VOLPONE

Ben Jonson

Key Facts

F U L L T I T L E Volpone, or the Fox: A Comedy A U T H O R Ben Jonson

T Y P E O F W O R K Play

G E N R E Comedy (with tragic undertones)

L A N G U A G E English

T I M E A N D P L A C E W R I T T E N February and March 1606; London, England

D A T E O F F I R S T P U B L I C A T I O N 1607, in quarto form

P U B L I S H E R William Stansby

N A R R A T O R The play has no narrator

C L I M A X Act V, scene xii, when Volpone reveals himself to the Avocatori

P R O T A G O N I S T Volpone (though he disappears in Act IV)

S E T T I N G ( T I M E ) The time of the play's writing, 1606

S E T T I N G ( P L A C E ) Venice, Italy

P O I N T O F V I E W No narrator, no point of view

F A L L I N G A C T I O N Scene V.xii: the judges sentence Volpone, Corvino, Corbaccio, and

Voltore to various punishments.

F O R E S H A D O W I N G Mosca's soliloquy in III.i

T O N E Satirical, ironic in the main plot; in the subplot, varying between satirical and

farcical
T H E M E S Greed; the power of stagecraft; parasitism

M O T I F S Disguise, deception and reality; "gulling"; the sacred and the profane

S Y M B O L S Venice; animalia