Comments(5) I think I have the worst luck in choosing assignments for this class. Anyway, Epicoene (I can barely pronounce that), is written by Ben Johnson. The language is dated and the main reason why I am not at all confident in my assertions made about this play. The seemingly playful banter between the characters reminded me of The Homecoming, by Harold Pinter. If I am understanding correctly, the opening scene is supposed to be funny–and I find it to be. The idea that this old guy is sitting around his house listening to his servant sing. His buddy comes along and judges him for the sake of judging him. The most intriguing aspect to this reading, so far, has been the prologue–not because it is the first thing to read, but because of what is being said. Jonson is asserting that art is made for the people. Jonson makes an analogy to chefs preparing food not for himself, but for his clientele. The the chef puts all this time and effort to assemble ingredients in such a way that is pleasing for costumers. And that not everybody is going to like what you cook, but there definitely will be some that will. Well, thats what I got from it.
VOLPONE the con coned.
His is rich, has no children, faked of being sick, despair to have more wealth from other’s hard labor.
To get what he wants, Volpone, will do anything. He will lies, deceives, and plays tricks on this subjects or victims. He is using his wealth that he acquired from conning people all his life to con even more. Knowing people desires to get rich, Volpone , uses his wealth as weapon to entice would be his heirs to shower more gift on him, such as gold, coins, and pleasure.
This play has a moral component in it. Volpone call every individual a parasite one kind or another to each and every one.
The play took place in Italy in the city of Venice in 1906. In Italian Volpone means the great Fox. The great fox has his own parasite named Mosca. In today term we will call him a personal assistant. Mosca is executioner of Volpone cons. He is not an associate but he carried out all Volpone’s tricks to deceive would be Volpone heirs.
Volpone’s victims are signior Voltor, a lawyer, to whom volpone said to admirer because lawyers can argued cases in both side, Corbaccio refered to as the “raven”, Cornivo, the jealous and made hasband , and Celia, the beautiful wife of Cornivo.
After hearing about Celia as the most beautiful woman in the country, Volpone will do all kind of tricks and deceits to get her for himself.
There is more to come after reading the rest of the scenes, as Volpone has promised us to laugh until our cheeks get red and can only heal after two weeks.
It does seem like Jonson does not care about what is going to be said about him or how the audience is going to react to his play. He takes the genre “city comedy” to the extreme, with a twist. Instead of focusing on the lives of everyday people, like what we see in The Shoemakers’ Holiday, he focuses on the lives of the gentry, both public and private. It gives the audience a look inside the lives of the leisure class and how the elite class deals with the trifles of their everyday lives.
With the fact that the play was performed by young boys and in a private theater that charges more for the ticket than any of the public theaters. It’s most likely watched by those who could afford it which is most likely the elite class. Although, he knows that the play gives an intimate look inside the lives of the elite class, he still takes the risks necessary to artfully create a play that was never seen before its time. The topics that are discussed in this play are carefully put out there for the audience to discussed. This is the very reason why some of the topics that are discussed in the play could reach a myriad of audiences and could still be discussed with modern day problems and discussion. He did take a risk to write this play but at the end it’s very successful and it also open the doors for other plays to follow suit.
While reading the play, I was thinking the entire time: Jonson must really dislike women. The play is full of stereotypes about women, they talk too much, they are phony, they smell, they love to shop and by marriage they will destroy you. Who would have thought that a play from 1609 would still be relevant in today’s society? All of the stereotypes that Jonson points out are around today, and unfortunately I don’t think they are going away. However, one thing that I cannot get over is the constant reference to bodily fluids, smells or releases of women that Jonson makes. The one question that remains in my head is WHY? As the audience we know that the male characters experience the same “cycle of nature” but for some reason women are the main focus here.
I think what he is trying to say is that women are not “balanced” and men are able to control their “bodily fluids” and women as well as boys are not able to do so. As well that women are not able to control their emotions. Or as we discussed in class, the four humors, which are an indication of our emotions. It’s all relative to the play, women are oozing bodily fluids so women are not balanced.
The reality is that those stereotypes about women were fulfilled by the males in the play, the men were talkative, therefore are they considered unbalanced. It is true, certain women were talkative but so was Truewit and Morose.
Many of the stereotypes are still in question today. It is true, it is amazing that many of the stereotypes could be discussed in modern day scenarios.
I found this play intruiging in it’s entirety. My question is really about the sexuality of the characters in this play. Ben Jonson has the male characters refer to women as conduit pipes, or sewer pipes, and associates women with the desire to speak and shop till they drop. Thing is, The people who run their mouths the most are the males. Truewit and Morose are like three-quarters of the play. All of them men seem to have some feminine quality in this play, Epicoene looks practically female, Truewit’s and Morose’s speaking habits, La Foole’s name and spending habit, the barber as well with barbers being said to be known for their excessive talking. Another I wanted to add was the lack of shock shown by Morose when he found out that Epicoene was not female. All of the other men were only shocked that Dauphine had planned something so thorough, but to me none of them were shocked at the sex of Epicoene. I found this weird, and it made me wonder. These men who complain so much about women, can they only find love in their own sex?
One last thing, Epiconene’s who sex swap at the end totally changed the scene where she flipped on Morose after the wedding, it was all “girl power” at first, but the fact that Epi is a man kind of just puts the power back into men’s hands perpetuating that misogynistic air that resonated throughout the play.