A New Way to Pay Old Debts
Endymion
Historical Background Links
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- PBerggren on Comparison of Prodigal Sons
- PBerggren on A Very Modern Character
- PBerggren on Madness – the sign of villainy without the cover of rationality/humanity
- PBerggren on Judgement of Females in Literature
- peter d'antonio on Madness – the sign of villainy without the cover of rationality/humanity
Archives
Categories
Meta
Tags
- betrayal
- bosola
- Coercion
- conflicted
- cynthia
- damned but with a bit of saving grace
- dedication
- De Flores
- desire
- Doctor Faustus
- Dr faustas
- endymion
- eumenides
- Evil
- female characters
- gender differences
- good and evil
- Greed
- Helen
- human condition
- humanity
- judgement
- lawyers
- Lorenzo
- loyalty
- madness
- Madoff
- master/servant
- mephistopheles
- mirror characters
- Mosca
- Pedringano
- Power and Fear
- pragmatism
- queen elizabeth
- satire
- scene study
- survival
- symbolism
- the lesser bad
- The Spanish Tragedy
- too late for salvation
- video
- villains
- Volpone
Tag Archives: Madoff
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.
Doctor Faustus and the best of both worlds
Faustus’s famous bargain with Lucifer was not “worth” it. Trading his soul for a little more than twenty years was not worth forfeiting his previous success and climb up the social ladder. The bargain is simplified for the audience in 1.4 when Wagner attempts to persuade Robin the clown for a similar deal. Robin frames the argument in terms of food. Clearly a nice roasted piece of season meat is better tasting than a bloody raw piece of meat. Why would an educated Faustus not see the flaw in the bargain like Robin simply points out? Well, Faustus believes he can have the best of both worlds.
Faustus asks Mephistopheles to bring him Helen of Troy. When he kisses her he says that her lips are his heaven. As his deal creeps toward its end Faustus believes he can have the best of both worlds. Helen is his heaven and his necromancy is his hell. Faustus cannot have both heaven and hell in his life. Both the good and bad angels have warned him that it is one way or the other. But Faustus, humanly, want everything. When it is time to pay his soul to Lucifer he will only have hell in his life. Hell is described as the absence of god. Faustus will lose the privilege to kiss Helen or even enjoy his power.
Faustus’s dilemma is not unheard of or unrealistic like Emdymion’s. Faustus’s flaw is very real and happens every day. It is the greatest flaw of man to want everything and anything. A modern day Faustus could be Bernie Madoff. He was a very successful hedge fund manager who was already living in extreme luxury and privilege. Madoff simply wanted more. Illegally he pulled a ponzi scheme which ultimately ended his life early. He’ll spend the rest of his days in jail. You can draw connections to Faustus. The ponzi scheme is similar to Faustus’s bargain with Lucifer. Madoff’s jail sentence is comparable to Faustus being dragged into hell to pay.
