Volpone by Ben Jonson

PRIMARY SOURCE: Volpone (1605/6)
Context

• Publication: Opened at the Globe in 1606 with a cast that had recently performed Othello. The original run was successful until the closing of the playhouses. Published both in the 1607 Quarto Volpone and the 1616 Folio Works. Corrections to the F are relatively minor, with the exception of Celia's reaction to the rape at the end--she is rendered desperate in Q, rational in F. Quarto printed by George Eld for Thomas Thorppe. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Scholars read Volpone to understand Jonson's shifting comedic effects--from morality plays to dark social satire.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, social satire.

Content

• Form: A play in five acts. No constant verse.
• Genre: Comedy, social satire.
• Conceit: Volpone has amassed a fortune through questionable means. He works with Mosca to feign fatal illness and attract sycophants. Mosca assures Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino that they are all the favorites to be Volpone's heir--and he advises Corbaccio to disinherit his son. Volpone commits to sleep with Corvino's wife, Celia. While selling snake oil, Volpone haggles with Sir Politic and Peregrine and sees Celia. Mosca persuades Corvino to send Celia to Volpone. After a tortuous encounter with Lady Would-Be, Corvino delivers Celia to Volpone, saying that she should prove her virginity. Mosca diverts Bonario. Volpone nearly rapes Celia, but Bonario saves her. Corbaccio enters but sees Volpone as an invalid. Mosca reassures Corbaccio, then convinces Voltore to help him defraud Corbaccio, and that Bonario attacked Volpone. Voltore prosecutes Bonario and Celia, and the witnesses are Corbaccio, Corvino, and Lady Would-Be: the Lady is motivated by Mosca's promise of Volpone's inheritence. Volpone fakes his death, and sends Mosca out as his heir. The sycophants begin to rescind their stories without any further incentive, and Mosca is ready to confirm Volpone's faked death unless Volpone concede actual riches. Volpone reveals himself, and justice is served.
• Other notes: Mneumonic: Vol(pone) Mos(ca) Cor(baccio) Bo(naria) Cor(vino) Ce(lia) Wou(ld-Be)
  Volition must corrupt both co-receivers, seen woolgathering.