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Unit 15: Ben Jonson: Introduction of the Text

However, unlike in the conventional comedy, good does not necessarily triumph at the end, for Notes
even the state itself is shown to be easily carrupted. Volpones avarice seems to be epidemic and
good characters like Celia and Bonaria stand at the mercy of evil. As Watson explains the play is
optimistic. A principal theme is the way that greed can make people gullible. In playing their trick,
which focuses on exposing the greed of others, volpone and mosca also expose their own selfishness
and greed (which is greater than that of victims). The setting is Renaissance Italy, accepted by the
English imagination of the time as the proper home of vice.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
11. Volpone was set in
(a) Venice
(b) Scotland
(c) Wittenberg
(d) Newhempshire.
12. Which of the following statement substantiate that Volpone is a dark comedy ?
(a) All characters are cheated
(b) All the characters are equally greedy
(c) All characters have lust for power
(d) All characters are deceiving and being deceited.
13. The comedy of humours is comedy based on
(a) lust of the Volpone
(b) sin of choloric in Mosca
(c) the exaggeration of the Greek explantaion for health
(d) ancient system of medicine.

Fill in the blanks:
14. At the time of opening of Volpone Jonson was attacked as a meere ..........
15. Volpone means ......... in Italian.
16. Volpone is a single and aging ......... magnifico.
17. In Volpone all of the characters are equally ..........

State whether the following statements are true or false:
18. In fact comedy should have a happy endihg but in Volpone people are punished at
the end of the play.
19. A comedy of humor always deals with the characters more than anything else.
20. Desperate not to be outfoxed by his servant, Volpone hide himself.

15.5 Summary

• Volpone was first performed in 1605. Since there were no reviews, the audience’s exact reaction
cannot be known. But we do know from letters and diaries that Jonson was not popular with
audiences.

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