by Chua Shao Jun
Rinaldo and Armida is a semi-opera tragedy written by John Dennis in 1698. The book was published a year after, in 1699, and was printed by Jacob Tonson at the Graye’s Inn Gate. The play was written to honour the Duke of Ormond, whom the protagonist, Rinaldo, was modelled after.
The book is beautifully covered in mosaic paper, mixed with colours such as red, yellow and black. The year of publication, 1699, is printed on the spine of the book.
The book begins with a dedication to the Duke of Ormond, making references to the Duke’s love of his country, his honour and the love of glory. Although John Dennis drew lots of inspiration from Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, he made a valiant attempt to differentiate his work from Tasso’s in the preface. He mentioned several times that his version of Rinaldo is original and unequal to Tasso’s character, and beckons the readers to appreciate his characters without pre-supposed impressions of Tasso’s creation. His beckoning was targeted especially towards readers of Tasso, since they are the ones most familiar with the characters Rinaldo and Armida, and have a stronger tendency to compare the two author’s interpretation of the characters.
Since the book is a semi-opera, it is written in the form of the character’s lines, the lyrics of the songs the characters will sing, as well as the settings for the play. The musical element of John Dennis’ Rinaldo and Armida was what sets it apart from Tasso’s original work, since Jerusalem Liberated was written to be only a narrative, and not a semi-opera.
The story of the play follows Rinaldo, the Christian hero, who falls in love with a beautiful sorceress called Armida. Armida, though she was a beautiful woman, was very prideful and had a bad temper, which led Rinaldo to leave her eventually. Armida was accused for enchanting Rinaldo with spells, so Rinaldo had to exercise good reason to leave her, and resist her charm. Dennis’ portrayal of Armida differs from Tasso’s, in that Dennis placed a larger emphasis on the humanity of Armida. Tasso portrayed Armida as a pure villain, merely seducing Rinaldo with charms and spells, until Rinaldo came to his senses and resisted her. Dennis, however, portrayed Armida as an antagonist that is capable of complex emotions, capable of reflection and displaying affectionate sentiments towards romance. The more humane portrayal of Armida intensifies the tragic nature of the romance, since now the romance between Rinaldo and Armida involves a psychological struggle, as opposed to Tasso’s version, where Rinaldo simply leaves her and rejoins the Crusaders in a line of duty.
The play was performed at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, featuring the actors and actresses Betterton, John Thurmond, Elizabeth Barry, Elizabeth Bowman and Elinor Leigh.