DSC 102: Volpone. 26,
Ben Jonson (1572- 1637, London) was an English Stuart dramatist, lyric poet, and literary critic. He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I. Among his major plays are the comedies Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone (1605), Epicoene; or, The Silent Woman (1609), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614).
Volpone takes place in seventeenth-century Venice, over the course of one day. Volpone (The Fox)without heirs, is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed after a long illness in order to dupe Voltore (The Vulture), Corbaccio (The Raven) and Corvino (The Crow), three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. In their turns, each man arrives at Volpone's house bearing a luxurious gift, intent upon having his name inscribed to the will of Volpone, as his heir. Mosca (The Fly), Volpone's parasite servant, encourages each of the visitors to believe that he has been named heir to Volpone's fortune. Mosca even persuades Corbaccio to disinherit his own son in favour of Volpone.
To Volpone, Mosca mentions that Corvino has a beautiful wife, Celia. Disguised as Scoto the Mountebank, Volpone goes to see Celia. Corvino drives away "Scoto" (Volpone), who then becomes insistent that he must possess Celia as his own. Mosca deceives Corvino into believing that the moribund Volpone will be cured of his illness if he lies in bed beside a young woman. Believing that Volpone has been rendered impotent by his illness, Corvino offers his wife in order that, when he is revived, Volpone will recognise Corvino as his sole heir.
Just before Corvino and Celia are due to arrive at Volpone's house, Corbaccio's son Bonario arrives to catch his father in the act of disinheriting him. Mosca guides Bonario to a sideroom, and Volpone and Celia are left alone. Upon failing to seduce Celia with fantastic promises of luxury and wealth, Volpone attempts to rape her. Bonario comes forward to rescue Celia. In the ensuing trial at court, the truth of the matter is well-buried by Voltore, using his prowess as a lawyer to convince the Avocatori, with false evidence given by Mosca, Volpone and the other dupes.
There are episodes involving the English travellers Sir and Lady Politic Would-Be and Peregrine. Sir Politic constantly talks of plots and his outlandish business plans, while Lady Would-Be annoys Volpone with her ceaseless talking. Mosca co-ordinates a mix-up between them which leaves Peregrine, a more sophisticated traveller, feeling offended. He humiliates Sir Politic by telling him he is to be arrested for sedition and making him hide inside a giant tortoise shell.
Volpone insists on disguising himself and having it announced that he has died and willed his wealth to Mosca, which enrages the would-be heirs Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino, and everyone returns to court to dispute the will of Volpone, who becomes entangled in the circumstances of the plots that he and Mosca devised. Despite Volpone's pleas, Mosca refuses to relinquish his new role as a rich man. Volpone reveals himself and his deceits in order to topple the rich Mosca. In the event, Voltore, Corbaccio, Corvino, Mosca and Volpone himself finally are punished.
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Volpone
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Volpone
Ben Jonson
Volpone
Ben Jonson
62 pages
2-hour read
Listen
Fiction
Play
Adult
Published in 1606
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Reading Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Corrupting Power of Greed
The catalyst for all the action of the play is that Volpone does not have a natural heir for his enormous wealth. Volpone’s fortune gives him immense power and social standing in Venice, so his successor stands to inherit both riches and repute. The play, however, argues that too large an appetite for wealth and power can fully consume a person’s mind, leaving them susceptible to other vices. Volpone’s three main suitors willingly follow along with Mosca and Volpone’s wicked ideas because they think it will get them closer to securing the inheritance. At several points, Volpone expresses amazement at the gullibility of his marks, but Mosca reminds him that “too much light blinds ’em” (5.2.23)—meaning that the shine of all that promised gold prevents them from seeing even obvious deceptions. Mosca convinces Voltore to abuse his vocation as a lawyer and testify falsely to the court. Despite confessing to guilt after this performance, when Voltore learns that Volpone is alive and that he still has a chance at the fortune, he immediately returns to his deceptive ways. Corbaccio is already a wealthy gentleman, but he willingly disinherits his own natural heir in his quest for doubled riches.
The Power of Stagecraft
There is a dichotomy in the play, never entirely resolved, between the devices of stagecraft and the conveyance of moral truth. In other words, there is a tension between the play itself (a play which, Jonson hopes, will be of moral value to those who see it) and what goes on in the play, in which the devices of stagecraft that are involved in the play's actual production are a source of deceit, confusion, and moral corruption. In other words, Volpone does not merely lie, nor he does not merely deceive; he makes an entire production out of his game, using a special eye ointment to simulate an eye infection, creating a character (the sick Volpone) using wardrobe, make-up, and props. He too seems to share the intention to expose moral folly, with the playwright, Jonson; but this is in the end seen to be another illusion. Likewise, Mosca and Voltore put on a production to convince the judges of their innocence. They use rhetoric and poetry to tell a story, complete with a shocking "surprise witness" and the graphic use of imagery (the appearance of "impotent" Volpone). The play thus exposes us to many different forms of theatrical illusion as methods of lying, perhaps in the hope of allowing us to better discern which forms of theater are sensationalistic, unhelpful, and inaccurate in their portrayal of reality.
Parasitism
"Everyone's a parasite" to paraphrase Mosca (III.i), and over the course of the play he is proved right, in the sense that everyone tries to live off of the wealth or livelihood of others, without doing any "honest toil" of their own. Corvino, Corbaccio and Voltore all try to inherit a fortune from a dying man; and Volpone himself has built his fortune on cons such as the one he is playing now. Parasitism, thus portrayed, is not a form of laziness or desperation, but a form of superiority. The parasite lives by his wits, and feeds off of others, by skillfully manipulating their credulity and goodwill.
Symbols & Motifs
Gold
Gold represents two distinct but connected ideas in the play. Firstly, gold symbolizes wealth or things of great value. Volpone’s physical hoard of wealth signifies his high social status as a gentleman, and his suitors’ golden gifts signify their desire to attain this status. The characters also use gold imagery and metaphors to indicate all kinds of value. For example, Mosca evokes Celia’s remarkable beauty to Volpone by describing her as “Bright as your gold! And lovely as your gold!” (1.5.115). Mosca develops this connection further when he claims that Corvino locks Celia away “as warily as your gold” (1.5.119). Perceiving Celia’s value, Volpone—an avaricious man—determines he must steal her away from Corvino, who doesn’t appreciate her true worth. Mosca uses similar analogies to praise Voltore’s worthy speech in court, proclaiming he will “ha’ your tongue, sir, tipped in gold for this” (4.6.64).
However, gold also represents vice and helps to develop the theme of The Corrupting Power of Greed. Volpone’s descriptions of his gold contain nearly blasphemous metaphors, illustrating how far he has swayed from virtue and morality. Volpone calls his gold his “saint”
Venice
As the seat of greed, corruption, and decadence, at least according to the prevailing prejudices, Venice was the beneficiary of years of stereotype in English drama. Italians in general were seen as sensuous, decadent beings, thanks to their extremely sophisticated culture, history of Machiavellian politicians (Lorenzo de Medici, Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli himself) and beautiful (and often erotic) love poetry. Though not things considered particularly awful today, this type of decadence made English people wary of being infected with immorality, and Venetians were seen as the worst of the bunch. The direct influence of the "power of Venice" to corrupt can best be seen in the Sir Politic Would-be subplot, where the English knight Sir Politic "goes Venetian" and becomes a lying would-be thief. But the Venetian setting probably made the story more believable for most English audiences, signifying the fascination of the play with disguise and deceit, though also, perhaps against Jonson's intentions, distancing them from the play's moral message, by placing the greed in a historic far away place traditionally associated with greed, instead of right in the heart of London.
Animalia
There is a "fable" running throughout the play, through the associations the characters' names create with animals. It is very simple and tells the tale of a cunning "Fox" (Volpone in Italian), circled by a mischievous "Fly" ( Mosca in Italian), who helps the Fox trick several carrion-birds—a vulture (Voltore), a crow (Corvino) and a raven (Corbaccio) into losing their feathers (their wealth). The animal imagery emphasizes the theme of "parasitism" in the play, where one life form feeds off of another. And it should also be remembered that fables are tales with simple moral messages, told for a didactic purpose. Though much more complex, Volpone, at its heart shares the same purpose, making the use of "fable-like" symbolism appropriate and helpful in understanding the meaning of the play.