How does Volpone earn money and gold?
Volpone is a notable literary work by Ben Jonson. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of Volpone.
Answer
How does Volpone earn money and gold?
Or, How does Volpone extract more and more gifts from legacy hunters? [NU. 2018, 2015]
In Ben Jonson’s (1572-1637) play “Volpone” (1606), Volpone is the central character. He is a rich, greedy old man who has no heir. However, he loves gold very much. He wants to get more gold and gifts. So he devises a plan to loot the greedy people. Here is how he executes his plan.
Pretending to Be Sick: Volpone starts by pretending to be very sick. He lies in bed and acts like he is going to die soon. He does this to fool the legacy hunters—Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. These greedy people want to impress Volpone because they want to be his heir. They want to get his property after his death. So they bring valuable gifts to impress Volpone. Volpone expresses his excitement by saying:
“Now, now, my clients
Begin their visitation! Vulture, kite,
Raven, and gorcrow, all my birds of prey.”
Taking Gifts: The legacy hunters visit Volpone one by one. They bring him expensive gifts. Voltore brings an antique, precious plate. Corbaccio brings a bag of gold coins. Corvino brings a pearl and a diamond for Volpone. Volpone smiles and accepts the gifts. It makes them believe they are his favorite. This way, they keep giving him more and more gifts.
Using Mosca: Mosca is Volpone’s parasite servant. He acts as Volpone’s helper. Mosca lies to each of the legacy hunters and makes them believe they are the only heir to Volpone’s wealth. For example, he tells Voltore that Volpone loves him most. He then says the same thing to Corbaccio and Corvino. In this way, Volpone and Mosca loot them more and more.
In short, Volpone uses the greed of others to manipulate them and extract more and more gifts. Their excessive greed makes them easy to fool.