“Volpone”-beast fable Essay Example

they are human beings who behave like animals. After giving the suitable background of ‘gold’ Volpone gives the first reference of the beast imagery when Voltore comes knocking.

After getting the exquisitely carved plate from Voltore, Volpone cannot help restrain his beast-like tendencies and asks Mosca a question using the beast imagery. Volpone is not the only one to resort to beast imagery to express himself better or define others more clearly. Corbaccio and Corvino also use animal imagery quite frequently and find their passions reflected in the animal world. Enraged by his son’s behavior, as reported by Mosca and driven by his own greed, Corbaccio disclaims Bonario as It appears that the more debased a character is, the more prone he is to employ bestial imagery.

The characters of the subplot are not untouched by the use of his imagery and Lady Would-be gladly accuses Celia of the base virtues and censures her in the following words, Out, thou chameleon harlot! Now thine eyes Vie tears with the hyena. The subplot of the play is linked to the main plot by the beast fable. Sir Politic, the main character of the subplot is a parrot, his wife is the female parrot who not only chatters but mimics also and Peregrine is the falcon.

When it comes to punishment the characters are accorded the ‘reward’ as per their names and characters they played in the play. Volpone is to be in chains as an animal is and has to suffer all the diseases he so shamelessly pretended to be suffering from in the play. Volpone describes his punishment as ‘the mortifying of

a fox’. Voltore the vulture is exiled from the society of learned men and left to prey in the woods. Corbaccio is confined to the monastery and Corvino the cuckold is to wear the horns and roam about in the Venetian streets.

The beast fable sketched the fox as one who deludes the predatory birds pretending to be dead on the ground and then foxes them and deprives them of their shares. Thus it is clear that Jonson has deliberately used the beast fable in the play. One of the most important functions that the beast fable provides is that it helps in the revelation of the gradual descent of many characters. Volpone, as it is, presents the negative sides of the Renaissance. The man was supposed to occupy a middle position in what was called the Great Chain of Being. He was gifted with free will as well as reason.

If he used them following ethical and moral conduct for his spiritual uplift then he transcended the earthy status and became an angel but if he did otherwise he was condemned for life and fell into the category of evil. This is what is the aim of the beast fable in the play. The characters in the zeal of Renaissance spirit try to attain the unattainable; that land of fabulous gold by taking a detour and fall. They are governed by the misguided notion of transcendence and their desire for transformation leads only to their deformation.