English 211
Quiz #7: Ben Jonson, Volpone, Acts I & II
1) Even after the first act of Volpone we can tell that characters are concerned with the outcome of a single legal process. The nature of this process has to do with the reason why all those people keep visiting Volpone and giving him gifts. What is it?
2) Several of the characters in Volpone are named for animals who represent characteristics detested in humans. Name one character, identify the character s/he represents, and identify the vice the character represents.
3) Volpone disguises himself in order to seduce someone. Tell me either how he disguises himself and who he is trying to seduce (identify by name, or by a significant relationship or action].
Extra Credit: To what is Volpone referring in the following exclamation?--
"Hail the world's soul, and mine! more glad than is
The teeming earth to see the longed-for sun
Peep through the horns of the celestial ram,
Am I, to view thy spendor darkening his,
That lying here, . . . ,
Show'st like a flame by night, or like the day
Struck out of chaos, when all darkness fled
Unto the center.
For sample answers to these questions and rationales for why they're important questions to ask about this satiric comedy, click here.