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...a solid and useful book. "Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England"
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
Volphone's reverential prayer to his heaps of gold launches the sharpest, funniest play about money and morals in the 17th century - a play still wickedly relevant on the same topics four centuries later. Ben Jonson's comedy depicts selfishness thinly veiled by sanctimonious speeches, lust and possessiveness poorly disguised as love and marriage, and cynical legalism passing itself off as pure justice, alongside snobbery, class warfare and greed. The wily protagonists keep a dozen conventional plots spinning in the minds of their dupes, and when their amazing juggling act finally unravels, there are yet more twists - and an even deeper cynicisim - to the story. The play is partly a beast-fable: the wily fox, Volpone, plays dead to lure flesh-eating birds that he can then consume. But the beasts are the human race, and polite society the biggest, greediest scam of them all. This student edition contains a lengthy Introduction with background on the author, date and sources, critical interpretation and stage history. Robert N. Watson is Distinguished Professor of English at UCLA. His publications include Critical Essays on Ben Jonson (as editor) and Ben Jonson's Parodic Strategy. He also edited the New Mermaids edition of Every Man in His Humour.
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Never, most equal sisters, had any man a wit so presently excellent as that it could raise itself, but there must come both matter, occasion, commenders, and favourers to it. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Never, most equal sisters, had any man a wit so presently excellent as that it could raise itself, but there must come both matter, occasion, commenders, and favourers to it. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came upon this play and Ben Jonson by the back door. I was watching a movie titled "The Honey Pot" with Rex Harrison. His character Cecil Fox after observing this play used the outline for his own purposes. So naturally, I have to read the play to see what the movie is mimicking.
I have several copies of "Valpone" (the fox) to compare information on Ben. This is a review of the "New Mermaids Series" I have several of their series. They give you all the background information and any annotation needed. They make the information interesting enough that you feel that Ben Jonson is in the room with you. I am sure some people would not want to be in the same room. I was surprised to find that William Shakespeare acted in some of Ben's plays.
The play is well written and has many levels to it. If it did not have so many footnotes, I would be in trouble. It reads as an English play yet has parts that would make Stephen King blush.
I have several copies of "Valpone" (the fox) to compare information on Ben. This is a review of the "New Mermaids Series" I have several of their series. They give you all the background information and any annotation needed. They make the information interesting enough that you feel that Ben Jonson is in the room with you. I am sure some people would not want to be in the same room. I was surprised to find that William Shakespeare acted in some of Ben's plays.
The play is well written and has many levels to it. If it did not have so many footnotes, I would be in trouble. It reads as an English play yet has parts that would make Stephen King blush.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came upon this play and Ben Jonson by the back door. I was watching a movie titled "The Honey Pot" with Rex Harrison. His character Cecil Fox after observing this play used the outline for his own purposes. So naturally I have to read the play to see what the movie is mimicking.
I have several copies of "Valpone" (the fox) to compare information on Ben. This is a review of the "New Mermaids Series" I have several of their series. They give you all the background information and any annotation needed. They make the information interesting enough that you feel that Ben Jonson is in the room with you. I am sure some people would not want to be in the same room. I was surprised to find that William Shakespeare acted in some of Ben's plays.
The play is well written and has many levels to it. If it did not have so many footnotes I would be in trouble. It reads like an English play yet has parts that would make Stephen King blush.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Wise, satirically witty, and excellently written, Ben Jonson's 'Volpone' is a study of duplicity, selfishness, and material greed. Volpone, a Venetian crook who fakes illnesses, tricks his acquaintances into paying him money, and turns the circle of those he knows strategically against one another; is one of the best evoked protagonists of the Renaissance period. He is backed up by Mosca, his 'parasite', who spends the majority of the play aiding and abetting Volpone's cynical schemes. The play's evocation of evil is excellent - equal parts deliciously-handled comedy, and serious critique of excess. The play also interweaves a number of sub-plots, some working well with the main plot, such as Volpone's plan to coerce a local merchant into cuckolding his wife for Volpone, but others, primarily the plot of the two English statesmen, often seems a little hackneyed and improbable. On the whole, 'Volpone' is a highly enjoyable play, and one which is surprisingly still laugh-out-loud funny in places, and as relevant now, as when it was first produced, in 1606. There are one or two mis-steps along the way, and Volpone and Mosca's schemes begin to wear slightly thin towards the close of the play, but this is still an excellent piece of Renaissance comedy-drama.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
complex look on society,and what we'll do for money
this play is not just to be read-it's too deep for that, to fulfill its potential for the reader you must look much further into this comical stance on society, today and always! Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2001 by jill parkinson
Histerically historical look at the 17 Centuary
While studying this book for my english A-Level i lerent a great deal about the politics and humour of the time, as well as a very good story and twisting plot, it lets us know... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2000 by fatman@deal-maker.com
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