Customer Reviews

Volpone, Or, the Fox (Crofts Classics)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had expected Jonson's plays to be difficult and certainly less rewarding than Shakespeare. Surprisingly, despite the passage of four centuries, the humor in "Volpone" remains natural and entertaining today. I have now read several other comedies by Ben Jonson, but "Volpone" remains my favorite.

I did have difficulty getting started with "Volpone". The rather long dedication, the argument, and the prologue all took their toll. To make matters worse, I was completely confused and lost in Act One, Scene One, by a "Pythagorean satire", entertainment provided by Volpone's eccentric servants, Mosca, Nano, Andrrogyno, and Castrone. (I later learned that Jonson may have added this literary satire for special performances at Oxford and Cambridge. Apparently Jonson knew his scholars well, as "Volpone" was well-received at both universities.)

Fortunately, Scene One is not representative of the play, and I had little difficulty thereafter with either the plot or the humor. Unlike Shakespeare, Ben Jonson's characters seldom reflect on their motivations in soliloquies or insightful dialogue. We meet characters without great complexity. Once we know them, we find that they remain in character and behave predictably. This does not mean his characters are shallow or uninteresting. I even found myself somewhat sympathetic for the unscrupulous Volpone, Mosca, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. They are all villains, just not particularly villainous villains.

Even though the characters behave predictably, the plot is anything but predictable. The confusion builds throughout the play and I had no idea how Jonson was going to resolve the situation in Act Five. I quite enjoyed "Volpone" and I would like to have an opportunity to see it on stage someday.

One aspect might surprise the modern reader: Volpone's rather unusual house servants include the dwarf Nano, the eunuch Castrone, and the hermaphrodite Androgyno. These individuals, occasional targets for humor, play rather unimportant roles and are sometimes deleted from modern productions.

Ben Jonson was a talented playwright that had the historical misfortune to be a younger contemporary of Shakespeare. He is quite familiar to literary scholars and English literature majors, but for most of us he remains in the shadow of Shakespeare.

You can find several good editions of "Volpone", either alone or in collections. I recommend "Volpone or, The Fox", edited by David Cook, and published by Routledge in London. It was published in 1962, but has been reprinted many times. I benefited greatly from Cook's introduction and footnotes. This softcover book is printed on high quality paper.

Another widely available source is the inexpensive Oxford World's Classics, "The Alchemist and Other Plays" by Ben Jonson. The introduction and footnotes by Gordon Campbell are quite good.

I am a fan of Dover Thrift Editions, but I don't recommend the Dover "Volpone" 1994 edition for a first reading of Jonson as the footnotes are sparse.

Volpone is a fast-paced comedic drama with Italian inspiration. <BA>Though the language of Volpone may at first induce flashbacks of seemingly endless hours listening to a grade-school teacher praise the words of Shakespeare and the feeling that perhaps you had not learned to read after all; do not paint Volpone with the brush you had in grade nine! Volpone contains all of the things that we value in good books in the twentieth century : deception, greed, lust and humour. The language is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance and the play moves quickly. It will keep you smiling throughout.

This famous adaptation of Ben Johnson is terrific and still modern in its whole conception, this is a characteristic seal of the masterpieces. Aided by his loyal server Mosca. Volpone makes his friend to believe is dying and convinces to every one of his greedy friends is his heir.

As you can guess, the macabre spell and incisive charm of this play still makes laugh and think to a great audience.

In 1939 Maurice Tourneur decided to make a film about it. The tragic new is this film was released after WW2, but Harry Baur, the most complete actor f the French Cinema by then, wouldn't be present, his mysterious death was attributed to Nazis.

If you are looking for one of the best and most genuine jewel of the Universal literature, go for this one.

This comedy is so entangled that a fox would lose his cubs in the multiple loops and traps that are conjured up by all the characters. It reveals how the rich are greedy and want to become richer at the expense of their fellow richmen. It exposes how the politicians are nothing but windbags, would-bes as Jonson calls them. It points out how some women are nothing but flytraps that know everything, that say anything, that have the last word at any time ever. It also shows how a conjurer of tricks aiming at trapping others and taking possession of their goods needs a helper and that the helper can learn even faster than the master, especially if this helper is a parasite by nature. It also shows how men are lecherous and only think of taking the wives of their neighbors because these men, this society is deeply misogynistic and consider that women are harlots, and some other nice words, by nature. There is thus a wide spectrum of criticism of this society, maybe a little bit too wide and too complicated. Due to the names of the characters, the crow, the raven and even the fox are the final victims of the plain fly that is nothing but a parasite sucking the gold of the others. The ending is moral since Bonario and Celia do get some justice from the court, but it is also perfectly immoral because Mosca keeps his unethically gained fortune, in fact the fortune he has stolen from Volpone who wanted to steal the riches of everyone else. It is moral in a way because the immoral and greedy plotters are all punished but it is immoral because the main sorcerer's helper gets his hand on the loot. The sorcerer's apprentice is thus more or less the main benefactor of the moral decision of the court. This leads to another level of reflexion : the court, that is to say the ruling body of Venice, is not so much interested in morality and justice as in the necessity to prevent any event that could rock their boat, endanger their power. Who profits of this decision is not their problem provided it does not stir any discontent among the people. The play thus becomes a strong criticism of justice as blind as long as its interests are not at stake and as opening their eyes only when their power may be disturbed by the crime brought to their attention. We will note in the end that Ben Jonson's style is witty but not really poetic. His poetry is more clichés in the garb of witticism.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Well, I liked this a LOT more than I thought I would. I assumed that Jonson would write plays like Shakespeare, and I am very selective about which Shakespeare plays I really enjoy (namely, 'Othello'). But this, this is such a good book. I don't even usually like reading plays. Let me explain why it is so good:
Firstly, although Volpone is caught out at the end, the whole of the play is a gloriously satisfying dance of mind-games andpure hedonism. For vicarious living, it's great. I, for one, wish I was as clever as Volpone. For those who take delight in the sheer style and talent of people who thoroughly enjoy life, this is a play for you. Admittedly Volpone is a completely amoral character, but the satisfaction in his plots comes because those who he is punishing are immoral themselves. I have to admit, perhaps I wish I was so amoral because of the consequent enjoyment.
Secondly - I love how many levels this play works on. It is simultaneously both a homage to and a mockery of traditional morality plays - everything seems to have worked out by the end, but when the results are thought through, the end is not satisfactory. Good has not triumphed over evil as in traditional morality plays; evil has sabotaged itself, a subtle but important difference. Celia seems to have been let off, but in that era it is likely that her tripled dowry will be owned by her father and she will become a disgraced divorced woman.
Thirdly - Peregrine is wonderful. He is the dry, cynical person who knows exactly what's going on and has sussed every plot - this character should be in every play.
There are two very small, insignificant reasons why I have not given this 5 stars. Firstly, I wish that Volpone had gotten away with his schemes. Secondly, I dislike a few occasions involving Sir Politic WouldBe when the scenes just get too ridiculous for words (tortoise shell!). But otherwise, this play is a laugh - but also clever enough to work on many different levels (spot all the parallels and opposites in the play e.g. Lady WB and Celia) and to be taken seriously if need be.

The langauge of Volpone is didatic and witty; no internal motives so much as external stimulus. It is almost the opposite of Shakespeare interior worlds, yet, it is unfair to discount Ben Jonson's comedies as modern scholars have tended to do.

The language is crisp, the puns are sharp (especailly if you have a working knowledge of latin animal names), and the conceits are timeless. I know this originates in the Latin comedy tradition, but so do sitcoms and only if sitcoms has this sense of wordplay. The rhetoric is amazing.

While the characters... even the fun Mosca . . . are flat, the language pops and after a second read one can understand why Jonson was considered so great for his day. It blows some of Shakespeares lesser comedies ( "Alls Well that Ends Well" or "comedy of errors" for example) out of the water because its plot is more artifical but less contrived.

Hopefully, the scholarly opinion of Jonson as a writer, not just a critic, will be on the up and up again.

As some others, I got introduced to this play via "Honey pot", the movie, where Rex Harrison is staging a similar plot. I enjoyed the movie and for years wanted to read the play. Unfortunately, it is not translated in Finnish and not included in our literary studies. Finally I bought this edition and read it last Summer.

I must say the language took some effort at first. But when I got used to the old English, I enjoyed the play immensely. The plot twists and turns, people's greed makes them silly when they think they are cunning, and in the end justice is served - to some extent. People do not change or get much wiser as centuries pass on, do they...? Deserves to be read, definately, and - hopefully - translated for us Finns, too, by someone much better than me.

I came upon this play and Ben Jonson by the back door. I was watching a movie titled "The Honey Pot" with Rex Harrison. His character Cecil Fox after observing this play used the outline for his own purposes. So naturally, I have to read the play to see what the movie is mimicking.

I have several copies of "Valpone" (the fox) to compare information on Ben. This is a review of the "New Mermaids Series" I have several of their series. They give you all the background information and any annotation needed. They make the information interesting enough that you feel that Ben Jonson is in the room with you. I am sure some people would not want to be in the same room. I was surprised to find that William Shakespeare acted in some of Ben's plays.

The play is well written and has many levels to it. If it did not have so many footnotes, I would be in trouble. It reads as an English play yet has parts that would make Stephen King blush.

"The Honey Pot" Starring: Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward

The play goes along very similar lines as that of the shakespear play measure for measure as both show selfabsorbtion is a paramount factor though it does seem like a rewrite is does has its own high points especially Mosca a very funny character.