A New Way to Pay Old Debts
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Category Archives: Psychological detail
The Intensity of Ferdinand
In the previous act, Ferdinand and the Cardinal both were adamant about not wanting the Duchess to remarry. However, Ferdinand’s refusal is especially evident during Act II scene v, after reading the letter that the Duchess had given birth. Although the Cardinal and Ferdinand are angry upon hearing the news about the Duchess’ birth, when juxtaposed together, their reactions reveal insight into both of these characters. Both characters uses blood in their speech, the Cardinal indicates that the blood in the family is now tainted (2.5.21-22). However, Ferdinand emphasizes that the Duchess deserves to die in which one should “purge infect blood” (2.5.26) Ferdinand continues this in line 49 when he refers to the Duchess’ as “whore’s blood.” Ferdinand extreme reaction is revealing of his character as only he believes that the Duchess should be killed for her (whorish) ways, whereas the Cardinal is almost calm in comparison to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand’s obsession and extreme nature is further revealed as the Cardinal even asks Ferdinand if he has gone “stark mad” (2.5.68). It is ironic that Ferdinand continuously wants to punish the Duchess for her act; however, once the Duchess has been “punished” for her act, Ferdinand shows signs of repent and subsequently does go mad as the play progresses. Therefore, the character of Ferdinand is intriguing because he is a character that likes to pushes actions to the extreme, both mentally and physically.
Posted in Psychological detail, The Duchess of Malfi
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A Strong Female Force
The Duchess of Malfi is a tragedy that clearly depicts female social issues. Since this play illustrates the Duchess going against the male figures in her life, it is ironic to realize females were still not allowed to act on stage. When the Duchess chose to marry Antonio, she put her desire before what her brothers wanted. This showed her using power to make her own decisions.
Both Ferdinand and the Cardinal tried to control the Duchess. They prove to have no boundaries and even go to the extent of murdering at an attempt to regain their power. The brothers keep Bosola under their control until he realizes once again payment isn’t guaranteed. At the end, the character they used to destroy others (Bosola) ends up destroying them. Furthermore, the more they tried to control the Duchess the more everything spun out of control.
Even though it may seem the play ended on a bitter note for the Duchess and female empowerment, there was still hope. The eldest son of Antonio and the Duchess shows their actions were not all in vein. The Duchess still maintained control of her estate by having it left to her child from the husband she chose. This play depicts women to have a great deal of power by showing the danger of trying to trap in a strong, independent, female character.
When a “Volpone” emerges on Long Island
I mentioned this article in class:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/brittany-ozarowski-cancer-heroin-lie-hoax-long-island-new-york_n_3054786.html, and felt I should provide the reference. There is a striking overlap between the actions taken by Brittany Ozarowski, a young heroin addict that gulled her family and her community into giving her money for cancer treatments, and those of Volpone who gulled his acquaintances intro giving him gifts. I assume that such guile is standard human practice. It seems like a brilliant plan at first; to look sick and fool others into pitying you. But what then, does the charade go on indefinitely? Volpone figured that it must end eventually. Indeed his sham was exposed through the court and his coconspirator Mosca. In Brittany’s case, it was revealed when donors decided to pay her doctors directly and offered to take her to her visits. In some sense Volpone, while morally ambiguous, only targeted other despicable men, who were blinded by greed and self interest. Brittany’s donors were kind hearted people that legitimately felt bad for her and had nothing to gain from helping her. In this sense Long Island’s Volpone is a different breed than Venice’s Volpone.
Posted in Psychological detail, Volpone
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Almost perfect criminals
There is no such thing as perfect crime because no one is perfect. Volpone and Mosca are the ultimate con artists. When they work together they can pull off any trick and can deceive anyone, anytime. But both men have their faults and this is what causes their fall. Neither of them recognizes that they achieved everything together and can continue only if they are co-operating. Volpone doesn’t appreciate Mosca and Mosca thinks that he can go on alone without Volpone.
Volpone is brilliant in deceiving people, and also, he is enjoying every moment of his tricks. But like a gambler (that he is) doesn’t know where to stop. He is doing his cons for the act itself, not because of greed. He does love his treasure very much; in a blasphemous way he even replaces God with it at the beginning of the play. But what he really likes is to deceive people, to play with them, to control them and then take away whatever valuable they have. This is above all the treasures that he already has. In fact he is giving away everything to Mosca in his will just to pull his new prank on the greedy “carrion birds” and the “she-wolf.” He has his ultimate trust in Mosca and he would never expect Mosca (or furthermore, anyone) to deceive him. He admires his servant’s brilliance in pulling tricks but he fails to recognize his ambition to be more than his sidekick. Mosca for him is just a device (just like his disguise costumes) that helps him to perfectly pull his tricks.
On the other hand Mosca wants to be recognized as (at least) equal to Volpone. He wants to be a true partner in their business venture of crimes. He is not as obsessed by the act itself as Volpone is. He knows that he is good as a con artist and values himself even above of his master. We can see that he is a real pro when he is covering up after Volpone’s failure with Celia, but his true brilliance comes when he is finally in charge. While he is making the inventory of all the valuables he shows who the real boss is now. He kicks out all of those who thought that they have any chance to inherit anything. (Volpone enjoys the show so much and he fails to recognize what is really going on.) Mosca ultimately fails in the courtroom because of his over-confidence. He thinks that he is in total control now. He got what he wanted; he showed what he is capable of, and finally his master also recognizes that they are equal; he wants half of everything and Volpone willing to give it. Together they would get away this time too, but now Mosca is not cooperating and this leads to their ultimate fall.
Loyalty like a Fly
From the beginning it is clear that Mosca’s relationship to Volpone is rooted in the delicate acts they construe. They function as a finely tuned machine of trickery that operates seamlessly, even in the face of unforeseen obstacles. Throughout his servitude to Volpone, Mosca is undoubtedly loyal, and receives the greatest satisfaction at his successes in the name of their bizarre game. While Volpone seems to derive satisfaction from the sheer thrill, Mosca nourishes himself on the scraps of this profound enjoyment, much like a parasite would his host. He is an unswerving and irreplaceable aspect of Volpone’s grand ruse. Until he isn’t. Much like others in the play, he is forced to sacrifice his bizarre code of honor in the face of self-interest, which, oddly enough forces Volpone to do the same. Although portrayed rather abruptly, it would seem that this inevitable reversal is something Jonson is keenly fascinated with, an altogether unsurprising conclusion.
These shifts occur at key junctures. As soon as Volpone commits the fatal flaw of violating their relationship status, by elevating him beyond his well-accepted boundaries, he forces the break in Mosca’s otherwise solid code. In this darker take on the pitfalls of honor, the near inability of it to exist, one finds that the root of this falls to nature, and the movement of people. In such a city, marred as it is by strains of depravity, but also, resting on these shifting, oozing grounds as foundation. Mosca begins to realize that his affection for the con is growing beyond his bounds of loyalty.
Willing his estate to Mosca, forgetting his ultimate reliance on the cunning man, is symbolic for each misstep. And in committing this motion Volpone has allowed himself to fall victim to his own devices. The only way to right this imbalance is to essentially ‘reset’ by self-incrimination and acceptance of guilt. Thus they are all wrapped up in varying levels of greed and conditions for individual honor, and until the final unraveling, this suspends each character against the chaos of the cityscape of Venice.
Ultimately what does this mess present as a central theme? At the risk of oversimplification, some light cliche, and grandiose generalizations, the work as a whole takes a very hopeless turn for those mired in greed and depravity. It would seem that once tainted, various indiscretions are impossible to wash off.
Posted in Power struggles, Psychological detail, Satire, Uncategorized, Volpone
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Dangerous Desire
Desire plays a major role in Volpone by Ben Jonson. The most dominant theme in this play is by far greed, but desire and lust also play significant roles as well. Volpone and Mosca develop a scheme to manipulate Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino into giving Volpone gifts because of their desire to be named his heir, Volpone and Mosca desire not only to accumulate wealth from their scheme but also to outsmart everyone, and Volpone desires Celia despite her disgust towards him.
At the beginning of the play Volpone says to Mosca, “Yet I glory more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession, since I gain no common way.” (1.1 30-33). This statement shows that Volpone’s desire to be the best con artist outweighs the importance he places on the wealth that he accumulates. His desire to fool everyone is fueled by the desire to ascertain Volpone’s wealth of Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. Once Volpone sees Celia, his desire quickly changes from gaining wealth through his scheme to claiming the love of Celia, although it seems that he has more lust for her than love and will do anything to have sex with her. Celia is one of the few symbols of good in this play and she is saved by Bonario when Volpone tries to rape her.
Desire can be strong motivation for the actions of individuals. In many cases, people desire to reach a goal that represents success to them. However, in Volpone, Ben Jonson manipulates human nature to twist his characters’ desires to yearn for unethical things, causing them to act in a grotesque manner at times. Corvino prostitutes his wife, Volpone attempts to commit rape and adultery, and Mosca manipulates Voltore into lying and nearly has two innocent individuals punished for crimes that they did not commit. Nearly every character in this play, with the exception of two, has a rotten core and some even acknowledge their wrongdoing and yet they still do not care. Desire is a powerful emotion and when the goal is bad, the means to reach that goal may be worse than the goal itself.
Volpone: Buried Under his own schemes
This whole play has Volpone dressing himself up to be someone he is not. Starting from the beginning of the play from Act one, Scene one, he has Mosca dress him up as ill and sick and near death. All this is done to make a profit off the people that would visit him. Although he uses different disguises to be the con man he is, all his disguises and plots to gain money have a sick intention.
For example, in the second plot he has to sell people a great potion that cures anything and everything. His audience is the people who are sick or have some form of distress in their lives. Either he plays sick or benefits off the sick. Although this is an obvious analysis of his character I would like to look into how these different “people” he pretends to be just bury his true self deeper and deeper.
I have hard a hard time figuring out who he really is and what he really wants out of his own life. He has Mosca in his life who is described as parasite. In the same way Volpone would become a parasite on the society he is scheming upon.
Posted in Psychological detail, Volpone
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Trust
All the characters of this play are way too trusting. I mean honestly if I were in the shoes of these “heirs” I would’ve been questioning everything that Mosca told me. I wouldn’t be giving plates of gold or giving away my wife just because some servant told me that his master wanted me to be his heir. I mean just think about that for a second. Some servant comes out of no where and tells you, “Hey you’re the heir! Good job buddy! But you know there are other guys and honestly your odds of remaining heir aren’t too great. Why not give [insert item or service or person here] so your chances are even greater? [insert smiley face]” What is this? Are we playing a lottery or something? I mean I hope that anyone else would’ve paused at that moment and really questioned what was just said. [insert quizzical face here]But no, instead they fall over each other to be the “better heir.” They act as predators squabbling over a meal. You must hand it to Mosca, he certainly knows how to play with people.
Which leads to my questioning of Volpone’s intelligence. Why does he trust Mosca so? I mean if anything I would trust a man of his caliber the least. His name means fly for heaven’s sake! He’s a parasite and we all know what parasites do don’t we? Or at least everyone knows but Volpone. He just trusts the man! Mosca is in a position of great power over Volpone. I mean it’s HUGE. He essentially is the real mastermind behind the whole charade when it really comes down to it. Volpone just doesn’t see it and unfortunately wouldn’t see it until it was too late. Trust…you definitely need to be careful of who exactly you trust. For the person you least expect could be the one that sticks that dagger into your unsuspecting back.
Posted in Power struggles, Psychological detail, Uncategorized, Volpone
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The Shoemaker’s Holiday: Ralph’s Realistic Journey
The Shoemaker’s Holiday comedic tone was a breath of fresh air to the audience after almost a decade of tragic events such as outbreaks of a plague, bad harvest and inflation (483). The audience would have definitely been entertained with the comedic jokes and the subliminal sexual comparisons that Dekker writes for most of the characters in the play. In my opinion, I think the character of Ralph is one character the audience member would definitely be able to relate and empathize with the most, as England at the time had been at war with Spain for almost twelve years. One could image that many of the soldiers were returning with battle wounds similar to Ralph.
Ralph is released from war and returns back to the Eyre’s shop in Scene 10 with missing limbs. Although Ralph returned with these wounds, he is encouraged by Hodge to continue to be a shoemaker as he still had his hands and was still capable of making a living for himself. Furthermore, because Ralph continued as a shoemaker he was able to find his wife Jane and finally reunite with her. Ralph’s situation is one that is common when a country is at war. Many find themselves separated from their loved ones and often returned with permanent damages; however the character of Ralph is a representation that war heroes are valuable to society and reminding many that they can continue to live the life they desire to have.
Dilemmas and Devils
Christopher Marlow’s Doctor Faustus deviated from the Elizabethan tradition of presenting plays on the subjects of love, war, or courtly transgressions. The prologue’s Chorus focused our attention on our “muse,” Faustus whose fate was of considerable interest to the newly protestant Elizabethan/Jacobean audiences. Faustus was a man of great intellect who sold his soul to the devil for god-like powers, only to waste both his powers and his soul for what seemed like trivial achievements.
Faustus was described as the son of lower class parents who had excelled tremendously at the University of Wittenberg and was granted a Doctorate in Medicine and Theology. In his first soliloquy Faustus informed the audience that he had reached the pinnacle of every subject that he had studied (including philosophy, medicine, law, and theology) and that the only thing left to expand his mind and abilities was necromancy. Faustus knew that pursuing necromancy was a fatal sin against his god but came to the conclusion that divinity was baseless because all humans commit sin and thus to adhere to a religion that punished sin was illogical. Faustus asked “What doctrine call you this? Que sera, sera” (What will be, shall be). Faustus focused his desires and decided through some contemplation (with spirits like the Good Angel and Evil Angel and the magicians Valdes and Cornelius) that he would sell his soul to the devil for ultimate power.
One of the most comical scenes was when Faustus first performed the incantations to summon the devil Mephistopheles who appeared as an ugly fiend, to which Faustus commanded that he return in the image of a Friar. This scene was both comical and heretical in Marlowe’s time and furthered what seemed like a highly secular, almost atheistic jest of a play. The pact that Faustus made with Lucifer enabled him to use Mephistopheles as his personal servant for twenty-four years. Throughout this period Faustus pursued and personified the seven deadly sins, that were also presented to the audience in a dumb-play, and achieved nothing of any worth. He managed to play a trick on the pope, summon the spirit of Alexander the Great for Charles the V, and garner fresh grapes for a German Duke’s wife.
In the end, Faustus stood the fool for his time ran out and Lucifer owned his soul. He was torn to shreds and dragged off to hell. Faustus achieved nothing during his time as a great necromancer except sleeping with succubi and performing party tricks, however a deeper issue was presented to the audience. The issue of eternal damnation which was and is a terribly frightening issue for devout Christians. I imagine that the audience, being very religious, was left with a sense of content at Faustus’ fate.
