Volpone

Jonson’s great powers of mind were turned to a devastating criticism of the acquisitive (kapzsi) society in Volpone, acted early in 1606. The corrupting power of wealth became one of the main themes of drama after 1600. The theme of Volpone is the degrading effect of money on human character. The morality tradition is clearly visible in the structure of the play and the nomenclature of the figures. Jonson brings home his point by the method of dehumanization: the characters of the play are given the names of birds of prey, animals of lower order, thus underlining the fact that the main agents of the action are animated by the basest instincts, not by intelligence or natural morality. Voltore - the vulture (keselyű), Corbaccio - the raven, Corvino - the crow, they all fall victims to the wiles (csábítás) of Volpone - the crafty fox and his parasite, Mosca, the fly. They all commit perjury (hamis tanúzás). Corbaccio disinherits his son and accuses him of intended murder; Corvino the jealous husband, is ready to prostitute his wife to Volpone’s lust, in order to secure his inheritance. Depths below depths of evil open up in the course of the brilliantly complicated plot. The profanation (megszentségtelenítés) of moral values is stressed by the imagery of the play: money, food, sensual pleasure are invented with divine qualities. After the Prologue, the play opens with Volpone’s sacrilegious (szentségtörő9 hymn to gold, an example of the perversion of value, the voice of a society in which the unscrupulous (gátlástalan) quest for money has become man’s religion. “Good morning to the day; and next, my gold!“ Volpone was written by a master of stage effects – firmness of construction is one of the main sources of aesthetic pleasure in Jonson. His style is different from Shakespeare’s which is characterized by suggestiveness, the interplay of thought and emotion. In Jonson everything is said deliberately and with the greatest economy.