This essay discusses Beckett’s parody of Ariosto, ‘Mittelalterliches Dreieck’, focusing on the notions of doubt and the ironic ‘risolino’ that characterize Ariosto’s works. It probes the affinities between Ariosto’s irony and one of the earliest examples of what Beckett was to call ‘nominalist irony’. The impact of these notions of doubt and irony on Beckett’s writings is discussed by examining Beckett’s relevant reading notes (on de Sanctis, Hauvette, Symonds) and his ‘Whoroscope’ Notebook. The Ariostesque word ‘perhaps’ (‘vielleicht’) is conspicuously present in ‘Mittelalterliches Dreieck’ and was to become the keyword in Beckett’s plays – by his own account. The essay traces the development of this keyword in Beckett’s plays and its roots in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. It analyses the motif of the triangular relationship from ‘Mittelalterliches Dreieck’ to Play, taking newly discovered manuscripts into account.
