Archetypes: Aphrodite vs. Athena and Angelica vs. Bradamante

I began reading Greek mythology as a child. My elementary school classroom had a few books with those stories and I became entranced by the drama, spectacle, and tragedy that were larger than life.

I didn't know about psychology or archetypes then, all I knew was that there were some gods and goddesses that I liked and others who I didn't.

I liked Athena and didn't care much for Aphrodite.

As an adult, I can understand that Athena, goddess of wisdom and victory, demonstrates a woman having confidence in herself and being praised for her intellect. Intellect is something one can work on to improve over life. You can feed your brain with books, classes, asking questions, etc.

Aphrodite, on the other hand represents a far different kind of archetype. She represents love and beauty. Aphrodite is seen as such a beautiful woman that all men will be overcome with desire for her, and lose their wits in order to possess her. While anyone can make themselves look more presentable and attractive by having good grooming and dressing well, there is a limit to improving your looks just as there is a limit in changing your height.

That was something I inherently knew as a child and so I never felt any interest in aspiring to be like Aphrodite. To me, she seemed selfish, vain and self-centered. Those are qualities that I do not find appealing.

In the epic poems Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso, those two archetypes are best represented by the characters Bradamante and Angelica.

The Athena archetype is represented by Bradamante who is a warrior and renowned for her battle strategies. She is unmarried and unbetrothed because men are intimidated by her military prowess. She is a powerful woman and a character who I liked immediately. I may not be tall or interested in swinging a sword, but I enjoy reading about a strong female character who is not content to wait passively for anything. She is an active participant in Life and wants to be the master of her own fate.

Angelica, on the other hand, represents the Aphrodite archetype as a beauty who appears at the beginning of Boiardo's poem Orlando innamorato and disrupts Charlemagne's tournament banquet. She offers herself up as a prize for anyone who can best her brother in a joust. All men burn for her, and every knight - even the married ones - vie for the opportunity to possess her.

They are struck by the power of her pretty face and pleasing figure. She is described as the most beautiful woman anyone has ever seen. Fights break out and later a war is fought over her.

She is a medieval equivalent of Helen of Troy whose face launched a thousand ships.

I simply could not identify with Angelica as a character.

As a woman, I cannot (and do not wish to) identify with Angelica's incomparable beauty and power over men. I would feel uncomfortable to have every man looking at me as if I was something to devour.

It should come as no surprise that in my novel, Quest of the Warrior Maid, that Bradamante is my heroine and Angelica plays a minor role.

In another installment I will compare the characters of Ruggiero and Orlando.

In the meantime, I am now off to Italy. The home of poets Boiardo and Ariosto who penned these magnificent stories.

Ciao!

Linda

Overview of Orlando furioso and Orlando innamorato

I thought it might be of interest for medievalists unfamiliar with the classic, but largely forgotten, epic poems Orlando inmmaorato and Orlando furioso for me to create a few posts describing the genre and include a few character sketches. These posts might also be of interest for those studying Italian Renaissance literature or fans of opera.

Arthurian legends are more famous than Carolingian legends, but I feel they are both luxurious in their dramatic potential.

The one entry in legends of Charlemagne that most people will have at least heard of is the Song of Roland or Chanson de Roland. It is an epic poem which has immortalized the real life defeat of Charlemagne's forces in the Roncesvalles (Roncevaux) pass in the Pyrenees Mountains when his rear guard was ambushed by Basque forces in 778. The circumstances of this historical event were then embellished and exaggerated by the poem and centers the tragedy on the betrayal and heroic death of paladin Roland by his stepfather the treacherous Ganelon of the house of Maganza.

The cycle of Carolingian legends proliferated in France as well as northern Italy with many different heroes and stories being added. Roland became Orlando as several of the legends had him being a son of Charlemagne's sister who eloped and fled to Italy.

Matteo Maria Boiardo began writing Orlando innamorato and incorporated many of these characters in what became a sprawling epic with multiple and interweaving plot lines with a cast of thousands. Boiardo stopped writing his masterpiece when France invaded Italy, and lionizing Frankish warriors as heroes became untenable for him. After Boiardo's death, the unfinished poem was continued by Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso.

Think of these two poems as being a grand Medieval soap opera. Both poets used a convention of a narrator inserting himself into the narrative and guiding their audience from one storyline to another. "We will leave Orlando dueling with Agricane for now and turn our attention back to Ranaldo..."

It is far more complex than the simple Chanson de Roland which only dealt with one storyline.



The titles of both epic poems reflects on Charlemagne's chief paladin, Orlando, and the unrequited love he had for the beautiful Angelica. Orlando abandons his station and his duty as he departs on a desperate, obsessive quest to make Angelica his lady.

There are periods of time when Orlando is by her side defending her honor and castle, and other extended periods of time when he searches in vain for her. At no time does she return his affections, nor does she want a romantic relationship with him. Angelica manipulates Orlando to serve her needs, and deceives him into believing she has feelings for him in return. It is when Orlando discovers that Angelica has married another that he goes "furioso" and loses his mind. Only by the intervention by another paladin, under extraordinary cosmic circumstances, does Orlando regain his wits.

Orlando's infatuation and obsessive desire for a beautiful woman, which lead to his madness is a storyline that did not move me emotionally. As a woman, I could not identify with Orlando's quest as I have never allowed myself to become obsessed with someone's looks to the point where it rules my every thought and action. I also saw Angelica as being unworthy of such adulation. Yes, she was outwardly beautiful, but none of the men who were fighting over her had ever spent much time in her presence, so they did not know what she was like as a person. They simply wanted to make her their conquest and be able to claim that they had taken her virginity.

Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso had many other plot lines of varying importance, but the one that drew my attention was the love story of Bradamante and Ruggiero. Bradamante was a warrior maid and niece of Charlemagne. This powerful woman was respected for her strategic mind and prowess in battle. She was content to dedicate her life to battle and was startled by the intense feelings of attraction after meeting Ruggiero, an enemy soldier who extended to her an uncommon courtesy. The two soldiers fell deeply in love, but were on opposite sides of a holy war and fought to overcome numerous obstacles in order to be together.

Next time I will discuss my reaction to the characters Angelica and Bradamante and compare them to the archetypes of Aphrodite and Athena.