5 satiric comedy

Contemporary of william shakespeare

he dedicated Volpone to Oxford bc he thought of it not only as entertainment but also as something based on learning

shakespeare was not very educated but a great playwright

‘The most learned of the english poets’

writer

at court, historical aspect

Volpone = one of leading citizen of venice

Famous fundamental story beginnings that Jonson is echoing

1 Description of nature in Spring before pilgrimage

2 (ages) what damage hunans have done to the plante, agriculture, climate change, pollution

3 opening words of god, god sees chaos

“Let there be light”

Opening speech

play about greed (1 of the 7 mortal sins/ vices)

speech act: monologue, pray (mosca)

1 teeming = fertile , glad to see the sun shine (through aries) Spring has arrived

2 his light is darkening the suns light

day struck out of chaos when god said, let there be light

3 gold related to the sun, son of the sun (worthy)

golden age

Volpone wants to overturn the established systems of order

He is contradicting all of these systems of order

1 nature 2 christianity 3 pagan beliefs (classican Texts from rome)

pride- after the prays of gold follow the prays of self, Volpone talks about how clever he is exploiting other people

His servant (mosca) starts to flatter him

Volpone gives him money for that

normally they outsmart people like that as a team

((at the end they turn against each other))

This speech is full of translations of classical satires

Jonson knows these by heart and used full passages of these in his plays

Striking feature:

fox: big ego, clever

fly: exploiting, opportunist

story partly based on the beast fable of the fox and the crow

about exploitation through clever flattery

common ground of BF and satiric comedy:

reductive characters, not well rounded, constructed around 1/2 traits

F gives a hint of the plot of Volpone

fox outwitts bird

likewise

our Fox in the play will outwitt 3 birds (Voltore, Corbaccio, Corvino)

Knaves = villain, trickster, cheater

Gulls = are cheated/outwitted

knaves: agents of satire, expose weaknesses

at the end also target of satire (Volpone)

virtuous characters go against satire, no examples of vice and folly

reactive characters, not initiating in their own

rich venecian citizen, no children

1a attracts legacy hunters: people who want to inherit

but only pretends to be sick - trick to milk these hunters

presents: piece of plate, bag of gold coins, pearl

1b failed

doctors: him that laying with a young woman was good for health

Corvino very jealous but agrees because his greed is bigger

1c failed

Bonario = son of Corbaccio

Want Volpone to be the heir

want to make bonario witness the disinheritence so he does something to his father

1b&c intrigues failed

Mosca cannot keep them seperate

Bonario comes to the house early and witnesses Volpone trying to persuade Celia and intervenes

5 hint in the beginning: mosca flatters Volpone and gives him money

6 second trial: to disenable mosca having controle over party of his fortune

legal punishment

satiric elements:

no typical love plot

no action you can fully identify with

intrigues/actions all show the weaknesses of the characters initiating them

about the antagonism between two english visitors

1 guilty of affectation: would like to be politic (knowledge/wisdom) but isn’t

2 telling name: the traveller, predator (compared to the other three)

They meet

1 inflicts his political political wisdom on 2 and je only listens slightly amused

2 plays a joke on 1, tells him that he will be arrested and his papers will be searched, 1 burns all his papers and hides, gets treated roughly from people who pretend to be policemen

joke is revealed

2 satiric exposure of the weaknesses of characters

1 main plot about vice and folly (more vice) and sub plot mainly about folly

2 sentences, prison, fines vs humiliation

3 main plot (by product, goal is Money) vs sub (exposure is the goal, want to teach a lesson)

1 educated but not that good

3 greed, lust and pride

1st act

scene in which Corbaccio (the old man, raven) shows up and brings his bag of gold coins

he talks to Mosca while Volpone lies in bed and is supposedly unconsious/can’t hear them

he wants to hear that Volpone dies soon

Corbaccio is indeed old and close to death and Volpone only pretends to be but he still wants to outlive him

no amends = no improvement

Corbaccio misunderstands because of bad hearing

Volpone is alive and kicking, pretending to be sick (Corbaccio pretends to be Young/fit) that’s why it’s funny

if he really was sick and on his death bed our reaction would be different

Fielding: affectation (Corbaccio as example, he is a combination of vice and folly)

He pretends to be caring/charitable but his gift is not a present but an investment (moral pretense)

thinks of him having intellectual superiority but he is the one being cheated (intellectual pretense)

laughing at natural imperfections is not allowed/unfair but combined with affectation it is justified

lack of hearing = metaphor of lack of understanding

comedy is closest to satire

satiric comedies usually move away from satire because satire is essentially static (nothing changes)

beginning of act 5, after first successful trial

looking back at ecperience in court

pretense turned into reality (cramp, palsy), afraid he really got ill

drinks wine (element of addiction) deceit and exploitation become compulsury like a drug

he no longer controls his role, the role controls him

beginning of his downfall

vice = selfdestructive mechanism