A less perfect captain
Reconsidering Goffredo in the Gerusalemme Liberata
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9815004 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrea Moudarres (University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-20 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Forum Italicum A Journal of Italian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0014-5858 • E-ISSN: 2168-989X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0014585820971219 |
| OpenAlex | W3108500683 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This article seeks to problematize our understanding of Tasso’s depiction of Goffredo in the Gerusalemme Liberata. I do so by considering how Tasso revised three passages of the Gottifredo—his poem’s original title—in response to his censors’ recommendations: specifically, I discuss Goffredo’s failed attempt to win Sveno’s sword (omitted from canto 8 of the Liberata), and then turn to the Christian captain’s reactions to Armida’s seduction of his men in canto 4 and to Rinaldo’s killing of the fellow crusader Gernando in canto 5. I argue that, particularly as his character was initially delineated in the Gottifredo, the Christian captain is neither a monolithic embodiment of virtue nor a personification of Tasso’s supposed authoritarianism. Goffredo is, instead, the complex persona of a political and military leader who reveals the flaws buried beneath an apparently impermeable surface
Art · Canto · Character (mathematics · Depiction · Humanities · Literature · Persona · Poetry · Politics · SWORD · Theology · Virtue · Early Modern Women Writers · Law · Philosophy · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies · Renaissance Literature and Culture
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |