Tag Archives: Volpone

Almost perfect criminals

Posted on April 16, 2013 by zr126166

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.

Posted in Power struggles, Psychological detail, Revenge, Volpone | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Volpone vs. Mosca

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Lyaman

In class we discussed the differences between Volpone and Mosca, and Carol A. Carr’s article, “Volpone and Mosca: the two styles of roguery”  argues that although there are similarities between the two, Volpone is the more intriguing, charismatic and less typical rogue/ villain.

While that may be true, I still find myself preferring Mosca to Volpone. One of the reasons for that is for all their seemingly innate roguishness / villainny there is still one essential difference between them: Volpone is the ‘gentleman’ and Mosca is his servant, his ‘parasite.’  That means that Mosca is dependent on Volpone for his livelihood and for his very survival. However weird their relationship seems in the beginning of the play, however untypical for the usual master / servant relationships, at the end of the day they all, from the vultures: Castrone, Voltore, Carbaccio, to the rest of the world, including Volpone, still view Mosca as someone below them, there to do their bidding.  Despite the hints of admiration Volpone shows for Mosca’s ability to turn cons, there is still no admiration or respect for Mosca’s skill, as Volpone says in act 5.7.1-3, “Outstripped thus by a parasite? A slave/Would run on errands, and make legs for crumbs? …”  ( And even further proved by the severity of Mosca’s punishment compared to the Volpone’s sentence.)

The article talks about how both Volpone and Mosca are intelligent and creative in their cons, and how although they are both detached from the money, they are detatched for difference reasons.  But the issue with that is that while the cons are primarily entertainment (not profit) for Volpone, they are part of Mosca’s job and his way of life in order to survive.

Mosca is much more pragmatic and realistic because that is the reality of his station in life. The article mentions that while Volpone has static disguises he takes on,  Mosca’s disguise is constant but at the same time fluid, as he adapts his manner to the person with whom he is interacting.  But despite that fact, there is much less pretense to Mosca, no rose- colored cover or pretty words to present the type of person that he is or his motivation in a better light.

In class we also spoke about loyalty and how it seems that Mosca betrays Volpone. But Volpone’s loyalty is to the con, not to Mosca or his bastard children – so why did Mosca have to show him more loyalty than was shown to him?! Mosca says, “ I’ll bury him or gain by him. I am his heir / And so will keep me till he share at least” (5.5.13-15).  Mosca wants part of the profit; he wants financial security and independence, which can be understandable because Volpone has no care or caution about anyone beside himself.  In a play where every character (except two) is rotten to the core, at least Mosca doesn’t pretend to be better than he is, but the same cannot be said for the others.

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