Volpone, or The Fox

Ben JonsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.6

Word count: 298K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Volpone; Or, The Fox by Ben JonsonAuthor: Jonson, Ben, 1573?-1637,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 1, 2003

Editor's review

Volpone; Or, The Fox is Ben Jonson's signature comedy, built around the Venetian rich man Volpone's feigned illness and the swarm of legacy-hunters who vie to out-gift one another. It is celebrated for its exaggerated gallery of greed and its sharp satire. Jonson's dialogue is dense with verbal wit; the characters are types yet sharply differentiated, and the plot locks together like a mechanism. It is a key text for understanding seventeenth-century English city comedy and the tradition of moral satire. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English eBook, convenient for searching and comparative reading, and suitable as a supplementary text for courses in theatre history and Renaissance literature, as well as for independent study by readers drawn to satirical comedy. While reading, note how animal names such as the fox and the fly map onto human weaknesses, and how the cony-catching structure generates ironic tension. Because the original is in early modern English, annotated editions or introductory guides can significantly lower the threshold of comprehension.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers of English Renaissance drama and city comedy
Students who need to read primary texts for English literature courses
General readers interested in satirical comedy and cony-catching narratives
Readers who want to understand the theatrical milieu shared by Jonson and Shakespeare

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light, accessible storytelling who are unused to early modern English
Readers who want only a modern translation and have no interest in comparing the English original
Readers with little interest in moral satire and type characters

Reading tips

Read the plot summary and character list first to clarify the layers of the con, then enter the original dialogue.
Prepare a glossary of early modern English; note dialect and puns as you go and look them up later.
Read alongside a modern translation or a recorded performance to help grasp the comic timing.
After finishing, chart each legacy-hunter's motive and outcome to appreciate how the satirical structure closes its circle.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is the English difficulty suitable for readers who are not English majors?

The original uses early seventeenth-century English, whose syntax and vocabulary are distant from contemporary English, so readers without a background in English studies will face some obstacles reading it straight through. It is advisable to use an annotated edition, a modern translation, or a reliable plot guide: grasp the plot and satirical intent first, then return to key soliloquies, and it will be easier to enter.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition, and is it suitable for scholarly citation?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a free public-domain electronic text, convenient for searching, copying, and comparative reading, and suitable for course preparation and general study. But it is an electronic text aimed at a broad audience and may not preserve all variants and notes of a scholarly edition; for formal scholarly citation, authoritative critical editions should still be consulted, with page numbers and edition information verified.

What background knowledge is needed before reading this play?

It helps to know first the tradition of early seventeenth-century London city comedy, Jonson's creative orientation as a contemporary of Shakespeare with a markedly different style, and the period's common imaginings of greed, inheritance, and Venetian commercial society. With this background, the animal names and the cony-catching structure will more readily reveal their satirical targets.

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About the author

Ben Jonson Author · English · 1573–1637

Ben Jonson (1573?–1637) was an English playwright, poet, and actor of the Renaissance, born in London. In 1616 he published a collected edition of his plays on his own initiative, and in 1619 he was named Poet Laureate. He is best known for his satirical comedies, including Volpone Or, The Fox, The Alchemist, Epicoene Or, The Silent Woman, Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy, The Devil is an Ass, and Every Man in His Humour, as well as Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems. Drawing largely on urban life, these works are marked by a cool, witty tone and sharp commentary on human weakness and social manners, and they exerted a lasting influence on seventeenth-century English drama. Twelve of his works are held in this collection; further biographical details are limited in publicly available sources.