Saturday, November 17, 2018

Short Question on Volpone .


1. Discuss Volpone as comedy of humor?
Answer:

    The conception of the humor of the medieval age has a great impact in Ben Jonson’s Volpone, especially in the character development. Actually, Volpone is, to many extents, based upon the humor theory. In the play, Volpone, Mosca, Corvino, Corbaccio, Voltore, Sir politic Would be and this imbalance make the play a comedy since these abnormal characters pave the way for making the plot satiric and amusing. Each character is peculiar and singular in his own way. Here Jonson shows that the mental imbalance is more dangerous than physical imbalance as he shows that, the characters Nano, Castrone and androgyno being physically abnormal, are better creatures than the earlier ones. A comedy of humors focuses in characters, each character representing a type of personality. The characters in Volpone are stereotypes. All of the characters are imbalanced as well, so their “humors” are out of balance and they thus act in comical ways. Thus, Volpone is a comedy of humors.

2. Animal imagery in the volpone.
Answer:
     Animal imagery:The animal imagery, that runs alongside the animalistic names of the characters, is very important as it gives us insight into the (corrupt) nature of each character.

By giving them animalistic names, Jonson clearly sees the 'clients' as scavengers, after naming them after birds of prey. He sees their actions in fight for Volpone's wealth as primitive and malicious.

Textual Evidence:
'I shall have instantly my Vulture, Crow, Raven come flying here on the news, to peck for carrion'
'Give me my furs'
'He is not dead' / 'All good symptoms'
'A creature of delight'
'His furs and foot-cloths;waited on by herd-clients'

Character Names:
Most of the characters names' are Itlian words for animals:
Volpone = Fox
Mosca = Parasitic Fly
Voltore = Vulture

Animalistic Imagery in the language.
This beast/animal imagery in the language is used in Volpone to represent the deformity and degeneration of the characters and moral abnormality found in Venice, portraying the city as a hotbed of crime, knavery and lust.

'Begin their visitation! Vulture, kite, Raven, and gor-crow, all my birds of prey, That think me leaving carcass.'
Critical Quotes
'It is difficult to condemn real vultures for behaving like vultures.' - Robert Macdonald.

'In this strongly moralistic play, the presentation of man as a beast - specifically beast and birds of prey - is used as a satirical device' - James M. Welsh Corvino = Crow
Corbaccio = Raven

http://englishliterature24.blogspot.com


3. Characteristic analysis of  lagacy, hunters of Volpone.
Answer:
Three legacy hunters are Voltore, a lawyer; Corbaccio, an old gentleman; and Corvino, a merchant
Voltore
One of the three legacy hunters or carrion-birds—the legacy hunters continually circle around Volpone, giving him gifts in the hope that he will choose them as his heir. Voltore is a lawyer by profession, and, as a result, he is adept in the use of words.
 Voltore is, like all the legacy hunters, named after a carrion-bird. In the case of Voltore, that bird is the vulture; for Corvino, it is the crow, and for Corbaccio, the raven. Voltore is the most pleasant of all the legacy hunters, for he is the least crass and the least obsessed with seeing Volpone die.
His preferential status shows in Mosca's special regard for him: Mosca tries to make sure that Voltore gets enough payment for his services at the Scrutineo in Act IV. But Voltore comes to regret his actions at the Scrutineo. Of course, this regret only comes after he has been denied his inheritance, and it seems to stem directly from his bitterness at Mosca's leapfrogging over him on the social ladder.
And when Volpone whispers to him that he might still get his inheritance, he stops confessinghis lies to the Scrutineo and pretends that he was "possessed" by an evil demon. Theverbal irony is that Voltore, in that statement and action, reveals his greed.
Corbaccio
Another "carrion-bird" circling Volpone, Corbaccio is actually extremely old and ill himself and is much more likely to die before Volpone even has a chance to bequeath him his wealth. He has a hearing problem and betrays no sign of concern for Volpone, delighting openly in (fake) reports of Volpone's worsening symptoms. He goes as far as to testify against his own son. He is finally punished, sent to a monastery, and forced to turn his estate over to his son, Bonario.

Corvino
A greedy, rich merchant and an extremely cruel and dishonorable character, Corvino is Celia's jealous husband. He frequently threatens to do disgusting acts of physical violence to her and her family in order to gain control over her. Yet he is more concerned with financial gain than with her faithfulness, seeing her, in essence, as a piece of property. Corvino is another one of the "carrion-birds" circling Volpone. Corvino is punished in theend for offering up his wife, which results in her returning to her father, with her dowry tripled. Corviono is the third of the "carrion-birds" circling Volpone.

4. Character analysis Volpone Mosca
Answer:
Volpone
Volpone is the protagonist of the play. His name means "The Fox" in Italian. Jonson used him as an instrument of satire of money-obsessed society, and he seems to share in Jonson's satiric interpretation of the events. He is lustful, raffish, and greedy for pleasure.He is a creature of passion, continually looking to find and attain new forms of pleasure,whatever the consequences may be. He is also energetic and has an unusual gift for rhetoric. He worships his money, all of which he has acquired through cons, such as the one he plays on Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. Volpone has no children, but he has something of a family: his parasite, Mosca, his dwarf, Nano, his eunuch, Castrone, and his hermaphrodite, And rogyno. Mosca is his only true confidante. Volpone hates to make money through honest labour or cold, he loves making it in clever, deceitful ways. This dynamic in his character shapes our reaction to him throughout the play. At times, this hedonism seems fun, engaging, entertaining, and even morally valuable, such as when he is engaged in the con on his fortune hunters. But his attempted seduction of Celia revealsa darker side to his hedonism when it becomes an attempted rape. The incident makeshim, in the moral universe of the play, a worthy target of satire. Through the play, welearn that he is the one who makes the satire but the satire eventually turns back on him,when he becomes a victim of Mosca's "Fox-trap." The reason he is ensnared by Mosca is that he cannot resist one final gloat at his dupes, oblivious to the fact that in doing so, hehands over his entire estate to Mosca. This lack of rational forethought and commitmentto his own sensual impulses is characteristic of Volpone. Therefore, he has threeweaknesses that might make his ‘plots’ fail: the first is his lust for Celia, the second is hisoverconfident behavior, and the last is his complete trust in Mosca.

Mosca
Mosca is Volpone's parasite, a combination of his slave, his servant and his lackey. He is the person who continually executes Volpone's ideas and the one who comes up with the necessary lie whenever needed. In the opening acts, Mosca appears to be exactly what he is described as: a clinging, servile parasite, who only exists for Volpone and through Volpone. In other words, he exists to serve Volpone, and all that Volpone wants he wants.But in Act Three, we have the beginning of his assertion of self-identity, when he begins to grow confident in his abilities. But then this confidence again is left unvoiced, and Mosca seems to go back to being Volpone's faithful servant, helping him get out of the trouble some situation with Bonario and Celia. Mosca himself is possessed by greed, and he attempts to move out of his role as parasite to the role of great beast himself. But his attempt fails, as Volpone exposes them both. Though initially (and for most of the play)he behaves in a servile manner towards Volpone, Mosca conceals a growing independence he gains as a result of the incredible resourcefulness he shows in aiding and abetting Volpone's confidence game. Mosca's growing confidence, and awareness that the

others in the play are just as much "parasites" as he—in that they too would rather live off the wealth of others than do honest work—eventually bring him into conflict withVolpone, a conflict that destroys them both.




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