Handel's opera seria Ariodante is set in Scotland, where a scheming jerk named Polinesso attempts to break up an engagement, slander a princess and ruin the opera's namesake's reputation all because the princess has refused his romantic advances, thus blocking his accession to the throne.
Polinesso's evil plot is evenutally found out, but not before he has implicated Dalinda, the princess's lady in waiting. Poor Dalinda is so smitten with Polinesso that she will do anything he says, even impersonate the princess to mislead her noble fiancee. The things we do for love!
Here is Dalina expressing her unrequited love for the dirtbag Polinesso.
image via www.bbc.co.uk
