“Quanto dovea parergli il dubio buono”: On Doubt, Fidelity Tests, and the Marriage Plot in Ariosto's Orlando furioso

Abstract

Abstract In Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, the foundational marriage of Bradamante and Ruggiero is the crucial climax to which the entire epic directs itself, yet the text's management of the couple's union and preparation for their nuptials is highly ambiguous. More than extolling the strength and success of the marriage that grounds the dynastic union, the Furioso highlights instead numerous examples of amorous infidelity that insist upon the precarity of faith-based relationships. The emphasis given to the problematic fragility of spousal trust and the attendant failures of proof and “knowledge” illustrate the difficulties of believing the words and promises of others, for instance, which frequently creates an epistemological impasse or crisis for the individual who yearns—often vainly—for absolute certainty and unbreakable faith. Likewise, the concept of marital fidelity itself is also continually doubted, challenged, and essayed throughout the entire Furioso, as various episodes involving fidelity tests demonstrate. By examining fraught authorial assurances to bring readers to the successful union that begins the Este line alongside key fidelity tests that occur in the text prior to the momentous foundational marriage, this article explores the connection between the impediments that hinder the Estense union and Ariosto's scathing authorial commentary on the fragility of all faith-based relationships.