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.

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Satire of the modern human condition

Volpone is a very interesting satire of the modern human condition. The play’s major themes and motifs (greed, deceit, & parasitism) are still some of the major flaws of man today. Johnson’s satire brings to light the inner con artist in everyone.

Johnson’s work resonates with the audience because we are constantly surrounded by the same greed that the character’s have. The lawyers in Volpone are not so different from the lawyers in the present day! Everyday, there are commercials of law firms advertising that they will get the most money for you out of your divorce. Some commercials give you the impression that you will make more money getting a divorce than remaining married. This makes you question the honesty of the lawyers who are prepared to argue for any side at the right price. They also may manipulate the law to get you more money so they can have a larger piece of the percentage. (I’m not trying to throw all lawyers into this argument, just the ones with the low budget commercials)

Volpone’s big con has taken years of planning and disguise. He has put a lot of time into the con and if he pulls it off, he will reap a large reward. We hear of these kinds of cons everyday. Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme was going on for many years. He was able to make millions off of others, and like a parasite did it very discretely. When he was exposed everything fell apart and many people fell with Madoff. When Volpone is exposed to the court many fall with him as well.

This play was written in the 1606 and discusses some of the major flaws that still exist in the human condition. Johnson’s work is an excellent exemplary  of  an effective satire.

 

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Mosca’s Genuine Grief

Mosca’s character develops throughout the play as seemingly devoted to his master, a “parasite” attached to his host. Yet in the final scenes of Volpone, the parasite decides to suck the life out of his master by asking for half of Volpone’s wealth (5.12.63). Of course, since Volpone is greedy and wishes to keep all his money to himself, he shoots the offer down and decides ultimately to reveal himself in front of the judges as a non-sick or non- dead man. Mosca’s dedication to Volpone’s schemes was proven to be hope that they would somehow lead him to be the actual heir of the inheritance. Though he knew Volpone was still alive, he assumed his boss’s arrogance would lead Mosca’s own scheme to be unrevealed. Yet it was and they all paid the price for their greed.

Mosca seemed to genuinely “grieve” for Voltore during Act 5, scene 3, when he explained to all four “heirs” what they did wrong to lose out on the inheritance. He is speaking in such a moral voice that it becomes a contrast to his own scheming; all the while Volpone is watching and praising Mosca for his “villainy” (5.3.61), which will eventually bite Volpone in the end. Mosca seems to feed off the praise from Volpone, but also sensing that Volpone’s scheme cannot be prolonged further and feeling the guilt of carrying out the ruse. He does not speak up to Volpone throughout the play to voice his concern. He continues to be a pawn because of his social status and does not tell Volpone that they probably should not do this or that because it might lead to an even bigger problem. Instead, he helps Volpone create more schemes. His lack of ability to speak up may be why he is condemned for life as a slave. Mosca is the character, which drives the play’s story, yet also forces the audience to wonder whether his words are trustworthy at all.

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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.

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Volpone: Money/Everything

The featured characters in this play all have one specific shared interest: Money. In this play, we witness how disgusting and inhumane money makes people behave. Mostly everyone in this play is driven by the desire to obtain more money, by any means necessary. Volpone fakes an extreme illness in order to attract money-hungry people like himself to give him gifts in hopes of being named in his will. He also impersonates Scoto the Mountebank in an attempt to sell a “magic oil” that supposedly cures any illness. Volpone is already a wealthy man, but having money only makes one lust for more of it. He spends much of the play pretending to be someone he’s not, making it very difficult to judge his character.

In exchange for money, characters like Corvino and Corbaccio are willing to give up important people in their lives. Corvino doesn’t think twice about giving his wife up to Volpone in hopes of winning him over and becoming his heir(It’s not even a sure thing). Corbaccio takes his son out of his will, and puts Volpone in his place. These characters are more concerned with their wealth than their family. To make matters worse, both of these characters are already wealthy and have an impressive income. Their greed blinds them and makes it easy for them to get fooled by Mosca. Money controls behavior and exposes some of mankind’s worst qualities.

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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.

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Insight into a Parasite

The soliloquy delivered by Mosca in Act III scene 1 is a significant scene of the play because it is a direct insight into a character who the audience previously doesn’t know much about besides that he uses his cleverness and manipulation to benefit his master.  Mosca is an example of the “parasite” stock character, and even refers to himself as a parasite throughout this soliloquy.  In the soliloquy, Mosca reveals his increasing independence from Volpone by saying, “I fear I shall begin to grow in love/ With my dear self and my most prosperous parts…”  Mosca is growing increasingly narcissistic and he praises himself, calling himself the truest of parasites because he of his innate ability to deceive and swiftly adapt to situations.  Mosca views the role of being a parasite as a superior role in society, saying “…Almost/ All the wise world is little else in nature/ But parasites or subparasites.”  While he is nearly completely dependent on Volpone for his survival, ironically Volpone is also dependent on Mosca, who heavily aids him in his schemes.  Mosca knows that Volpone is dependent on him in carrying out his hoax, therefore he is becoming more confident in his parasitism and develops a more inflated self-worth.

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Entering the Scene in Volpone

The flow of the staging of the various scenes for Volpone seems both more fluid and more punctuated at times than in the usual English Renaissance play.  In many of the acts, the scenes continue from without actual break or stoppage, only marked by the entrance of a new character, as can be seen in transition between Scene 1 and 2 of Act 2, as the scene continues when Mosca and Nano join Sir Pol and Peregrine.  Yet, this seemingly fluid momentum of the play is also paralleled against the decisively jarring entrances that many of the characters make.  Sir Pol and Peregrine’s initial foray into the play gives them no introduction or previous announcement.  Their plot line, for the moment, seems completely irrelevant to the previous scenes concerning Volpone.  This occasional inharmonious transition between scenes breaks the stagnation of the fluidity that is established by Jonson’s other means of continuing scenes.

The most explicit example of these polarized transitions is seen in Corvino’s reaction to the attempted wooing of his wife, Celia.  He enters Act 2 at the beginning of Scene 3, interrupting Volpone’s solicitation of Celia which ends the previous scene.  His entrance marks an important change in the tone of the section, and an important movement towards catalyzing the plot between the fox and his prey.  The prose-filled, beautiful entreaty of Volpone is thus paralleled against the caustic and violent rantings of Corvino.  “Spite o’the devil, and my shame!” (2.3.251).  Corvino’s sudden appearance does not punctuate the necessity for a break in scene though, as that would provide too stagnant a pace for Corvino’s reaction.  The interesting pacing of both of these kinds of breaks between scenes becomes necessary in Jonson’s style in order to properly allow the characters to interact and to act.

The sudden appearances of characters, who often jump into the scene without truly understanding the situation, provides the perfect amount of disaster to counteract the seemingly perfect ploys of Volpone and Mosca.  Bonario’s early entrance into the scene between Volpone and Celia exemplifies this, allowing the heroic character to fend of Volpone’s web if only for awhile.  The continuous scenes that each act contains, which seem to flow into one another allows the grande stratagem that Volpone and Mosca have created to exemplify the fluidity of the nature of actions.  Thus does Jonson’s structure of the play serve as another example of the morals of the play.  The structure of the play, which allows characters to weave and tangle themselves within this masterful tapestry, becomes a foundational aspect for the meaning of the play.  The success of greed and the success of these theatrical cons is based upon these brief moments of spontaneity where the characters must act upon their baser instincts, revealing some small portion of their true nature in these actions.  Corvino’s impulsive and destructive nature becomes apparent in Scene 3, just as Bonario’s sense of honor and justice are apparent in his actions when he stops Volpone from grabbing Celia.

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Volpone Scene Study

Volpone Scene Study

Our interpretation of the text focuses on four variations of honor, represented by specific colours which appear on the background as they do in the text. They run together essentially to form Venice, or a very abstract Venice at least, to emphasize the allure of the location, which drives much of the spirit of the play. It was filmed in this staggered way to make an uncomfortably noticeable irony between the motion of the text, and the incredibly interwoven plots that layer upon one another. It also allowed us to play with the timeline and perspective by forcing the viewer into a forced dialogue with each character simply by isolating them. The players are separated so as to better see the visual representation of their effect on their surroundings and company. Only when rapidfire conversation or necessary contact must be made are they staged together.

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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.

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