TOPIC:ROLE OF CHARACTERISATION IN THE PLAY VOLPONE

PAPER NAME:ENGLISH DRAMA I

PAPER CODE:MEN 103

NAME:ABUL MUJAHID AZAD

ROLL NO:0035

SEMESTER:FIRST

MA ENGLISH

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ROLE OF CHARACTERISATION IN THE
PLAY VOLPONE
“Volpone”is a play written by Ben Jonson to ridicule the money-obsessed society he lived in. In
the renaissance era everyone was worrying about inheritance and money. Jonson used satire to
mock how people were at that time. The play was written as an Animal allegory, Volpone the
protagonist 's name means "The fox" in Italian who represents a greedy evil fox.

Ben jonson showed his great skill of characterisation in the play “Volpone”.He brings life into
the characters.By depicting different characters he mocked the sosciaty.The opening of the play
introduces the central characters of the play that is Volpone,who sets the moral tone of the
play.He is so obsessed with his gold that he calls them as saint.Volpone worships his gold and
compares it with Roman God Venus. Volpone is the play’s central figure. He is an old, rich,
childless Italian gentleman with no heir and he values wealth above all else. His name means sly
fox, which is a perfect allegory for his character. He is extremely greedy, and he likes to fool the
other Italian man.Jonson presented his characters that moves from a comic and light hearted to
a rapper when he attempts to rape Celia. olpone fakes his death, creating a chaos in which he is
ultimately discovered, stripped of his wealth, and effectively sentenced to execution.

In the first scene of the play we are also introduce to the second central character,Mosca who embodies
the theme of animalization and practice of living like a parasite. Mosca’s name means fly, and like a
fly, Mosca buzzes around whispering in the ears of all the other characters in the play. He is
Volpone’s parasite and he makes his living by doing Volpone’s bidding. He is praised for his
“quick fiction,” which can be drawn in parallel with the playwright’s “quick comedy,” referred
to in the Prologue. Mosca likes working for Volpone, he easily convinces Voltore,Corbaccio and
Corvino that he is on each of their sides when he’s really on Volpone’s side alon and then he spies an
opportunity to trick even Volpone. During Volpone’s faked death, Mosca played the role as his
heir.

In scene two of the act one we are introduce with Nano and Castrone.Like Volpne and Mosca
they are also perfectly named.Nano means small and Castrone has the same meaning as the
word castrate.

Voltore means “vulture,” and that is appropriate to his name. Voltore is one of the Italian men moving
around Volpone’s deathbed with a hope of getting Volpone’s wealth. He is a well-spoken lawyer.When
Volpone is accused of rapping Celia,Voltore uses his skills to prove his innocence and succeded.

Corvino—"the Raven"—is a successful merchant who uses violence and abuse to get what he wants.He
is jealous of his wife.When he realizes thar it is a greatchance of being named as Volpone’s heir he

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forces his wife to sleep with Volpone. After Volpone's attempted rape of Celia, Corvino conspires
with the other legacy-hunters to put Celia behind bars. He tries to make the story that Celia is
having an affair with Bonario and had plotted to kill Volpone. At the end of the play, Corvino
loses his fortune and his beautiful wife.

Corbaccio—"the Crow"—is a an old man who hopes to live longer than Volpone and be named his
heir. Whenever he receives news of Volpone’s false illness, Corbaccio openly expresses joy,
even saying that hearing that Volpone is dying fills him with youth and energy. Mosca is easily
able to manipulate Corbaccio into disinheriting Bonario. Corbaccio ultimately becomes
corrupted and caught in Mosca’s schemes, and the court forcibly up transfers all of Corbaccio’s
assets to Bonario.

Corbaccio son, Bonario’s name comes from the Italian word for “good,” and he represents
goodness in the play. He is a valiant, morally righteous figure who maintains family values
despite being disinherited by his father. Though Mosca attempts to manipulate him, Bonario is able
to resist this manipulation more than other characters in the play, and he courageously rescues Celia
from Volpone’s attempted rape. In court, he refuses to lie, and he claims that truth will be his only
testimony

Celia is Corvino’s wife and her name means “heaven.” She is innocent, good, and religious, and
she’s faithful to Corvino despite of his suspicious. When Volpone tries to rape her she resists,
and in court she constantly appeals to heaven to expose Volpone. She represents the
Renaissance ideal of a woman silent, and obedient. At the play’s end, she is freed from her
marriage to Corvino by court order.

Sir Politic Would-be is an English knight. However, he is a comic figure because of his nature of
believing and trusting people easily and he tries so hard to give the appearance of being
knowledgeable.

Lady Would-be is Sir politic’s wife. In contrast to Celia, who is confined to her home, Lady
Would-be is given a lot of freedom, roaming Venice freely. she is extremely talkative and well
educated.

Peregrine’s name means “traveler.” When Lady Would-be mistakes Peregrine for a prostitute,
Peregrine believes he has fallen for a prank of Sir Politic’s, and he immediately designs his own
prank in revenge.

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Works cited

Jonson,Ben.Volpone:Om Books International, Noida,2020

Karim,Sajidul. “Ben Jonson’s Volpone:An Unconventional and Innovative J acobean Comedy”.IIUC

STUDIES,Vol-8,ISSN 1813-7733,December 2011,p 27-38.
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Alam,Dr MD Ejaz“Analysing Volpone by Ben jonson”.Volpone2.pdf,2021,

https://mmhapu.ac.in/doc/eContent/English/EjazAlam/Apr2021/Volpone2.pdf.

“Characters of Volpone”. LitCharts,SparkNotes, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/volpone/characters

,22/10/22

“Volpone character analysis essay”. IPL.org, /www.ipl.org/essay/Volpone-Character-Analysis-Essay-

PKJJ2LNFJEDR, 22/10/22

Gangwani,Kapil. “Volpone:play by Ben Jonson in Hindi”Youtube,Study lovers,20 /10/2019,

https://youtu.be/A6koJlocmQE