Page 204 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama

Notes 16.5 Act IV

16.5.1 Scene I
Sir Politic and Peregrine are walking along a canal, and Politic undertakes to teach Peregrine a
thing or two about life in Venice. His two main points are that one should never tell the truth to
strangers, and that one should always have proper table manners, which Politic then goes on to
explain in full. Contradicting his first bit of advice, Politic then tells Peregrine about several
moneymaking schemes he has in the works. To begin with, he plans to supply the State of Venice
with red herrings, bought at a discount rate from a cheese vendor in another Italian state. He also
has a plan to convince the Council of Venice to outlaw all timber-boxes small enough to fit into a
pocket (in case a disaffected person might hide gunpowder in his or her tinderbox), and then supply
the larger tinderboxes himself. His last great idea is a “plague-test,” to be administered on ships
arriving from the Middle East and other plague-infected areas so that they might not have to undergo
the usual fifty or sixty days of quarantine. The plan involves blowing air through a ship from one
side, while at the same time exposing the crew to thirty lives worth of onions cut in half from the
other side; if the onion changes, color, then the crew have the plague. Politic then make an off-
handed comment about how he could, if he wanted to, sell the entire state of Venice to the Turk.
Just so Peregrine will know everything about his personal life, Politic lets him read his diary, which
includes every single detail of Politic’s day, including his decision to urinate at St. Mark’s cathedral.

16.5.2 Scene II

Lady Politic, Nano, and some serving women enter, looking for her husband. Sir Politic’s wife
complains that his unfaithfulness is ruining her complexion. They suddenly see Politic and Peregrine
together. They meet, and Sir Politic introduces Peregrine to Lady Politic. But Lady Politic assumes
that Peregrine must be the prostitute of whom Mosca was speaking, disguised as a man. She rails
against her husband for his unfaithfulness, while he reacts with complete and utter incomprehension.
Peregrine asks Lady Politic to forgive him for offending her, though he has no idea how he has.
When he begins complimenting Lady Politic’s beauty, she reacts with suppressed outrage.

16.5.3 Scene III

Mosca enters and finds Lady Politic incensed over her husband’s infidelity. She explains to him
that she has found the prostitute he mentioned in Act III, and points out Peregrine. Mosca then
explains that she is mistaken. The real prostitute (according to him) is currently at the Scrutineo (he
is referring to Celia). Lady Politic then apologizes in a very sexually suggestive way. Peregrine is
now incensed, for he thinks that Sir Politic is trying to prostitute him to Lady Politic, and vows that
he will get revenge.

Analysis of Scene I-Scene III
The moral satire of the play becomes somewhat submerged in the Fourth Act, as considerations of
plot and tone become more important. Jonson frames the intense confrontation between Volpone,
Celia, and Bonario with humorous scenes involving the Politic Would-bes. These scenes help keep
the tone of the play somewhat light. We have further development of Sir Politic’s character in Act
IV, Scene I; he is not only now vain, he is also greedy. But he is greedy in a completely non- threatening
way, and his plans are laughably far-fetched. In a way, he is a very sympathetic character, and he is
always the one who pays the greatest price (in ridicule) for his vanity, such as when he has Peregrine
read his journal for the day, one of the funniest sections of the play. Only someone with a great
degree of self-obsession would record such gems as “I threw three beans over the threshold” and
then “at St. Mark’s, I urined,” and to then expect others to find it interesting. But he doesn’t seem to
mind, because he doesn’t seem to know, that people find his behavior ridiculous.

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