Page 213 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

Unit 16: Volpone: Satire and all its Detailed Analysis and Comedy

him. But as soon as it turns out that he has none, he is subjected to the worst punishment of any Notes
offender, “for being of no birth or blood.” The 3rd judge becomes the victim of dramatic irony when
he says that Volpone should be “taught [how] to bear himself/Towards a person of his [an equal or
higher] rank.” Rank assumes supreme importance at this stage of the play; but rank seems to be
ultimately determined by money. Because of his harsh punishment and his conflict with Volpone in
the final scene, Mosca is a chief candidate for the play’s antagonist; but the behavior of the judges
does not refute, but in fact confirms, Mosca’s contention, in Act Three, that the “wise” world is
“nothing but parasites”. While the judges believe that they can possibly gain wealth from him, they
treat him kindly; as soon as it is clear they cannot, they abuse him. Jonson’s problem with the judges
becomes clear; he wants his play to affirm the values cherished by Celia and Bonario, those of honor
and religiosity. He desires his use of irony to be stable, irony employed against a certain set of
values—those of Volpone—in favor of the values of Celia and Bonario; it is a conservative form of
irony, in that it hearkens back to an older idea of virtue, and attacks the modern ideas of Volpone.
But the Venetian state, as he portrays it (and we know this closely mirrored his view of English
society at the time) was run through with parasitism from top to bottom; everyone was a Mosca, in
Jonson’s eyes, or at least everyone who had influence, even symbols of wisdom such as the judges.
But an ending where Celia and Bonario are punished and Volpone and Mosca escape free would
have been contrary to the play’s didactic purpose; showing virtue losing out to vice doesn’t make
virtue seem the more favorable option of the two. So Jonson is forced to compromise his unremittingly
negative portrait of Venetian society in order to accommodate his need to have Celia and Bonario
win out at the end. This compromise may explain a dissatisfaction produced by the ending, its
feeling of being too artificial, and not “of a piece” with the rest of the play.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
11. Sir Politic and Peregrine are walking along
(a) a canal
(b) along a courtyard
(c) along an avenue
(d) along a street.
12. The Fourth Act is marked by
(a) return of Mosca
(b) Volpone’s near complete disappearance
(c) Mosca constructing a plot
(d) verdict of Scrutineo.
13. The issue of social class had been treated indirectly in the play through the character
of
(a) Volpone
(b) Scrutineo
(c) Mosca
(d) Sir Politico.
Fill in the blanks:

14. Volpone’s greed for ......... and self-gratification made him a prisoner of his desires.
15. Everything seems to be going well for Volpone, until ......... enters.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 207