Jonson’s

Volpone

N i c k J F r a n k l i n @ y a h o o . e s

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Nick FranklinTutorial notes for Ben Jonson’s best-known comedy.

Volpone

Early Life

Jonson was the first successful professional writer in England.Until the 18th Century Jonson was considered a more accomplished writer than Shakespeare.- He was a controversial character who thought about religion and politics.

His father – a Protestant minister – had been persecuted by Queen Mary, who confiscated all his property. - He died a month before Ben’s birth in 1572.

His mother remarried the bricklayer, Robert Bret.- this was a useful skilled profession and Bret eventually1 became Master

of the Tylers’ and Bricklayers’ Company (one of the Guilds that were central to the governance of London).

The boy’s intelligence was noted by a rich patron - the benefactor paid for his education at Westminster School, then and

now, one of the best in the country.

The fortunes of Ben and his mother had been saved by her marrying Bret but it also meant that the future playwright2 was connected to manual labour.

Ben probably started to attend St. John’s College, Cambridge - but was withdrawn to take up an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, which no

doubt caused resentment.

He soon abandoned his apprenticeship and went off to fight3 in Flanders against the Spanish. - He was proud to have killed a man in hand-to-hand combat.

Interestingly, however, he continued to pay his dues to the Tylers’ and Bricklayers’ Company for many years afterwards.- this may have been because it meant that he was a citizen of London, and

also may have represented a Plan B if the theatre didn’t work out.

In 1592 he returned to London and found work as an actor.- contemporary references suggest that he played Hieronimo in Kyd’s The

Spanish Tragedy.

1 eventually – (false friend) in the end 2 playwright – dramatist 3 to fight (fight-fought-fought) – go to war, be a soldier

Family

In 1594 he married Anne Lewis.- Their eldest son, Ben, died of plague in 1603 (aged 7), their second son,

Joseph, also died of the plague in 1603). - Their first daughter, Mary, was born in 1600 and died after a few months. - Their third son, Ben (2), died in 1612 aged 4½. - Another Benjamin and an Elizabeth also seem to have died in childhood. - Jonson probably had a couple of illegitimate children too.

Prison & the Courts

He was imprisoned several times 1. for sedition in 1597 for The Isle of Dogs. In 1597 – when he was

imprisoned for six weeks – one of his cellmates (for the same crime) was actor Gabriel Spencer.

2. and once for murder (1598), when he killed actor Gabriel Spencer in a duel. He claimed ‘benefit of clergy’ and got off with having his thumb4

branded5 with an ‘M’ and having all his property confiscated.3. Jonson had to answer charges of ‘popery6 and treason’ before the Privy

Council in early 1604 for his tragedy Sejanus, a play about the downfall of a corrupt royal favourite in a court full of spies. There is even a rigged7

treason trial. 4. Later in 1604 he was imprisoned for sedition for Eastward Ho!. He

almost had his nose and ears cut off8 for this play that libelled the Scots (not a clever thing to do with a new Scottish king). Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury, probably got Jonson out of prison on this occasion.

Jonson’s disdain for the criminal justice system – evident in Volpone – no doubt dates from this time.Also, notice the reference to branding at III.viii.17-18:

“I do feel the brandHissing already at my forehead.”

4 thumb – opposable digit 5 to brand – mark with a branding iron (= piece of incandescent metal)6 popery – Roman Catholicism 7 rigged – fraudulent, manipulated 8 to cut off (cut-cut-cut) – amputate

Religion & Politics

While he was awaiting trial for murder he was converted by a Roman Catholic priest. - He became a Catholic for 12 years and then reverted to Anglicanism.

This wasn’t a clever thing to do since9 it meant he was a Catholic during the Gunpowder Plot (1606).- Indeed10, Jonson was friends with three of the plotters11: Robert Catesby,

Francis Tresham and Thomas Winter, so he was lucky12 not to have been implicated in any way.

At different times he showed an interest- in republicanism and - in King James’ absolutist theories of government.

9 since – (in this case) given that 10 indeed – (emphatic) in fact 11 plotter – conspirator 12 lucky – fortunate

Classical Influences

An important part of Jonson’s education at Westminster involved translating Latin (and possible Greek) classics into English verse.

Jonson was suspicious of Shakespeare’s crowd-pleasing13 methods and his disregard of14 classical authors. - These were highly-valued by Jonson, though he did not follow them

slavishly15.

In Volpone Jonson conforms to the unity of time (1 day), and the unity of place (Venice). - However, there is a sub-plot, so he disregards16 the unity of action.

This is ironic because unity of action was the unity that Aristotle stressed most!

Aristophanes’ comedies were characterized by alazons (= gulls, gullible17 people) and eirons (= knaves, villains). The English word “irony” comes from eiron (= dissembler, somebody who pretends to know less than s/he does). However, Aristophanes was pre-Christian and he often allowed18 evil to triumph in his comedies. Jonson’s plays are decidedly Christian and so the guilty are punished.

Jonson’s use of derogatory compound adjectives (“Those turdy-facy-nasty-paty-lousy-fartical rogues” – II.ii.61) is reminiscent of Aristophanes, who was famous for his inspired use of abusive language.

Legacy-hunter19 stories come from Horace (65-8BCE20), Juvenal and Petronius (1st Century CE21) and from Lucian (2nd Century CE).- Horace describes a legacy-hunter as a gaping raven (corvum... hiantem) in

Satires II.v.

Volpone’s song to Celia is adapted from a lyric by Catullus.

13 crowd-pleasing – popular 14 disregard of – indifference towards15 slavishly – at the cost of originality, in a servile way 16 to disregard – ignore 17 gullible – credulous 18 to allow – permit 19 legacy-hunter – sb. who tries to win the favour of rich old people in order to inherit. The Latin term for a

legacy-hunter is a captator.20 BCE – before Common Era (before Christ)21 CE – Common Era, Anno Domini (AD)

Plautus wrote of ingenious slaves who engaged in trickery22 on behalf of23 their masters - e.g. Tranio in Mostellaria.

The idea of the trickster fox cheating birds is as old as Aesop and has been often repeated in European folklore.

In one of Aesop’s fables a crow has a piece of cheese, the fox says he wants to hear the crow’s beautiful voice and, of course, when he starts to sing the cheese falls out of his mouth - this fable is referred to at Volpone V, viii, 11-13.

The plot grew out of a beast fable, a genre still popular in the Elizabethan oral tradition.

22 trickery – subterfuge, stratagems 23 on behalf of – for

Christian Influences

Notice that this is satirical comedy – the one comic form that Shakespeare did not explore much (apart from in the Problem Plays). - This is very different from romantic/light comedy.

Virtue does not really triumph and Celia does not get married at the end of the play - the pallid heroine is restored, with her dowry, to her parents.

This type of satirical comedy is closer to Jonson’s comedy of humours – and so to Morality Plays – than to Shakespeare’s finely wrought24

character comedies.

In the Morality Play tradition, spiritual goodness is not clever, does not disguise itself and has no sense of humour. - In Volpone spiritual goodness is represented by Celia (“heavenly

woman”) and Bonario (“good man”).

The values behind Volpone are assertively Christian and Stoic (e.g. from Seneca): - people should examine their true nature, try to improve it, and then

remain true to it. - the Christian has the obligation to know him/herself.

In Jonson’s value system sexual immorality is closely linked to25

materialism.

Both Volpone and King Lear were written around 1606. Both deal with a society in which old religious values are replaced and almost forgotten. - Remember that this was a moment of crisis for humanist values. - The optimism of the 1590s had given way to extreme pessimism.

Volpone presents and rejects a series of vices and follies: greed, credulity, hypocrisy, lust, gluttony, pretentiousness and pride. - The most serious vices in the play are expressed though animal imagery.

24 finely wrought – subtle 25 to be linked to – be associated with, be connected to

Jonson’s message is a simple one “We all can hope/Nought26, but a sentence” [V. xii. 92-93] (= after life there is the Day of Judgement and that should be the Christians only concern).

In other words, like in Everyman and the Morality Plays, the message is that one should live in memento mori (= in remembrance of death).

The Would-Bes’ story shows that folly is another aspect of crime, and vice-versa.

Notice that in Jonson’s comedies jargon and rhetoric are only used by the most reprehensible characters.

Jonson was suspicious of the ability to sway27 people in this way. - This mistrust of smooth talking is also characteristic of Shakespeare’s

later work.- More generally, there was a growing suspicion of poetic language in the

17th Century, and the suppression of figurative language and the encouragement of a more plain style was part of the Puritan project.

Celia’s speeches are remarkable for their Puritan plainness and absence of metaphor.

The interlude performed by the eunuch, the dwarf and the hermaphrodite is a satire on the kind28 of comic relief injected between the acts of a morality play. - Jonson’s satire of the poorer professional players of the travelling

morality drama gives him a chance29 to demonstrate his theatrical superiority.

- the interlude is full of Classical allusions (equivalent to theatrical namedropping30).

There is further reference to the Morality Plays at II.v when Corvino suggests that Celia should play Lady Vanity (a morality-play character).

26 nought – (in this case) nothing 27 to sway sb. – influence sb., persuade sb. 28 kind (n.) – sort, type 29 chance – opportunity 30 namedropping – the practice of mentioning the names of famous people one knows in order to impress others

Contemporary Influences

Trissino

Jonson probably knew the writings of Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478-1550)- who developed a one-sided but influential theory in his Poetica (1549, published 1561), which draws partly on Cicero’s De Oratore.

Trissino partly revives and intensifies ancient theories of comedy (especially Cicero), notably comedy as satire.

Trissino contends that the objects of laughter deserve mockery31 because of their moral shortcomings32.- He makes no allowance for sympathetic or approving laughter (at

witticisms33, for instance34), or simply laughter as release (so common in Shakespeare).

Volpone fits Trissino’s theory of laughter very well.- Trissino’s influence would explain why aggressive, reproving35 laughter

distinguishes so much of his comedy.

31 mockery – ridicule 32 shortcomings – failings, deficiencies 33 witticism – witty remark, humorous comment 34 for instance – for example 35 reproving – critical, reprimanding

Commedia dell’Arte

Volpone also takes many character types from the Commedia dell’Arte (all’Improvviso) (= comedy of the professional skill of improvising).

Though its origins probably date back to Roman times, - the commedia as it was known in Elizabethan England evolved in 16 th-

century Italy.

Connections between the play’s characters and the commedia’s types are not consistent throughout36 the play but are often suggestive:- As the elderly domineering father whose son escapes his control,

Corbaccio displays an aspect of Pantalone.- As someone who is pompously learned, the lawyer Voltore is like Il

Dottore. - Arlecchino wears a mask and a fox’s tail, and he frequently changes

character; in this, Volpone is like him.- However, Arlecchino enjoys playing one character off against another,

which is echoed in Mosca’s role.

Moreover, Mosca combines characteristics of Pantalone’s two main37

zannis: - Arlecchino and Brighella.

Volpone is a Magnifico, one type of which was an old miser who abandons avarice for lust38, only to be deceived by the woman he is pursuing. - The Magnifico loves eavesdropping and is an inept singer.

Comparison with the Commedia also clarifies the blandness39 of the good characters, Bonario and Celia.

Sir Pol is similar to Trufaldino, who is likened to a parrot.- Sir Pol also echoes Pulchinello (= the little cock) in that he is foolish but

wants to seem clever, he cannot keep a secret, he gossips, and he quarrels with his wife.

Jonson makes a direct reference to the Commedia dell’Arte at II.iii.2-9 when Corvino refers to Signor Flaminio (the young lover), Franciscina (the flirtatious maidservant) and Pantolone (the cuckold).

36 throughout – during all of 37 main – principal 38 lust – lasciviousness 39 blandness – insipidness

The City Comedies

Audiences in Jacobean England were familiar with ‘city comedies’40

(a.k.a.41 ‘citizen comedies’) set in London in which- an unscrupulous businessman employs all his cunning42 to cheat some

vain and foolish city-dwellers of their money, and- tries to get his hands on a virtuous young woman, thwarting43 her path to

true love.- he always fails and goodness triumphs. The businessman is pardoned in

the end.

Specifically, Jonson was probably responding to the effectiveness of William Haughton’s Englishmen for My Money (1598)- a London comedy confronting traditional family values against the

modern values of usury and capitalism.

Jonson both adopts and subverts the city comedy.- Celia is so obsessed about her chastity that she fails to elicit the

audience’s sympathy. - Everyone is punished in the end.- Volpone is unique amongst English Renaissance comedies in that it ends

in a divorce rather than44 a marriage.

40 such as Haughton’s Englishmen for My Money (1598), Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday (1599), Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan (1605) and Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1613). The city comedies grew out of a fusion of the morality-play tradition with Roman intrigue comedy (Plautus, Terence) and with the commedia dell’arte.

41 a.k.a. – also known as 42 cunning – astuteness 43 to thwart – frustrate 44 rather than – as opposed to, instead of

Contemporary Inspiration

Volpone could be partly inspired by the money-lender Thomas Sutton (1532-1611)- Sutton kept his money in chests at home- spent extravagantly on luxuries- was pursued by legacy-hunters19.

Some commentators believe the play is a veiled reference to the Robert Cecil (1563-1612), Secretary of State and Lord Privy Seal, whose nickname was ‘the Fox’.- if so, it seems very ungrateful given that Cecil (probably) got Jonson

released from prison two years earlier.

John Wolfgang Rumler, an apothecary for the royal family at the time, was known as ‘Mr Wolf’, perhaps suggesting the name of the doctor, Signor Lupo.

Scoto of Mantua was the real name of an Italian juggler who was in England- he performed for Elizabeth I.

Connections with Shakespeare’s Canon

Volpone makes reference to demonic possession (in Act V).- this may have been a gibe at Shakespeare’s recent tragedy, King Lear.

There is also feigned death - also found in Much Ado About Nothing.

As so often in Shakespeare, there are several plays-within-the-play- the Fools’ interlude and the ‘performance’ before the judges.

At IV.ii Lady Would-be thinks that Peregrine is a young woman dressed up as a young man- according to some critics, the implication is that she has seen too many

Shakespearean comedies in which the heroine typically cross-dresses (As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, etc.)

- however, a Venetian law of 1578 forbade45 courtesans from travelling around Venice in gondolas dressed as young men (exactly the situation in which Mosca says he has seen Sir Pol with Peregrine).

45 to forbid (-bid/-bade/-bidden) – prohibit

The Setting: Venice

The available evidence suggests that Jonson never travelled to Italy nor did he speak Italian.- his knowledge of Venice came from books, such as Contrarini’s De

Magistratibus et Republica Venetorum46 (1589), which is mentioned by Sir Politic at IV.i.40.

In Renaissance England Italy signified not just “another country, [but] a country of others, constructed through a lens of voyeuristic curiosity through which writers and their audiences explored what was forbidden in their own culture.”47

The setting is Venice as a symbol of decadence and godless materialism. - Cf. The Merchant of Venice

Venice was a special symbol of unnatural prosperity because there was no land, only houses and water. In the late-mediaeval attitudes of the times:- there could therefore be no natural increase (the result of agriculture),

only unnatural increase (the result of usury and trade48). - financial reproduction thrives49 in the absence of natural reproduction.

Venice was also well-known for - its sophisticated banking system, - its materialistic extravagance, - its harsh50 legal system, - its preoccupation with spying and security (because of the Ottoman

threat51), and - its jealous husbands and lascivious women.

In The Unfortunate Traveller (1594, the first English picaresque novel) Thomas Nashe had associated Venice with “the art of atheism, the art of epicurising52, the art of whoring53, and the art of poisoning…”- elsewhere Venice was associated with double-dealing merchants and

adulterous wives.

46 translated into English by Lewis Lewkenor in 159947 Ann Rosalind Jones 48 trade – commerce 49 to thrive – prosper 50 harsh – severe 51 threat – menace 52 epicurising – hedonism, pleasure-seeking 53 whoring – prostitution

Italy was also associated with the amorality of Machiavellian ideas (as understood by the 17th-century English). - Machiavelli was associated with the fox.

Remember that the greatest Machiavellian character of them all, Iago (from Othello) was Venetian.

Italians in general were seen as sensuous, decadent beings, their history that of Machiavellian politicians (Lorenzo de Medici, Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli himself).

They were also seen as sensuous and decadent thanks to their extremely sophisticated culture and beautiful (and often erotic) love poetry.

Though not things considered particularly54 awful today, this type of decadence made English people wary of55 being infected with immorality, and Venetians were seen as the worst of the bunch.

Venice was also associated with decadency and venereal diseases (Act V, Scene 2). - Venice’s association with plague and decadence can be seen right into

the 20th Century, e.g. in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (1913).

In Act I, Scene 1, Volpone is shown worshipping gold in the terms of Roman Catholic hagiolatry (“shrine”, “saint”, “adoration” and “relic”).

The direct influence of the power of Venice to corrupt can best be seen in the Sir Politic Would-be subplot, - in which the English knight Sir Politic “goes Venetian” and becomes a

lying would-be thief.

The Venetian setting probably made the story more believable for most English audiences, signifying the fascination of the play with disguise and deceit.

However, probably against Jonson’s intentions, it also distances the English audience from the play’s moral message, by placing the greed56 in a far-away57 place traditionally associated with greed, instead of right in the heart of London.

54 particularly – especially 55 wary of – suspicious of 56 greed – avarice 57 far-away – distant

Jonson added the subplot to help bridge the gap between the Italian setting and the London audience.

Notice that Volpone was the last time that Jonson used the Shakespearean ploy58 of setting his play abroad:- Every Man in his Humour (1597) was originally set in Florence but a

subsequent revised version (1616) was set in London.- Jonson’s comedies after Volpone – Epicene (1609), The Alchemist

(1608/10) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) – were all set in London.

58 ploy – subterfuge, stratagem

Volpone: the Central Character

Volpone has no legitimate children (though he has supposedly fathered bastards while drunk) and the mock59 family he has created around himself is unnatural and unhealthy.

The dwarf, hermaphrodite and eunuch are presented as external representations of his perverted values.- these three zanies are all ‘monstrous’ boundary-blurrers60 – calling into

question the distinctions between male61 and female, adult and child.

Some commentators think Volpone is in love with Mosca.

He tells us that he “acted young Antinous... For entertainment of the great Valois.” (III.vii.161-62)- Antinous was the ‘favourite’ of the Emperor Hadrian.62 What’s more- Henri IIII (= the great Valois) was also reputedly gay. He was lavishly

entertained in Venice in 1574.

In Volpone all family units are distorted by greed63.

Volpone is not a heroic character to be admired, but rather64 is infantile in his obsessions and pleasures. - Volpone is rather65 like one of Kit Marlowe’s “overreachers”.

We rather66 like him and support him when he plays confidence tricks on the greedy67 and the predatory – we would not have him punished for this.

However, when he delights in making the innocent suffer, the story changes; this changing perspective echoes Shakespeare’s Richard III and ultimately68 Vice in the Morality Plays. - in their frequent asides to the audience telling us of their schemes69,

Volpone and Mosca echo both Richard III and the Vice.

59 mock (adj.) – false, imitation 60 boundary-blurrer – sb. who makes the demarcation between categories less distinct and more confused 61 male – ♂62 However, notice that in the widely read poem Orchestra (1596) Sir John Davies invented a very heterosexual

‘Antinous’.63 greed – avarice 64 but rather – (in this case) by contrast he 65 rather – (in this case) somewhat, surprisingly 66 rather – (in this case) quite, somewhat 67 greedy – avaricious 68 ultimately – (false friend) in the final analysis69 scheme – stratagem, subterfuge, ruse

The Subplot

The subplot is much lighter than the main70 plot. Peregrine dupes Sir Pol to teach him a lesson rather than to cheat him - the process is ultimately71 beneficial for Sir Pol

he gains deeper self-knowledge (important from a Christian/Stoic point of view).

Sir Pol may be a jibe at Sir Henry Wotton, the English ambassador to Venice at the time of the play. The word ‘politic’ was associated in Jonson’s time with the schemes and plots of a Machiavellian villain.

However, Sir Politic Would-Be is an amateur student of political intrigues - he shows great ignorance of the real world around him.

Remember that “would be” has the idea of “want to be” (e.g. The Man Who Would Be King”).

Sir Pol and Lady Would-Be are “Wannabe Italians” and by making them ridiculous Jonson is laughing at the early practitioners of what would become the Grand Tour. - Travelling to the Continent was beginning to become popular and travel

books were all the rage72.

Jonson ridicules these and their attention to insignificant details – for instance73, in Sir Pol’s diary it reads, “at St. Mark’s, I urined”. [bathos]

One of the ways in which the sub-plot mirrors the main plot is that Sir Politic is attempting to mislead Peregrine, in order to create a false impression of himself - just as Volpone is trying to mislead all the suitors.

The difference is that while Sir Pol is an innocent and harmless person pretending to be cunning and worldly-wise- Volpone and Mosca are cunning and evil characters pretending to be

innocent.

70 main – primary, principal 71 ultimately – (false friend) in the end, in the final analysis 72 to be all the rage – be very popular 73 for instance – for example

Sir Pol is an ‘innocent abroad’.He is also a comment on the acquisitiveness of the merchant class with all his ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes. However, Sir Pol’s schemes are simply hare-brained74

- Volpone’s are devious and practical.

Lady Politic Would-Be is a forerunner75 to Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan’s The Rivals (1775) with all her misused language – “malapropisms” (and a descendant of Shakespeare’s Mistress Quickly).

Curious about prodigies, Sir Politic becomes one himself: half human, half tortoise [V.iv].- this scene is echoed in The Tempest when Caliban hides as the

‘mooncalf’.

74 hare-brained – stupid, foolish, idiotic 75 forerunner – predecessor

Anti-Capitalism

Remember that Jonson was imprisoned several times and Volpone is highly critical of lawyers and the legal system. Act I, Scene 4 also includes a vicious attack against doctors.

Both doctors and lawyers were examples of the emerging middle classes.

Under contemporary law (dating back to 1545), usury – moneylending for profit – was illegal in theory and permitted in practice- an unhappy compromise between its sinfulness and its indispensability.

Jonson sees the emerging capitalist society as one based on competitive greed76 where respect is paid to the moneyed. So, when he is rich, even Mosca is treated courteously by the magistrates.

There is competition between the inheritance-hunters but of course, when everything is based on competitive greed there is no basis for loyalty, and Volpone and Mosca finally compete in greed.

Volpone is obsessively acquisitive (wanting even to acquire people) - he represents the joys of excess, Celia represents moderation.

All of this must have reflected a tension in Jonson himself. Restraint was a middle-class, Puritan value, excess and display were markedly aristocratic values.

Jonson was a Catholic between 1598 and 1610. Anti-Catholic hysteria reached fever pitch77 in 1605 with the Gunpowder Plot (there is a subtle reference to this event in Volpone when Sir Pol mentions that the Arsenal is vulnerable to arson).

Generally speaking, Jonson was pro-monarchy and conservative. - His bête noire in Volpone is clearly the rising middle classes.

Of course, these people were the economic power base of Puritanism.- the play dramatizes the dangers of greed and individualism.

76 greed – avarice 77 fever pitch – a state of extreme excitement