What is the plot of the play Volpone?

What is the plot of the play Volpone?

Volpone pretends to be a wealthy old man who is bedridden and close to death, and courts the attentions of three eager gold-diggers, the merchant Corvino (‘crow’), the lawyer Voltore (‘vulture’) and the elderly gentleman Corbaccio (‘raven’), who believe that they have a shot at being made heir to his immense fortune.

What is the structure of Volpone?

The five acts can sometimes denote the structure of dramatic action, which are exposition, complication, climax, falling action, and catastrophe. The five-act structure was followed until the nineteenth century when Henrik Ibsen combined some of the acts. Volpone is a five-act play.

What is the sub plot of Volpone?

The subplot of this play concerns the two characters of Peregrine and the rather naive and foolish Sir Politic Would-Be. The key events in the subplot are the ways in which Sir Politic tries to present himself as an experienced traveller with an intimate knowledge of Venice, where the play is set.

What does Volpone disguise himself as?

Whereas Volpone disguises himself as a commandadore, Politic disguises himself as a tortoise; as we know Jonson likes to identify characters with animals, the choice of tortoise here seems particularly apt, being a slow, dim-witted animal, not nearly as attractive as a Fox.

Why is Volpone a satire?

Volpone, disguised as a didactic comedy, is actually an intelligent and cynical satire that compels the audience to rethink their moral expectations. In Volpone, Jonson was successful in combining three genres in order to create a new form of comedy.

Does the play Volpone have a positive ethical message?

The moral of the play is undoubtedly that greed corrodes the human soul. In Volpone, Jonson gives us an extraordinary insight into the power of money to destroy those obsessed with having it.

What will be done with the property of Volpone?

Volpone ends up being sent to prison, while Mosca is consigned to a slave galley. Voltore is disbarred, Corbaccio is stripped of his property (which is given to his son Bonario), and Corvino is publicly humiliated, forced to wear donkey’s ears while being rowed around the canals of Venice.