Volpone is the story of five people – Volpone, Mosca, Voltore, Corvino and Corbaccio – who are led into folly by their love of money.
As Act One opens, Volpone, a wealthy Venetian, and Mosca, his “parasite,” are talking. Volpone is admiring his store of gold when three visitors arrive in succession. All three are waiting anxiously for the old man’s death in hopes of being his heir. Volpone is in good health, but he has convinced them that he is on his deathbed. They visit him often, bringing gifts of gold. Voltore (the ‘vulture’) arrives first, followed by Corbaccio (the ‘raven’) and finally Corvino (the ‘crow’). Mosca tells each one that he is the heir, encouraging him to return with more gifts so that Volpone does not change his mind. Both Volpone and Mosca are pleased with their cleverness.
Act Two introduces two new characters, Sir Politic Would-Be and Peregrine. They are discussing spies and intrigue when Volpone, now dressed as a mountebank, enters with a troop of men who set up his stage. Calling himself Scoto of Mantua, Volpone gives a speech advertising a medicinal oil with amazing powers. Celia, Corvino’s wife, indicates her interest by throwing a handkerchief from her window. Corvino sees her and sends “Scoto” away. At home again, Volpone professes his passion for Celia. Meanwhile, Corvino scolds her, believing that she is having an affair. Mosca arrives, telling Corvino that he is sure to be Volpone’s heir if he will give up Celia for just one night. Corvino succumbs to greed and readily agrees, forgetting his jealousy completely.
Mosca begins Act Three with a short soliloquy. He meets Corbaccio’s son, Bonario, and reveals that Corbaccio intends to disinherit his son in favor of Volpone – but omits the detail that the plan was Mosca’s. Bonario goes with him to see if it is true. However, Mosca’s plans are somewhat thwarted. First, Lady Politic Would-Be arrives unexpectedly, also seeking Volpone’s favor. Mosca manages to get rid of her. Then Corvino and Celia appear early. Mosca takes them to Volpone, putting Bonario in another room. Celia refuses to sleep with the old, “dying” man. When Mosca and Corvino go off to talk, Volpone reveals his true health. Bonario rescues Celia and confusion results!
Act Four presents an interlude in which Lady Politic Would-Be thinks Peregrine is her husband’s lover dressed as a man. A trial at the Senate follows; Volpone is accused of rape. Luckily for him, his greedy friends plot together to persuade the court that Bonario and Celia are at fault.
Act Five begins with Volpone’s new joke: tell everyone that he is dead and that Mosca is the heir! This provides much amusement when the three “scavengers” find out. In disguise, he teases his disgraced friends. Then Volpone discovers that Mosca intends to continue the charade, keeping Volpone’s gold for himself. Another trial is held, this time against Mosca. There are many conflicting testimonies. Finally Volpone reveals himself and all is made clear to the Senate. The court gives punishment to the offending parties – the very ones led astray by greed – and Bonario and Celia are released.
Analysis of the characters focuses on Volpone and Mosca. Volpone has a trait that most of the others also possess: excessive greed. He wants gold, more gold and even more gold! He doesn’t want to spend it, he simply wants to look at it. Like his friends, he is a miser. He invents ingenious ways to get money without working. These include pretending to be dying and posing as Scoto of Mantua. In these charades, which are both amusing and profitable, he shows his fine acting skill. He is more of an actor than an outright liar. His goal is to project an image, such as serious illness, that everyone will believe. He also acts well when disguised after his “death.” The reader has little doubt that he could have stayed dead easily if he had so chosen. This man has the ability to be the master of intrigue that Sir Politic Would-Be only fancies himself. Volpone, however, has only two purposes: to get gold and to have fun. He is childlike in his love of games and shiny things! He is whimsical and impulsive, falling in love with Celia at first sight. Like most great men are thought to be, Volpone is moody, looking to the circumstances of the moment to send him to a cloud of joy or to a cavern of despair. He is carefree, despondent, impatient, and passionate within the space of a few hours. Another aspect of his childlike nature is his naiveté. He utterly trusts Mosca, thinking the servant has only his master’s best interest at heart. How far from the truth! Volpone, like a child, lives in the present. He does not concern himself with the future, not even the fact that someday he really will die. He never considers the consequences of his actions. For example, when he devises the plan of faking his own death, he fails to imagine what might happen when he reveals the chicanery. Those who are “gulled” aren’t likely to take it too well!
Mosca, on the surface, is the perfect servant. He is willing to lie and cheat to gather more gold for his master. But Mosca has a secret goal: to gain possession of Volpone’s great wealth. Because he plans to own it himself someday, he is eager to increase his master’s riches. He will do anything for that precious, beautiful gold. He tells a different set of lies to each visitor. Voltore is told that he is the heir. Corbaccio is instructed to make a new will leaving his money to Volpone, thus showing his love for the old man. Later, Mosca encourages Corvino to exchange his wife for the chance to become the heir. Mosca knows quite well how to use another’s greed to satisfy his own. In fact, he is quite conceited about his cleverness. When he makes the deal with Corvino for Celia, he is so thrilled that he hugs himself and sings his own praises. Mosca’s only loves in life are money and himself. It is unlikely that he would ever fall passionately in love with a woman as Volpone has done. Although he recognized Celia’s beauty (he described it very vividly to his master), he does not respond emotionally to it. Unlike his master, who is moody, Mosca is dispassionate. While Volpone is childlike in his love of gold, Mosca is deadly serious. It might be said of him that “he would sell tickets to his own grandmother’s funeral.” Mosca does not care whom he hurts or what rules he breaks by an action as long as it brings him more gold.
There are two logically connected themes in the play. The first is “Avarice leads inevitably to deceit.” Volpone deceives his friends in many ways to satisfy his greed. He pretends that he is on his deathbed, but, strangely enough, he has a different ailment each time a visitor arrives. For Voltore he coughs and cannot hear or see. Mosca tells Corbaccio that Volpone will die of his apoplexy. When Corvino arrives, the old man feigns unconsciousness. Later, Volpone makes another ruse. He acts as Scoto of Mantua so that he can get money for the worthless elixir and also to see Celia. His greed cause him to practice all kinds of dissemblance. Mosca is even more deceitful. Only he knows what is really in his heart. He presents different faces to Volpone, Voltore, Corbaccio, Corvino, Bonario, and Lady Politic Would-Be, all in the name of his avarice. He creates a tangled web of lies, seeking one thing: money. Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino also commit various forms of fraud in their struggle for the inheritance. All three are full-blown hypocrites who feign love and caring for Volpone. Corvino is dishonest in not telling Celia the real reason for their visit to him. All three are guilty of perjury before the Senate, and Corvino’s offense is compounded by the fact that he is testifying against his own wife. The play shows that love of money can lead to extreme dishonesty.
The second theme is “Deceit is always punished in the end.” The liars and cheaters reap profits for a time, but eventually they are unmasked. Volpone’s pretense of being in the “valley of the shadow” works well at first. The scavengers who await his death respond by bringing more gifts. However, when he is forced to come out of disguise in the end, they realize his trickery and he is tried by the Senate, which sentences him to stay in the hospital in irons until he actually does die. Mosca thinks he has succeeded when he takes over Volpone’s fortune. Even when his master is unmasked, Mosca thinks he can save himself with more clever ideas from his superior mind. But he, too, is punished. Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, whose dishonest deeds are now evident, are also punished for their hypocrisy and their perjuries. No one escapes the consequences of their deeds.
Taking the above statements as principles A and B, one can show logically that the overall theme of Volpone is “Greedy people always come to harm of one sort or another.” In other words, love of money may be profitable in the short term but not in the end. Elizabethan England, in Jonson’s view, was full of greedy people who were out to make money in any way possible. Jonson, who did not want to sacrifice his literary principles in order to please the masses and make more money, may have been bitter toward some of his contemporaries such as Shakespeare, who, he felt, were compromising good literary techniques in order to write more plays and acquire more money. The irony, of course, is that modern literary critics regard Shakespeare as one of the greatest literary geniuses of all time.
