Volpone, or The Fox

This was my first Ben Jonson play. Admittingly, I did not think I was going to enjoy it. I am typically not the comedic type-- or so I thought. Yet, Jonson charms with his blank verse and the play flows so adequately and wonderfully that it is a pleasure to read. The only thing that prevented it from getting a five-star rating was the antiquity of the play. It is hard to completely understand, due to the nuances of language, one-hundred percent of what is happening. Nevertheless, it was a great read and I will read more Ben Jonson in the future.

A genuinely funny Elizabethan comedy, Volpone takes a cynical look at people trying to become the sole heirs of the rich, childless, Volpone who appears to be on his deathbed. Volpone is, however, only pretending to be dying in order to laugh at the efforts to win his favor.
I read this prior to attending a performance, in German, of Volpone at Munich's Volkstheater. The German version was written by Stefan Zweig but was not a real translation of the original by Ben Johnson. Apparently Zweig had wanted to translate the work while on vacation in France but realized when he arrived that he had not brought a copy with him. So, he created the German version from memory and ended up creating a new work. For those that read German, the Zweig show more version is very much recommended. show less

Had a bit of a hard time following the plot completely. A few of the main characters had very similar names which resulted in some confusion throughout. Not an earth-shattering play, but had a few memorable moments and a few clever lines.

Riotous farce about money and greed. Ben Jonson is no Shakespeare, but he has quite a talent.

This Revels Student Edition, with a carefully modernized text, presents new material about "Volpone" 's debt to the popular Reynard beast epic and Italian "commedia dell 'art" and discusses its mockery of greed in relation to two Renaissance perversions of the myth of a Golden Age. Referring to famous productions, it pays particular attention to decisions that must be made whenever the play is performed.

part of a double book – with enquiry

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