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British Drama

Notes Introduction

In Volpone, Jonson sets out to undermine the notion of avarice and vice by showing men who
‘possess wealth, as sick men possess fevers.’
Volpone takes place in Venice during the seventeenth century. Volpone is a Venetian nobleman
who is already very rich but his sole desire is to accumulate more wealth. His ruling passion is
avarice and he makes gold his religion. The first scene of the play introduces Volpone and his
lackey, Mosca entering the shrine where Volpone keeps his gold: “Open the shrine, that I may see
my saint”.
Volpone is twisting values. Gold and avarice are often perceived as the root of all evil, but here in
the very first lines of Jonson’s play, Volpone is addressing gold as the root of all that is good. He
goes on to express how gold has become his God, and is indeed perceived as his religion. The lexis
used is that of religious adoration, and his “shrine”, the place where his evil intentions are being
planned, is described as the “blessed room”.
This unit elaborates the satire of avarice in Ben Jonson’s Volpone. More emphasis is given on its
detailed analysis scene by scene and act by act.

16.1 Prologue

The play is dedicated to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, both of which had recently
awarded Jonson honorary doctorates at the time of the play’s writing. He briefly discusses the
moral intentions of the play and its debt to classical drama. In the argument, Jonson provides a brief
summary of the play’s plot in the form of an acrostic on Volpone’s name. The prologue then
introduces the play to the viewing audience, informing them that “with a little luck,” it will be a hit;
Jonson ends by promising that the audience’s cheeks will turn red from laughter after viewing his
work.

16.1.1 Analysis

These opening parts of the play, before we are introduced to the action, may seem superfluous. But
they help us understand the play in several ways. First, in the banal sense; the Argument, as Jonson
terms it, provides in brief encapsulated form the premise of the play, a premise that will be fully
introduced in the first scene.
The dedication, however, gives us a clue as to Jonson’s intentions in writing Volpone. First of all, he
is intent on writing a “moral” play. By taking to task those “poetasters” who have disgraced the
theatrical profession with their immoral work, Jonson highlights the moral intentions of his play.
His play will make a moral statement. And it will do so in line with the traditions of drama followed
by classical dramatists, that is, the dramatists of ancient Greece. This connection to the past further
indicates that the play we are about to read (or see) is a work of serious intellectual and moral
weight.

Jonson is boastful—this play was written in five weeks, says Jonson, all the jokes are
mine, I think it’s going to be a huge hit, and you are all going to laugh hysterically until your
cheeks turn red.

The Prologue sets a boisterous tone that the rest of the play will follow. So in these opening passages,
Jonson begins to mix a serious intellectual and moral message with a boisterous, light-hearted and
entertaining tone, reinforcing the explicit promise he makes in the Prologue “to mix profit with

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