the destinies of the characters. At the same time, much more than in classical courtly novels, the presence of artistic fiction, subjective arbitrariness and the subtle skill of the author-artist, who uses the epic legend only as clay in the hands of a master, are emphasized.

Critical acclaim

Initially, Ariosto's poem existed in an atmosphere of universal and unconditional recognition. In 1549, a commentary on the poem by Simone Fornari appeared, in 1554 three books were published containing an apology for the poem: correspondence of Giovanni Battista Pigna (English)Russian and Giraldi Cinzio (Italian)Russian, “Discourse on the Writing of Novels” by Giraldi, “Novels” by Pigna. We find the first detailed attack against “Orlando Furious” and novels in general in the dialogue “Poetic Art” by Antonio Minturno, published in Minturno, from a classicist position, blaming Ariosto for violating the Aristotelian principle of unity of action. After the appearance of Camillo Pellegrino's treatise (Italian)Russian“Carrafa, or On Epic Poetry” () began a lively debate about Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, which lasted until the end of the century.

Hegel and after him Francesco de Sanctis in late XIX centuries have put forward a position that still enjoys authority, according to which Ariosto’s irony is primarily a worldview factor. This is a look of a new consciousness at an old and outdated reality, this is evidence of the maturity of the mind, rising above the poetic fantasies of the Middle Ages and capable of being carried away by them only while having fun. This is the form in which knightly culture finds its natural end. However, this point of view, firstly, equates Ariosto’s irony with romantic irony, which is a methodological modernization, and secondly, it is also a historical modernization, since the knightly culture of Ariosto’s time experienced not a decline, but a flourishing.

Benedetto Croce, in his revolutionary work “Ariosto, Shakespeare and Corneille” () pointed to universal harmony as the supreme artistic principle of Orlando Furious.

Influence

Ariosto's poem, despite criticism of its “frivolity” and “disproportion,” immediately gained fame and gave rise to many imitations. (There was also a direct continuation - the poem “Angelica in Love” by Vincenzo Bruzantini, published in 1550, which traced the further fate of Angelica). Paintings and operas were created based on it; in world literature, the plot elements of “The Furious Roland” can be found in the works of Lope de Vega, Cervantes (in the novel “Don Quixote”), Wieland, Byron, Voltaire (in the poem “The Virgin of Orleans”, it is for this reason that Pushkin speaks of him as “grandson of Ariost”), Pushkin A.S. (“Ruslan and Lyudmila” and translation of a passage about Roland’s discovery of Angelica’s betrayal - “The waters glitter before the knight”), Osip Mandelstam (“Ariost”) and others.

See also

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Notes

Literature

• Andreev M.L. A chivalric romance in the Renaissance. M., 1993. Chapter V.

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Excerpt characterizing Furious Roland

The caves welcomed Qatar, opening their dark, damp arms for them... The life of the fugitives became difficult and lonely. Rather, it looked like survival... Although there were still very, very many people willing to help the fugitives. In the small towns of Occitania, such as the principality of de Foix, Castellum de Verdunum and others, the Cathars still lived under the cover of local lords. Only now they no longer gathered openly, trying to be more careful, because the Pope’s bloodhounds did not agree to calm down, wanting at all costs to exterminate this Occitan “heresy” that was hiding throughout the country...
“Be diligent in exterminating heresy by any means! God will inspire you! – the Pope’s call to the crusaders sounded. And the church messengers really tried...
- Tell me, Sever, of those who went into the caves, did anyone live to see the day when it was possible to go to the surface without fear? Did anyone manage to save their life?
– Unfortunately, no, Isidora. The Montsegur Cathars did not survive... Although, as I just told you, there were other Cathars who existed in Occitania for quite a long time. Only a century later the last Qatar was destroyed there. But their life was completely different, much more secretive and dangerous. People frightened by the Inquisition betrayed them, wanting to save their lives. Therefore, some of the remaining Katar moved to the caves. Someone settled in the forests. But that was later, and they were much more prepared for such a life. Those whose relatives and friends died in Montsegur did not want to live long with their pain... Deeply grieving for the dead, tired of hatred and persecution, they finally decided to reunite with them in that other, much kinder and purer life . There were about five hundred of them, including several old people and children. And with them were four Perfect Ones who came to the rescue from a neighboring town.
On the night of their voluntary “departure” from the unjust and evil material world all the Cathars went outside to breathe the wonderful spring air for the last time, to take another look at the familiar glow of the distant stars they loved so much... where their tired, exhausted Qatari soul will fly away very soon.
The night was gentle, quiet and warm. The earth was fragrant with the smells of acacias, blossoming cherries and thyme... People inhaled the intoxicating aroma, experiencing real childhood pleasure!.. For almost three long months they did not see the clear night sky, did not breathe real air. After all, in spite of everything, no matter what happened on it, it was their land!.. Their native and beloved Occitania. Only now it was filled with hordes of the Devil, from which there was no escape.
Without saying a word, the Cathars turned to Montsegur. They wanted to take one last look at their HOME. To the Temple of the Sun, sacred to each of them. A strange, long procession of thin, emaciated people unexpectedly easily ascended to the highest of the Qatari castles. It was as if nature itself was helping them!.. Or perhaps these were the souls of those with whom they were going to meet very soon?
At the foot of Montsegur a small part of the Crusader army was located. Apparently, the holy fathers were still afraid that the crazy Cathars might return. And they were guarding... The sad column passed like quiet ghosts next to the sleeping guards - no one even moved...
– They used “blackout”, right? – I asked in surprise. – Did all the Cathars know how to do this?..
- No, Isidora. “You forgot that the Perfect Ones were with them,” North answered and calmly continued.
Having reached the top, the people stopped. In the light of the moon, the ruins of Montsegur looked ominous and unusual. It was as if every stone, soaked in the blood and pain of the dead Qatar, called for revenge on those who had come again... And although there was dead silence around, it seemed to people that they could still hear the dying cries of their relatives and friends, burning in the flames of the terrifying “cleansing” papal bonfire . Montsegur towered over them, menacing and... unnecessary to anyone, like a wounded animal left to die alone...
The walls of the castle still remembered Svetodar and Magdalena, the children's laughter of Beloyar and golden-haired Vesta... The castle remembered the wonderful years of Qatar, filled with joy and love. I remembered the kind and bright people who came here under his protection. Now this was no longer the case. The walls stood bare and alien, as if Kathar and the big, kind soul of Montsegur had flown away along with the souls of the burnt...

The Cathars looked at the familiar stars - from here they seemed so big and close!.. And they knew that very soon these stars would become their new Home. And the stars looked down on their lost children and smiled tenderly, preparing to receive their lonely souls.
The next morning, all the Cathars gathered in a huge, low cave, which was located directly above their beloved - “cathedral”... There, once upon a time, Golden Maria taught KNOWLEDGE... New Perfects gathered there... There the Light and Good World Qatar.
And now, when they returned here only as “shards” of this wonderful world, they wanted to be closer to the past, which was no longer possible to return... The Perfect Ones quietly gave Purification (consolementum) to each of those present, affectionately laying their magic hands on their tired ones , drooping heads. Until all those “leaving” were finally ready.
In complete silence, people took turns lying down directly on the stone floor, crossing their thin arms over their chests, and completely calmly closing their eyes, as if they were just getting ready for bed... Mothers hugged their children to themselves, not wanting to part with them. A moment later, the entire huge hall turned into a quiet tomb of five hundred good people who had fallen asleep forever... Qatar. Faithful and Bright followers of Radomir and Magdalena.
Their souls flew away together to where their proud, brave “brothers” were waiting. Where the world was gentle and kind. Where you no longer had to be afraid that, by someone’s evil, bloodthirsty will, your throat would be cut or simply thrown into the “cleansing” papal fire.
A sharp pain squeezed my heart... Tears flowed in hot streams down my cheeks, but I didn’t even notice them. Bright, beautiful and pure people passed away... of their own free will. They left so as not to surrender to the killers. To leave the way they themselves wanted it. So as not to drag out a miserable, wandering life in his own proud and native land - Occitania.
– Why did they do this, Sever? Why didn't they fight?..
– We fought – with what, Isidora? Their battle was completely lost. They simply chose HOW they wanted to leave.
– But they committed suicide!.. Isn’t this punishable by karma? Didn’t this make them suffer the same way there, in that other world?
– No, Isidora... They simply “left”, removing their souls from the physical body. And this is the most natural process. They did not use violence. They just "gone away."
WITH deep sadness I looked at this terrible tomb, in the cold, perfect silence of which the falling drops rang from time to time. It was nature that began to slowly create its eternal shroud - a tribute to the dead... So, over the years, drop by drop, each body will gradually turn into a stone tomb, not allowing anyone to mock the dead...

In the epic of the cantastories, foreign subjects took a strong place and, above all, the tales of the French Carolingian cycle with its heroes - Emperor Charles and the valiant Roland, who received the name Orlando in Italy. Traditional plots acquired new motives, characters, details and turns of events.

To the tales of Orlando in the 15th century. addressed by the Florentine poet Luigi Pulci(1432-1484), close to Lorenzo de' Medici.

Only a few years passed after the appearance of Pulci’s poem, when another poem based on the plot of the Carolingian cycle was published in Ferrara. It was "Roland in Love"(1486) Matteo Boyardo(1441-1494), a noble aristocrat who lived at the court of the Duke of Ferrara. Once again the poet turns to the tales of Roland, but his poem is not like the mischievous poem of the Florentine poet. In Pulci, the ancient heroic legend seemed to come to life amidst a fervent folk carnival. Boyardo gives it the outlines of a courtly chivalric romance. The stern hero of the French medieval epic, even before his death, does not remember his loving bride, who yearns for him in distant Aachen. Under the pen of Boiardo, Roland, like other knights-errant, is gallant and in love. He was captivated by the beautiful Angelica, daughter of the King of Cathay. For her sake, he goes to the East and performs knightly feats. As in courtly novels, in Boyardo's poem one adventure piles on top of another, the plot lines are whimsically intertwined, the author makes extensive use of the colorful props of courtly fantasy (fairies, giants, wizards, dragons, enchanted horses, enchanted weapons, etc.). Folk buffoonery no longer has a place in the elegant and sophisticated world of the Ferrara poet. Boiardo did not finish his work, but even in its unfinished form it was a great success among readers.

One of the most outstanding poets of the Italian Renaissance decided to continue Boiardo’s poem Lodovico Ariosto(1474-1533). Like his predecessor, he was closely associated with the Ferrara ducal court. Ariosto wrote poetry, satires in the spirit of Horace and “learned comedies” according to the rules of ancient poetics. In sonnets and madrigals, Ariosto acted as a singer of love, expressing his feelings for Alessandra Benucci. In one sonnet, the poet tells how, crossing the bridge over the Po on a cloudy day, he noticed Donna; her gaze dispelled the clouds, illuminated the earth with the sun and calmed the excitement on the river. The closest to Ariosto's famous poem are seven satires written in terzas. They provide vivid sketches of the life of the ducal court, the papal curia, the university and the humanists of Garfagnana. However, Ariosto's satires are closer to Horace than to Juvenal. The poet's smile is condescending, and the intonation of his terza resembles a playful colloquial speech. Among the comedies, it is worth noting “The Chest”, “The Changelings”, “Warlock”, “The Pimp”, “Students”.

But his most remarkable work was the poem in octaves (46 songs) “Furious Roland”, on which he worked for 25 years (1507-1532). This poem no longer had anything to do with Pulci’s public buffoonery. Ariosto not only picked up the plot threads of the Ferrara poet, but also developed his poetic style, giving it remarkable artistic power. However, the poet cared little about the immediate development of the plot of his predecessor, immediately introducing Angelica, Rinaldo, Ferrau, Sacripante, Bradamanta into the story. Depicting the entertaining adventures of his heroes, Ariosto sought to raise the reality of Renaissance poetry above the prosaic everyday life that threatened it, to glorify the world of true humanity, freedom and beauty.

In the opening octaves of the poem, Ariosto defined his poetic objectives. He made its main character Orlando - Roland, an exemplary knight in the humanistic sense, the constant patron of the oppressed, a fighter for justice; in his face are embodied in a transformed form the ideal qualities possessed by the heroes of the best Spanish Renaissance chivalric novels about Amadis of Gaul and Palmerin of England and the necessity of which for a man of the Renaissance was spoken of in the book “The Courtier” by Ariosto’s contemporary, Baldassare Castiglione. While searching for Angelica and performing various feats along the way, Roland unexpectedly learns that the young beauty, whose love many knights sought, fell in love with the Saracen warrior Medoro (Canto 23). Roland's grief and despair know no bounds. He loses his mind and moves around the world, crushing everything in his path. The madness of Orlando, which a hundred years later inspired Don Quixote in the Sierra Morena, was prepared gradually by Ariosto, and the reading of the tender inscriptions testifying to the happy love of Angelica and Medoro was only the last straw that overflowed the cup (“ ... Their letter seems like a nail // It pierces the hero’s heart ... "). The knight had already suffered before when a wayward and treacherous beauty fled from him; a prophetic dream warned him of impending troubles; While looking for Angelica, he continually moves from despair to hope. The motif of the protagonist's furious fury and madness anticipates the images of the late Renaissance - Hamlet and Don Quixote. But for now the joke still reigns: the frivolous knight Astolfo, who appeared in Boiardo’s poem, is called upon to heal Orlando and restore his lost sanity: on the advice of the Apostle John, he must fly to the Moon, where things lost by people on earth are stored, and thus return them to Roland his sanity, stored in a weighty vessel.

The stories of other characters are intertwined with the story of Roland in the poem, forming an elegant pattern consisting of a huge number of episodes of a love, heroic, magical and adventurous nature. It is neither possible nor necessary to list all these stories here. But let us pay attention to the complex love story of Ruggiero and Bradamanta, which is not inferior in importance to other plot lines of the poem. The love of these heroes is fraught with obstacles and delusions; many times the poet is ready to unite them in marriage, but then a new adventure delays the onset of a happy ending. In this eventful story, first place belongs to Bradamante; a woman of the Renaissance, she is persistent, energetic and truly courageous: jealous of Ruggiero and revealing weakness in moments of despair, she is ready to immediately take up arms in order to adequately defend her love. When Ruggiero is in direct danger, despite his anger, Bradamanta warns him with a cry. The feelings of this girl are higher and more humane than the feelings of other characters in the poem; they more directly depict the humanistic harmony affirmed by artistic style"Furious Orlando" A meeting with Pinabello, one of the enemies of her family, leads Bradamante, instead of the Atlanta castle, where Ruggiero is located, to the mysterious cave of the sorceress Melissa. With her predictions, the sorceress consoles the deceived heroine, promising her power and glory in the person of her descendants - the Dukes of Este. Thus, using Virgil’s technique, the poet managed to say something pleasant to his patrons, but did it so naturally and cheerfully that not even a hint of flattery arose in the general tone of the episode. The final episodes of this story are devoted to the war that the power of Charlemagne is waging with the Saracens who invaded France. Ruggiero, who converted to Christianity, defeats in a duel the strongest infidel knight Rodomont, who accused him of treason. The marriage of Bradamanta and Ruggiero ends Ariosto’s lengthy poem, which has firmly entered the history of European literature. We encounter its echoes in Voltaire ("The Virgin of Orleans"), and in Wieland ("Oberon"), and in Pushkin ("Ruslan and Lyudmila").

In terms of its genre characteristics, "Furious Roland" is closest to a courtly chivalric romance. But this does not mean at all that Ariosto set himself the task of reviving this medieval genre in its specific features. In Ariosto's poem, much looks the same as in the medieval chivalric romance, but much is already very different from it. As in the medieval novel, in Ariosto's poem knights fall in love with beautiful ladies and perform feats in their honor. Only if in the medieval novel the courtly spirit invariably reigned, and the court of King Arthur was the preserve of courtly etiquette with its sophistication and the principle of “measure,” then in Ariosto’s poem this principle is openly violated in the dramatic story of Roland, the main character of the work. After all, love not only does not transform Roland into an ideal, balanced knight, but drives him to madness. Ariosto paints a terrifying portrait of a celebrated hero wandering the hot sands of Africa:

The eyes are sunken, hiding in their sockets,

He became bony-faced and thin,

With a shock of hair, tousled and knocked down,

With a thick, ugly beard...

After healing, the knight is “even more intelligent and courageous” and is ready to perform new feats: like a truly epic hero, Orlando again began to defend the cause of the Franks, the cause of the Christians. But all this is half a game: madness, which caused a series of absurd actions inappropriate for a valiant warrior, destroyed the image of a perfect knight in the old sense. And with this, Ariosto anticipated Cervantes’s Don Quixote, although the realistic Spanish novel clearly contrasted the merciless prose of life with fantastic madness, and Ariosto’s poem, without directly reproducing real everyday life, presents the protagonist’s furies as an entertaining, sometimes funny episode, which, however, does not violate the harmonious mosaic of the plot. Appearing on the pages of an entertaining story, dramatic story Rolanda reminds readers of the vicissitudes of earthly life, in which light alternates with shadow and which does not fit into the narrow framework of the courtly code. The poet seems to compete with the Creator of the universe. He creates his own vast world. He is a talented architect, as if confirming the daring thought of Marsilio Ficino about a man who is equal to the Almighty in his limitless creative potential.

As for the fairy-tale episodes of the poem, they are largely connected with the ancient human dream of beauty, which people so need. For Ariosto, these are, first of all, enchanted castles and gardens, competing in their charm with Eden. As in the domains ancient goddess Cyprus, described by the poet Poliziano, flowers are constantly fragrant here, groves of laurels, myrtles and palm trees turn green, nightingales sing their songs, deer and fallow deer graze in the meadows, not fearing any dangers (Song 6). And yet these enchanting castles and gardens were created in the poem by the will of evil forces. Behind their beauty lies cunning. On the island of Alchini people even lose their human image(transformation of knight Astolfo into myrtle). But doesn’t this happen in real earthly life? Closely associated with the tyrannical Ferrara court, Ariosto knew this well.

So in the poem, again and again, the sharp corners of real earthly life appear through the magical shell. Without directly offending his Ferrara patrons, Ariosto allows himself to condemn the tyranny that, since the times of Sulla, Nero, Maximin and Attila, has caused so much evil to people.

Ariosto in the poem willingly, widely and playfully uses the allegorical figures of Strife, Deception, Anger, as well as supernatural beings- devils, fairies, sorcerers and magicians. Myself christian god in the person of St. Mikhail interferes in events. However, this visual discord does not destroy the stylistic unity of the poem, the texture of which is complex and variegated, but amazingly harmonious.

Depicting endless duels, battles and battles, including the bloody battle for Paris with the participation of Charlemagne, glorifying the exploits of Christians in the battle with Muslims (this topic was quite relevant at that time - after all, not so long ago the Turks crushed the Byzantine Empire and were advancing on Europe) , Ariosto was not at all an exponent of the medieval warlike spirit. He often wrote about knightly fights with a slight grin, as a kind of carnival game or performance puppet theater, and then the hot human blood, by the will of the poet, seemed to turn into cranberry juice. But if it came to Italy, his dear fatherland, he grieved deeply and did not want to hide his grief:

Drunk, you sleep, Italy, powerless,

And you don’t grieve that you became a slave

The peoples who bowed before you in ancient times!

The vices of the Catholic clergy also cause his condemnation. The monastic brethren especially suffer from him. Having flown down from heaven, the Archangel Michael sees with amazement that in the monasteries there are orders that are very far from true piety. Instead of humility, love of humanity and respect for the sacred, love of money, laziness, hypocrisy and pride triumph here, plunging the poor and all those who suffer into the dust (Song 14, octaves 78-90).

Talented representative high Renaissance, Ariosto valued active, energetic people, capable of heroic deeds and strong feelings. The characters of chivalric novels, for all their extreme conventionality, were close to him in this regard. But he strongly condemned the spirit of self-interest and barbaric destruction. Thus, he condemned the appearance of firearms in Europe as a result of the invention of gunpowder in the 14th century. by a German monk - the invention of the “hellish”, which brought countless troubles to people (Song 11, octaves 21-27).

Ariosto has a completely different attitude towards the fearless sailors who endlessly expanded the boundaries of the world known to Europeans. In the mouth of his companion Astolfo, who left the island of the treacherous Alcina and dreamed of returning to his place in England, he put an eloquent prophecy about how, over time, the new Jasons would find a sea route to India and discover the New World, while transparently hinting at the expeditions of Vasco da Gama and Columbus (Canto 15, octaves 20-23). The author takes apparent pleasure in constantly expanding the geographical spaces of the poem, stretching from the countries of Western Europe to China (Catay) and from North Africa to India. Its events unfold on land, on water and in the air, the names of such cities and lands as Paris, Arles, the Scythian and Persian shores, Ethiopia, Damascus, Nubia, Provence, Bizerte, Taprobana, etc. flash by.

At the same time, the narrator never disappears from the reader’s field of vision, as usually happened in the heroic epic of the Middle Ages. After all, it depends on him how they turn out further events, only he is able to confuse and unravel the motley plot threads of the poem. He not only directly addresses Hippolyte d'Este, to whom the poem is dedicated, right in the middle of the poetic text, but also recalls the readers (Song 23, octave 136), etc.

Gentle humor permeates many pages of this wonderful poem, which can rightly be considered one of the highest peaks in the literature of the Italian Renaissance.

The sources of Ariosto's poem are varied. Along with the songs of the cantastories, the medieval heroic epic and the chivalric romance, folk tales and with ancient short stories in the poem one can hear echoes of ancient myths and other creations of ancient culture, so dear to the heart of the humanist poet. Ariosto's wonderful poem became a majestic hymn to a triumphant feeling, a comprehensively developed person. The perfection of verse of the “golden” octave, sonority literary speech, boundless plot ingenuity made the poem widely known outside of Italy. The number of alterations, retellings, imitations and translations of Furious Orland was very large already in the 16th century. In the 17th century Ariostian motifs penetrated painting and opera, and with the advent of romanticism they triumphantly returned to poetry.

Retelling

A tournament at the court of Charles, Angelica wanted, with the help of her brother Argalius, to capture the French paladins, but in the end her brother was defeated by Astolf, and she was hunted by knights, incl. Rinald and Roland, because If she wins, she promises her love. Rinald and she drink from magical springs at the same time, now their feelings change: she is in love, he is indifferent. Begins to pursue Rinald. Roland is captured by the fairy Dragontina, from where he is freed by Angelica, and he helps her kill Agrican, the king of Tartary. Then he and Rinald drink from the springs again and switch roles. Having met Angelica instead of Roland, Rinald enters into battle with him. Their duel is interrupted by Charlemagne: Angelica will go to the one who distinguishes himself more in the war with the pagans. In the first battle with the Saracens, the Christians are defeated.

Furious Roland (Ariosto)

The Emperor of Africa, Agramant, is marching against Charlemagne, and with him the kings of Spain, and the Tatar, and the Circassian, and countless others, and in their army of millions - the huge and wild Rodomont and the noble knightly Ruggier, who will be discussed later.

The object of Roland's love is Angelica, a princess from Cathay. She had just escaped from the captivity of Charlemagne, and Roland fell into such despair because of this that he abandoned the sovereign and friends in besieged Paris and went around the world to look for Angelica.

The main satellites are his two cousins: Astolf and Rinald. Rinald is also in love, and also with Angelica, but his love is ill-fated. There are two magical springs in the Ardennes Forest in northern France - the key of Love and the key of Lovelessness; whoever drinks from the first will feel love, whoever drinks from the second - disgust. And Rinald and Angelica drank from both, but not in harmony: first Angelica pursued Rinald with her love, and he ran away from her, then Rinald began to chase Angelica, and she fled from him. But he serves Charlemagne faithfully, and Charles from Paris sends him to neighboring England for help.

Rinalda's sister Bradamanta is also a beauty and a warrior. She is in love with Ruger, who is the best of the Saracen knights. Ruggier and Bradamanta met once in battle, fought for a long time, marveling at each other's strength and courage, and when they were tired, they stopped and took off their helmets, they fell in love with each other at first sight. But there are many obstacles on the way to their connection.

Ruggier is the son from the secret marriage of a Christian knight with a Saracen princess. He is raised in Africa by the wizard and warlock Atlas. Atlas knows that his pet will be baptized, give birth to glorious descendants, but then die, and therefore he tries to never let his pet near Christians. He has a castle in the mountains full of ghosts: when a knight approaches the castle, Atlas shows him the ghost of his beloved, he rushes through the gates to meet her and remains in captivity for a long time, searching in vain for his lady in empty chambers and passages. But Bradamanta has a magic ring, and these spells have no effect on her. Then Atlas puts Rudger on his winged horse - a hippogriff, and he takes him to the other side of the world, to another sorceress-warlock - Alcina. She meets him in the guise of a young beauty, and Ruggier falls into temptation: for many months he lives on her miracle island in luxury and bliss, enjoying her love, and only the intervention of the wise fairy Melissa returns him to the path of virtue. The spell breaks, the beautiful Alcina appears in the true image of vice, vile and ugly, and the repentant Ruggier flies back to the west on the same hippogriff. Here Atlas lies in wait for him again and takes him into his ghostly castle. And the captive Ruggier rushes through its halls in search of Bradamante, and next to him the captive Bradamante rushes through the same halls in search of Ruggier, but they do not see each other.

Rinald saves Lady Ginevra, falsely accused of dishonor; Roland searches for Angelica, and on the way he saves Lady Isabella, captured by robbers, and Lady Olympia.

Meanwhile, King Agramant with his hordes surrounds Paris and prepares for an attack, and the pious Emperor Charles calls on the Lord for help. And the Lord orders the Archangel Michael: “Fly down, find Silence and find Discord: let Silence allow Rinalda and the English to suddenly burst out from the rear on the Saracens and let Discord attack the Saracen camp and sow discord and confusion there, and the enemies of the right faith will be weakened!” He searches, but does not find them where he was looking: Strife with Laziness, Greed and Envy - among monks in monasteries, and Silence - among robbers, traitors and secret murderers. Rodomont burst into the city and alone destroys everyone, cutting his way from gate to gate, blood flows, arms, shoulders, heads fly into the air. But Silence leads Rinald to Paris with help - and the attack is repulsed. And Strife, Rodomont barely made his way out of the city to his own, a rumor whispers to him that his kind lady Doralice cheated on him with the second most powerful Saracen hero Mandricard - and Rodomont instantly abandons his people and rushes off to look for the offender, cursing the female race.

There was a young warrior named Medor in the Saracen camp. His king fell in battle; and when night fell on the battlefield, Medor and his comrade went out to find his body among the corpses under the moon and bury him with honor. They were noticed, they rushed in pursuit, Medor was wounded, his comrade was killed, and Medor would have bled to death in the thicket of the forest if the unexpected savior had not appeared. This is the one with whom the war began - Angelica, who made her way along secret paths to her distant Cathay. A miracle happened: vain, frivolous, abhorring kings and the best knights, she took pity on Medor, fell in love with him, took him to a rural hut, and until his wound was healed, they lived there, loving each other. And Medor, not believing his luck, carved their names and words of gratitude to heaven for their love on the bark of the trees with a knife. When Medor became stronger, they continued on their way to Cathay.

Roland, having traveled half of Europe in search of Angelica, ends up in this very grove, reads these very letters on the trees and sees that Angelica has fallen in love with another. At first he doesn’t believe his eyes, then his thoughts, then he goes numb, then he sobs, then he grabs his sword, chops down trees with inscriptions, chops down rocks on the sides - “and the same fury has come that has never been seen, and nothing worse has been seen.” He throws away his weapon, tears off his armor, tears his dress; naked, shaggy, he runs through the forests, tearing out oak trees with his bare hands, satisfying his hunger with raw bear meat, tearing those he meets in half by the legs, single-handedly crushing entire regiments. So - in France, so - in Spain, so - across the strait, so - in Africa; and a terrible rumor about his fate is already reaching Charles’s court. And it’s not easy for Charles, even though the Strife sowed discord in the Saracen camp, even though Rodomont quarreled with Mandricard, and with another, and with a third hero, but the Basurman army is still near Paris, and the infidels have new invincible warriors. Firstly, this is Ruggier - although he loves Bradamante, his lord is the African Agramante, and he must serve as his vassal. Secondly, this is the hero Marfisa.

Astolf defeated the miracle giant, which no matter how you cut it, it will grow back together: Astolf cut off his head and galloped away, plucking out hair after hair on it, and the headless body ran after, waving his fists; when he plucked out that hair in which the giant's life was, the body collapsed and the villain died. On the way, he made friends with the dashing Marfiza. On the way, he even ended up in Atlas's castle, but even that could not withstand his wonderful horn: the walls scattered, Atlas died, the prisoners were saved, and Ruggier and Bradamante finally saw each other, threw themselves into each other's arms, swore allegiance and parted: she - in the castle to his brother Rinald, and he - to the Saracen camp, to complete his service to Agramant, and then be baptized and marry his sweetheart. Astolf took the hippogriff, the winged Atlantean horse, and flew over the world, looking down.

From under the clouds he sees the Ethiopian kingdom, and in it a king who is being starved by predatory harpies, snatching up food. With his magic horn, he drives the harpies away, drives them into a dark hell, and listens there to the story of Lydia, who was merciless to her fans and is now tormented in hell. The grateful Ethiopian king shows Astolf a high mountain above his kingdom: there is an earthly paradise, and the Apostle John sits in it and, according to the word of God, awaits the second coming. Astolf flies there, the apostle greets him joyfully, tells him about future destinies, and about the princes Este, and about the poets who will glorify them, and about how others offend poets with their stinginess - “but this is not indifferent to me, I myself writer, wrote the Gospel and Revelation." As for Roland’s mind, it is on the Moon: there, like on Earth, there are mountains and valleys, and in one of the valleys there is everything that people have lost in the world, “whether from misfortune, from long ago, from stupidity.” . There is the vain glory of monarchs, there are the fruitless prayers of lovers, the flattery of flatterers, the short-lived mercy of princes, the beauty of beauties and the intelligence of prisoners. The mind is a light thing, like steam, and therefore it is closed in the vessels, and on them it is written which one is in which. There they find a vessel with the inscription “Roland’s mind”, and another, smaller one, “Astolf’s mind”; Astolf was surprised, breathed in his intelligence and felt that he had become smart, but he was not very smart. The knight, riding a hippogriff, rushes back to Earth.

The knights, freed by Astolf on his eastern routes, had already galloped to Paris, joined Rinald, with their help he struck the Saracens, repelled them from Paris, and victory began to lean again on the Christian side. True, Rinald fights half-heartedly, because his soul is dominated by the old unrequited passion for Angelica. In the Ardennes forest, the monster Jealousy attacks him: a thousand eyes, a thousand ears, a snake's mouth, a body with rings. And the knight Contempt rises to his aid: a bright helmet, a fiery club, and behind his back is the key of Lovelessness, healing from unreasonable passions. Rinald drinks, forgets the madness of love and is again ready for a righteous fight.

Bradamante, having heard that her Rudger was fighting among the Saracens next to a certain warrior named Marphisa, flared up with jealousy and rode off to fight both him and her. In a dark forest near an unknown grave, Bradamanta and Marfisa begin to fight, one more courageously than the other, and Ruger vainly separates them. And then suddenly a voice is heard from the grave - the voice of the dead wizard Atlas: “Get away from jealousy! Ruger and Marfisa, you are brother and sister, your father is a Christian knight; While I was alive, I kept you from the faith of Christ, but now, surely, the end of my labors.” Everything becomes clear, Rugger's sister and Rugger's friend embrace each other, Marfisa accepts holy baptism and calls Rugger to do the same, but he hesitates - more to follow last duty King Agramant. He, despairing of winning the battle, wants to decide the outcome of the war in a duel: Ruggier versus Rinald. Someone's blow breaks the truce, a general massacre begins, the Christians prevail, and Agramant with a few of his minions escapes on a ship to sail to his overseas capital - Bizerte, which is near Tunisia. He does not know that his most terrible enemy is waiting for him near Bizerte.

Astolf hurries by land and sea to strike from the rear at Agramant's Bizerte; with him are other paladins who escaped from Agramantov’s captivity, and the mad Roland meets them. They grabbed him, and Astolf brought a vessel with Roland's mind to his nose. He only inhaled, and he was already the old Roland, free from malicious love. Charles's ships are approaching, Christians are attacking Bizerte, the city is taken - mountains of corpses and flames to the skies. Agramant and two friends escape by sea, Roland and two friends pursue them; The last triple duel takes place on a small Mediterranean island, Agramant dies, Roland is the winner, the war is over.

Rugger received holy baptism, he comes to Charles's court and asks for Bradamanta's hand in marriage. But Bradamanta’s old father is against it: Ruger has a glorious name, but he would rather marry Bradamanta to Prince Leo, the heir to the Greek Empire. In mortal grief, Rudger rides away - to measure his strength with his rival. On the Danube, Prince Leo fights the Bulgarians; Ruggier comes to the aid of the Bulgarians, performs miracles of military feats, Leo himself admires the unknown hero on the battlefield. The Greeks cunningly capture Ruger, hand him over to the emperor, throw him into an underground dungeon - the noble Leo saves him from certain death, honors him and secretly keeps him with him. “I owe you my life,” says the shocked Ruger, “and I’ll give it for you at any moment.”

Bradamanta announces that she will marry only the one who defeats her in a duel. Leo is sad: he cannot stand against Bradamanta. And then he turns to Ruger: “Come with me, go out into the field in my armor, defeat Bradamanta for me.” Ruger wins. The lion in the secret tent embraces Ruggier. “I owe you my happiness,” he says, “and I will give you everything you want at any moment.”

Rudger goes into the thicket of the forest to die of grief. Leo finds Ruggier, Ruggier reveals himself to Leo, who renounces Bradamante. Ambassadors come from the Bulgarians: they ask their savior for their kingdom; Now even Bradamanta’s father won’t say that Rudger has neither a stake nor a yard. Wedding.

The last day is Rodomont. According to his vow, he did not take up arms for a year and a day, and now he rode up to challenge his former comrade-in-arms, Rudger: “You are a traitor to your king, you are a Christian, you are not worthy to be called a knight.” The final fight begins. Equestrian combat - shafts to splinters, splinters to the clouds. Foot combat - blood through the armor, swords to smithereens, the fighters clenched with iron hands, both froze, and now Rodomont falls to the ground, and Ruggier's dagger is in his visor.

Creativity of Lope de Vega

The highest flowering of the Spanish genius during the Renaissance was embodied in the drama of Lope de Vega, who was destined to become a reformer of Spanish theater and the creator of a fundamentally new type of stage performance (“new comedy”). He entered the history of world culture primarily, along with Cervantes, as an exponent of the highest stage of the Renaissance in Spain, and - in terms of the history of world literature - as the creator, along with Shakespeare, of one of those two national theaters in which Renaissance ideas found their most perfect form. stage embodiment.

Historical outline:

Life and creative activity Lope coincided with the most critical period in the history of feudal-absolutist Spain. The monarchy did not act as a civilizing center and the founder of national unity, and the national bourgeoisie did not develop into the socio-political force that could become the leading principle cultural life countries => in Spanish Age. the traditions of popular consciousness prevailed. It is no coincidence that Lope's epics and lyrics (yes, he was not only a playwright, but also a prominent lyrical and epic poet, prose writer) are addressed to the top of society, this is a tribute to fashionable literature. trends that dominated court and aristocratic circles. Drama for the people.

There were two Spains: the Spain of the stage, which embodied the aspirations of the people, the fullness of the national character, and the dying power of the Habsburgs (the secular and ecclesiastical elite were steadily leading the country to disaster).

The theater gave freedom, helped to maintain dignity, to live, to fight. The theater opposed the official church: people sought to live according to Lope. The idea of ​​the sinfulness of the theater. Three times in a hundred years the government banned performances (1598, 1646 and 1665).

It must be remembered that Lope was the first and against all odds to realize the victory of the national Renaissance theater throughout Spain.

Biography:

Lope Feliz de Vega Carpio (1562-1635) was born in Madrid, into a poor noble family of a goldsmith. At the age of 10 he began writing poetry (1st experience: translation in verse of “The Rape of Proserpina” by Claudian, a Roman poet of the 4th century. 12 years old - 1st independent work “True Lover”), romances immediately gained fame. He was kicked out of the university for having an affair with a married woman (16 years old) and a biting satirical play in which he brought out a beauty who did not want to reciprocate his feelings.

At the age of 22, Lope de Vega, who managed to take part in a military expedition to the Azores, is already mentioned by Cervantes in Galatea as famous poet. Lope was distinguished by the perception of national historical experience, a realistic vision of the world, and connection with people's life. This is the source of confidence and creative energy, but also passions and adventurous impulsiveness.

He was in prison (he sent several evil epigrams to his former lover, an actress; her father, a prominent director, sued for libel). Making excuses, Lope denied the commercial value of his plays, presenting himself as an amateur playwright. However, he made such venomous jokes about the plaintiff that the court, not having time to carry out the first sentence, increases the punishment: 8 years of exile from the capital.

Meanwhile, released to prepare for exile, Lope manages to kidnap Doña Isavel (Belisa in his poems). The process initiated by the girl’s relatives would have meant execution for Lope, but the lover begged her relatives, and in the absence of the exiled groom, who was represented in the church by a relative, the wedding took place.

And the exile suddenly changes plans and joins the “Invincible Armada,” a large naval fleet created to conquer England. However, the Spaniards barely carried away their legs, missing even half of the ships. Brother Lope died, and the poet, having endured all the battles and storms, returned to Valencia with the great poem “The Beauty of Angelica” (a continuation of Ariosto’s story about Angelica and Medora).

Periods of dramatic creativity (according to Balashov)

I.1594-1604 - Lope and the playwrights of his circle consolidated the national theater. Despite the threat from the reaction, in the early 1600s there was still controversy between representatives of various movements (Lope vs Cervantes - about the paths of the theater, they made peace thanks to Cervantes' love of peace). "Dancing Teacher" 1594

II. 1605-1613 historical and revolutionary dramas, after 1608 religious themes intensified. Lope is tormented by the question of the compatibility of his work with religion: the Catholic faith fettered the internal freedom of humanists. Consistently received the title of “closer of the Inquisition” (a person who is not under suspicion and is obliged to set an example of devotion to the Catholic Church), the title of Doctor of Theology (for one of his essays), after the death of his second wife, he was ordained a priest and entered the monastic order - all this protected from the Inquisition, ecclesiastical titles were printed on the titles of books as letters of safe conduct. But the church also had a special intention: to subordinate the creativity of a genius to the interests of reaction. One way or another creative. Lope's nature rebelled against the church-religious duties and regulations imposed on her. He was not an exemplary monk, and was easily attracted to actresses (even when he was married). This stage includes: poetry. treatise “New Guide to Composing Comedies” 1609, “Fuente Ovejuna” ca. 1613, "Dog in the manger" c. 1613.

III. 1614 - reflection and doubt, religious reflections. From 1613-1614 Lope realizes (perhaps this is a reaction to the furies of church subversors of the theater) the value and enduring nature of his dramatic works, begins to take care of the preservation of the text, entrusts the publication of comedies to friends or prepares books myself. In 1614, the “Fourth Part of the Comedies of Lope de Vega”, first authorized by the poet, was published, indicating that the comedies were printed “based on the originals” and not “barbarously distorted copies.” Lope's defense of drama from normative rules takes on the character of a defense. creative freedom genius, and drama is now equated with high poetry. A new, sublime idea of ​​the meaning of drama and of the poet-playwright. On the threshold of the 30s, religious themes weakened significantly. The works of this period are characterized by the vitality of conflicts and situations, optimism, humor and subtle lyricism.

Despite the reverence with which Lope was surrounded by the audience, he suffered not only from the hysterical attacks of counter-reformation theologians who greedily awaited the death of the poet, not only from the treachery of the king and the nobility, but also because he felt the approach of a new literary era. The latter plays continue to affirm the Renaissance ideal and sometimes contain polemics with Baroque theater. Lope's death was a national grief. The entire population of Madrid said goodbye to the Miracle of Nature, and only King Philip IV did not want to take part in the national funeral of the poet.

Lope appears to have been the most prolific of all poetic geniuses of all time. He experiences the death of both wives and three children, the kidnapping of his daughter, but his creative activity is not interrupted for a day. Rich life experience was combined in Lope's plays with plots and images drawn from folklore and literature, history and Holy Scripture, from romances and Italian Renaissance poems and short stories, from ancient myths and the lives of saints. Lope's ability to modify beyond recognition what was borrowed from a book source or a folk song explains the huge number of plays he composed. He writes up to three comedies of the Miracle of Nature (as Lope de Vega Cervantes called it) a month. Preserved: non-dramatic works: 21 volumes, the number of dramas is increased to 2 thousand (texts of about 470 dramas have been preserved).

Even a general overview of Lope's dramatic heritage convinces of the breadth of his range. In time, the plots of his comedies cover the period from the biblical story of the creation of the world to the events of the modern Lope era. In space, they go far beyond the borders of Spain, unfolding in all four then known countries of the world (including in Russia: “ Grand Duke of Moscow "about False Dmitry).

The universality of images (actors are representatives of different everyday types, professions, classes) corresponds to the universality of the language - one of the richest in lexical terms, easily and freely using a wide variety of speech styles.

The classification problem is a very difficult one! The structure of Lope's comedy is externally uniform (3 acts) but internally it is unusually flexible. The main fund of Lope de Vega's dramaturgy (if we leave aside the genre of "sacred acts") reveals a division into comedies, grouped around problems:

· state-historical order (problems of government home country in different eras, a vivid expression of anti-feudal consciousness);

· socio-political order (often based on the material of the past, they indicate the playwright’s desire to resolve pressing issues of contemporary reality, criticize the existing system, put forward problems of a fair organization of the social and political structure);

· private everyday life (a comedy of modern manners and modern morality, everyday features of the “epoch and conflicts occurring in the depths of family life or in everyday relationships of different classes; a play from modern life, inserted into the frame of a “palace comedy”, “comedy of a cloak and sword” " (the name is based on the props, they did not need special decorations + associations with the dynamism of plays, with the motives of fights and dressing up), "comedy-intrigue", "picaresque comedy"...).

Plot

The work is based on the legends of the Carolingian and Arthurian cycles, transferred to Italy from France in the 14th century. Like Boiardo, only the names of the characters remained from the Carolingian epic songs, and the entire plot was taken from the Breton chivalric romance. The plot of "Furious Roland" is extremely confusing and breaks up into many separate episodes. Nevertheless, the entire content of the poem can be reduced to fourteen storylines, of which eight are large (Angelica, Bradamanta, Marfisa, Astolfo, Orlando, Rinaldo, Rodomont, Ruggiero) and six small (Isabella, Olympia, Griffin, Zerbino, Mandricardo, Medoro) . And there are thirteen more inserted novellas. The main plot lines of the poem are the unrequited love of the strongest Christian knight Roland for the Cathayan princess Angelica, leading him to madness, and the happy love of the Saracen warrior Ruggiera and the Christian warrior Bradamanta, who, according to the poem, are to become the founders of the Ferrara ducal dynasty d'Este.

Poetics

The author treats the adventures he describes with pointed irony, expressing his assessment both in descriptions and in numerous lyrical digressions, which later became the most important element of the modern European poem. The author's digressions also discuss quite “serious” topics; Thus, Ariosto talks with the reader about the art of poetry, criticizes the Italian wars and settles scores with his envious people and ill-wishers. Various kinds of satirical and critical elements are scattered throughout the text of the poem; in one of the most famous episodes, the knight Astolf flies on a hippogriff to the moon to find the lost mind of Roland, and meets the apostle John who lives there. The Apostle shows him the valley where lies everything that people have lost, including the beauty of women, the mercy of sovereigns and the Gift of Constantine.

Without moving towards psychological analysis, Ariosto completely immerses himself in fabulousness, which, as indicated, constitutes only the lower foundation of the novel's structure. Hegel is inaccurate when he writes that “Ariosto rebels against the fabulousness of knightly adventures.” At the cost of an ironic interpretation and playful interpretation, Ariosto, as it were, acquires the right to revel in fairy-tale fiction with its hyperbolic exaggerations and bizarre images, complex heaps of plot lines, extraordinary and unexpected turns in the destinies of the characters. At the same time, much more than in classical courtly novels, the presence of artistic fiction, subjective arbitrariness and the subtle skill of the author-artist, who uses the epic legend only as clay in the hands of a master, are emphasized.

Critical acclaim

Initially, Ariosto's poem existed in an atmosphere of universal and unconditional recognition. In 1549, a commentary on the poem by Simone Fornari appeared, in 1554 three books were published containing an apology for the poem: correspondence between Giovanni Battista Pigna and Giraldi Cinzio, “Discourse on the Composition of Novels” by Giraldi, “Novels” by Pigna. We find the first detailed attack against “Orlando Furious” and novels in general in Antonio Minturno’s dialogue “Poetic Art,” which was published in the city of Minturno, from a classicist position, blaming Ariosto for violating the Aristotelian principle of unity of action. After the appearance of Camillo Pellegrino’s treatise “Carrafa, or On Epic Poetry” (), a lively debate ensued about Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, which lasted until the end of the century.

Categories:

• Poems in Italian
• Poems of the 16th century
• Literature of Italy
• Novels of chivalry
• Roland
• Authors and works translated by Pushkin

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See what “Furious Roland” is in other dictionaries:

- (French Roland; Italian Orlando; German Hrod lant crowned with glory) 1. the hero of the French epic poem “The Song of Roland” (among the ten main manuscripts that have come down to us, the most ancient and famous is the so-called Oxford edition of 1170) . Question about... ... Literary heroes

- (Rollant, Rollanz) French hero. feudal epic, the image of which acquired international significance in the Middle Ages due to its particularly vivid expression of the ideals of valor and honor in their feudal knightly understanding. The story of R. and his death in... ... Literary encyclopedia

This term has other meanings, see Roland (meanings). Roland takes a vow of vassal allegiance to Charlemagne; from the chanson de geste manuscript. Roland (French Roland, old French Hruodland ... Wikipedia

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Ruggier saves Angelique from a sea monster. 1819. Paris, Louvre “Furious Roland” or “Furious Orlando” (Italian Orlando furioso) a chivalric poem by the Italian writer Lodovico Ariosto, which had a significant influence on ... ... Wikipedia

- (Roland) (birth year unknown died 778), margrave of the Breton March (See Mark), in 778 he commanded a detachment of Bretons in the Spanish campaign of Charlemagne. He distinguished himself in the battle with the Basques in the Roncesvalles Gorge; died covering the retreat... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Roland, late Latin Hruodlandus) (d. 778) margrave, prefect of the Breton March. During the Spanish During the campaign of Charlemagne in 778 he commanded a detachment of Bretons. He distinguished himself in a battle with the Basques in the Roncesvalles Gorge and died covering the retreat of the Franks through... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

ROLAND- ((? 778) Frankish margrave, participant in Charlemagne’s campaign to Spain in 778; hero of the epic Song of Roland and the poem by L. Ariosto Furious Roland; see also ORLAND) Roland is needed here to blow from the horn Until the oliphan breaks . You can't judge... Given name in Russian poetry of the 20th century: a dictionary of personal names

This is an unusual poem - a continuation poem. It begins almost half a sentence, picking up someone else’s plot. The beginning of it was written by the poet Matteo Boiardo - no less than sixty-nine songs entitled “Roland in Love.” Ariosto added forty-seven more of his own to them, and in the end he thought about continuing further. There are countless heroes in it, everyone has their own adventures, the plot threads are woven into a real web, and Ariosto, with particular pleasure, interrupts each narrative at the most tense moment to say: now let’s see what so-and-so is doing...

The main character of the poem, Roland, has been familiar to European readers for four or five hundred years. During this time, the stories about him changed greatly.

Firstly, the background became different. In the “Song of Roland” the event was a small war in the Pyrenees between Charlemagne and his Spanish neighbor - in Boiardo and Ariosto this is an all-world war between the Christian and Muslim worlds, where the Emperor of Africa Agramant goes against Charlemagne, and with him the kings of both Spain and Tatar, and Circassian, and countless others, and in their million-strong army there are two heroes the likes of which the world has never seen: the huge and wild Rodomont and the noble knightly Ruggier, who will be discussed later. By the time Ariosto’s poem begins, the Basurmans are overpowering, and a horde of them is already standing near Paris.

Secondly, the hero became different. In “The Song of Roland” he is a knight like a knight, only the strongest, honest and valiant. In Boiardo and Ariosto, in addition to this, on the one hand, he is a giant of unheard-of strength, capable of tearing a bull in half with his bare hands, and on the other hand, a passionate lover, capable of losing his mind from love in the literal sense of the word - that is why the poem is called “Furious Roland “The object of his love is Angelica, a princess from Cathay (China), beautiful and frivolous, who turned the head of all chivalry in this world; in Boiardo, because of her, a war was raging throughout Asia, in Ariosto, she had just escaped from the captivity of Charlemagne, and Roland fell into such despair because of this that he abandoned the sovereign and friends in besieged Paris and went around the world to look for Angelica.

Thirdly, the hero’s companions became different. Chief among them are his two cousins: the daring Astolf, a kind and frivolous adventurer, and the noble Rinald, Charles's faithful paladin, the embodiment of all knightly virtues. Rinald is also in love, and also with Angelica, but his love is ill-fated. There are two magical springs in the Ardennes forest in northern France - the key of Love and the key

Lovelessness; whoever drinks from the first will feel love, whoever drinks from the second - disgust. And Rinald and Angelica drank from both, but not in harmony: first Angelica pursued Rinald with her love, and he ran away from her, then Rinald began to chase Angelica, and she fled from him. But he serves Charlemagne faithfully, and Charles from Paris sends him to neighboring England for help.

This Rinald has a sister, Bradamanta - also a beauty, also a warrior, and such that when she is in armor, no one will think that she is a woman and not a man. Of course, she is also in love, and this love is the main one in the poem. She is in love with her adversary, with that same Ruggier, who is the best of the Saracen knights. Their marriage is predetermined by fate, because from the descendants of Ruggier and Bradamanta will come the noble family of the Este princes, who will rule in Ferrara, the homeland of Ariosto, and to whom he will dedicate his poem. Ruggier and Bradamanta met once in battle, fought for a long time, marveling at each other's strength and courage, and when they were tired, they stopped and took off their helmets, they fell in love with each other at first sight. But there are many obstacles on the way to their connection.

Ruggier is the son from the secret marriage of a Christian knight with a Saracen princess. He is raised in Africa by the wizard and warlock Atlas. Atlas knows that his pet will be baptized, give birth to glorious descendants, but then die, and therefore he tries to never let his pet near Christians. He has a castle in the mountains full of ghosts: when a knight approaches the castle, Atlas shows him the ghost of his beloved, he rushes through the gates to meet her and remains in captivity for a long time, searching in vain for his lady in empty chambers and passages. But Bradamanta has a magic ring, and these spells have no effect on her. Then Atlas puts Ruggier on his winged horse - a hippogriff, and he takes him to the other side of the world, to another sorceress-warlock - Alcina. She meets him in the guise of a young beauty, and Ruggier falls into temptation: for many months he lives on her miracle island in luxury and bliss, enjoying her love, and only the intervention of the wise fairy, who cares about Este’s future family, returns him to the path of virtue. The spell breaks, the beautiful Alcina appears in the true image of vice, vile and ugly, and the repentant Ruggier flies back to the west on the same hippogriff. In vain, here again the loving Atlas lies in wait for him and takes him to his ghostly castle. And the captive Ruggier rushes through its halls in search of Bradamante, and next to him the captive Bradamante rushes through the same halls in search of Ruggier, but they do not see each other.

While Bradamante and Atlas fight for Ruggier's fate; while Rinald sails for help to and from England, and on the way saves Lady Guinevere, falsely accused of dishonor; while Roland is prowling in search of Angelica, and on the way he saves Lady Isabella, captured by robbers, and Lady Olympia, abandoned by a treacherous lover on a desert island, and then crucified on a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster - meanwhile, King Agramant with his hordes surrounds Paris and prepares to attack, and the pious Emperor Charles calls on the Lord for help. And the Lord orders the Archangel Michael: “Fly down, find Silence and find Discord: let Silence allow Rinalda and the English to suddenly burst out from the rear on the Saracens and let Discord attack the Saracen camp and sow discord and confusion there, and the enemies of the right faith will be weakened!” The archangel flies, searches, but does not find them where he was looking: Strife with Laziness, Greed and Envy - among the monks in the monasteries, and Silence - among robbers, traitors and secret murderers. And the attack has already struck, the battle is already bubbling around all the walls, the flames are blazing, the city of Rodomont has already burst into the city and one destroys everyone, cutting through from gate to gate, blood is pouring, arms, shoulders, heads are flying into the air. But Silence leads Rinald to Paris with help - and the attack is repulsed, and only night saves the Saracens from defeat. And Strife, Rodomont barely made his way from the city to his own, a rumor whispers to him that his kind lady Doralisa cheated on him with the second most powerful Saracen hero Mandricard - and Rodomont instantly abandons his people and rushes off to look for the offender, cursing the female race, vile, insidious and treacherous.

There was a young warrior named Medor in the Saracen camp. His king fell in battle; and when night fell on the battlefield, Medor and his comrade went out to find his body among the corpses under the moon and bury him with honor. They were noticed, they rushed in pursuit, Medor was wounded, his comrade was killed, and Medor would have bled to death in the thicket of the forest if the unexpected savior had not appeared. This is the one with whom the war began - Angelica, who made her way along secret paths to her distant Cathay. A miracle happened: vain, frivolous, abhorring kings and the best knights, she took pity on Medor, fell in love with him, took him to a rural hut, and until his wound was healed, they lived there, loving each other, like a shepherd and a shepherdess. And Medor, not believing his luck, carved their names and words of gratitude to heaven for their love on the bark of the trees with a knife. When Medor is stronger, they continue their journey to Cathay, disappearing beyond the horizon of the poem - but the inscriptions carved on the trees remain. They became fatal: we are in the very middle of the poem - Roland’s fury begins.

Roland, having traveled half of Europe in search of Angelica, ends up in this very grove, reads these very letters on the trees and sees that Angelica has fallen in love with another. At first he doesn’t believe his eyes, then his thoughts, then he goes numb, then he sobs, then he grabs his sword, chops down trees with inscriptions, chops down rocks on the sides - “and the same fury has come that has never been seen, and nothing worse has been seen.” He throws away his weapon, tears off his armor, tears his dress; naked, shaggy, he runs through the forests, tearing out oak trees with his bare hands, satisfying his hunger with raw bear meat, tearing those he meets in half by the legs, single-handedly crushing entire regiments. So - in France, so - in Spain, so - across the strait, so - in Africa; and a terrible rumor about his fate is already reaching Charles’s court. And it’s not easy for Charles, even though the Strife sowed discord in the Saracen camp, even though Rodomont quarreled with Mandricard, and with another, and with a third hero, but the Basurman army is still near Paris, and the infidels have new invincible warriors. Firstly, this is Ruggier, who arrived from nowhere - although he loves Bradamante, his lord is the African Agramante, and he must serve as his vassal. Secondly, this is the hero Marfisa, the thunderstorm of the entire East, who never takes off her shell and took an oath to beat the three strongest kings in the world. Without Roland, Christians cannot cope with them; how to find him, how to restore his sanity?

This is where the cheerful adventurer Astolf appears, who doesn’t care about anything. He is lucky: he has a magic spear that knocks everyone off their saddle, he has a magic horn that sends everyone he meets into panic flight; he even has a thick book with an alphabetical index on how to deal with what forces and spells. Once upon a time he was carried to the ends of the world to the seductress Alcina, and then Ruggier rescued him. From there he galloped home across all of Asia. On the way, he defeated a miracle giant, which no matter how you cut it, it will grow back together: Astolf cut off his head and galloped away, plucking out hair after hair on it, and the headless body ran after, waving his fists; when he plucked out that hair in which the giant's life was, the body collapsed and the villain died. On the way, he became friends with the dashing Marfiza; visited the shores of the Amazons, where each newcomer must beat ten in a tournament in one day and one night, and satisfy ten in bed; rescued the glorious Christian knights from their captivity. On the way, he even ended up in Atlas's castle, but even that could not withstand his wonderful horn: the walls dissipated, Atlas died, the prisoners were saved, and Ruggier and Bradamante (remember?) finally saw each other, threw themselves into each other's arms, swore allegiance and parted. : she goes to the castle to her brother Rinald, and he goes to the Saracen camp, complete his service to Agramant, and then be baptized and marry his sweetheart.