FREE ESSAY ON ARIOSTO'S ORLANDO FURIOSO

ARIOSTO'S ORLANDO FURIOSO

Even in the classics, an author must have something outrageous to keep his reader's
attention. Ariosto, in his Orlando Furioso, does so with winged horses and curses placed
upon high ranking officials. The main character in cantos 33-35 is Astolfo, and he starts
his journey by riding upon a hippogryph. A hippogryph, in mythology, is a flying animal
having the wings, claws, and head of a griffin and the body and hindquarters of a horse.
Astolfo rides this winged horse for quite awhile, journey through many different lands.
During this time, the hippogryph has control over where Astolfo goes, and they end at
Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia, it is said "that fire is used in baptism (canto 33: 102)" which proves the
Emperor Senapo's influence. The land is covered in gold, and everything Astolfo would use
iron for was gold. There were gems and precious jewels everywhere, and the lines describe
how the Emperor of Ethiopia has absolute power over even the Sultan of Egypt, because the
Emperor controls the flow of the Nile. There was never an Emperor more powerful or rich,
but Senapo was afflicted with lost eyesight and a horrible curse that wouldn't allow him
to eat any meal in peace. 
These hardships occurred when Senapo was a young man and very arrogant. He decided to
battle against God Himself, and climbed the very mountain that the fabled Adam and Eve
lived upon. God became very angry with Senapo, and blinded him and opened the gate of
hell to little harpy demons that would come and eat any food placed before him. A
prophecy told that Senapo would have these afflictions until a man upon a winged horse
came flying in to save him, and when Astolfo flew in on his hippogryph, the Emperor
thought he at last would be saved.
Emperor Senapo invites Astolfo to his dinner table, but the demons still come and eat all
the food. Astolfo drew his sword and tried to kill the harpies, but it was no use. They
were brought from hell and therefore could not be killed by conventional means.
Eventually, Astolfo follows the harpies with his magical horn and finds the tree that
leads to hell, goes down a flight of stairs, talks to a woman who is in eternal
damnation, follows the steps back up, and seals the entrance. 
After trapping the harpy demons back into the hell from whence they came, Astolfo flies
up to the peak of a mountain and meets a clergyman. The clergyman tells him that
Orlando's mind is lost and can only be found on the moon. They travel to the moon, find
Orlando's wits in a jar labeled "The wits of Orlando" and return the wits to their owner.

The plot itself ends here, and the rest of canto 34 and 35 are about Ariosto's views of
humanity and poetry. He uses the lost and found place on the moon to tell the readers
that folly, or foolishness, is never lost, and is always found on Earth. Ariosto goes on
to say that poetry is God's gift to men, and any lord that denies the beauty of poetry
and turns a genuine poet away risks being forgotten forever. If one is a lord and wants
to be remembered for the good deeds he did during his life, he ought to have a sincere
and talented poet in his house and included in his staff. Otherwise, he will go to hell
and be forgotten forever. 
This story is basically for entertainment purposes, although it has sentimental meaning
to the author. He wrote this is response to another man's writing where Orlando is also
the man character and included in the title. Ariosto's Orlando Furioso is considered a
classic piece of literature, and even Shakespeare has read this work. This story was
interesting in that it explored aspects of humanity and the arts while keeping the plot
alight with mythical images and intense characters.