Orlando's madness in Orlando Furioso - Research Paper Example

7 July After losing his wit, Orlando, who was the greatest knight of Charlemagne was punished. The Evangelist, St. John, who had confided in Astolfo narrated the reason of Orlando’s punishment saying that he had compromised upon what was right in order to pursue his evil dreams. Instead of supporting his Emperor in his fight against the infidel, Orlando had chased the graceful pagan princess. It was St. John’s deep desire to have Astolfo learn that, “Your Orlando has misappropriated the standard committed to him, and God is punishing him---for He is harshest against those He most loves, when they offend Him” (Canto 34, 62).

His love for Angelica, the pagan princess, had driven him mad and in his blindness, he could recognize neither anybody else nor himself. As a result of that, Orlando was denied the right to roam about the place nude and insane and he was punished was full three months for his disobedience towards God as well as the Emperor. As the spell of love wore off, Orlando came to realize his mistakes, “His only concern, his only wish now was to recover all that love had stolen from him” (Canto 39, 60).

The love of Orlando is controlled by his lust. It is the lust and not the love, that actually invites punishment. The cause and effect relationship is consistent with the poet’s concept of concord, “There must be a correspondence, albeit under differing guise, between every effect on earth and in heaven” (Canto 35, 18).