The Suicide of Volpone

Abstract

Why do two such expert plotters as Volpone and Mosca destroy their own success in the end? The ultimate explanation, of course, is that Jonson wants to end his comedy with a judgement on the villainy he has depicted; but having said that, one must consider whether the downfall of the rogues is simply imposed by the playwright, or whether he has developed it logically out of material already in the play. The danger is indicated by such a play as Middleton's Michaelmas Term, in which the chief intriguer, Quomodo, after four acts of success as a clever knave, suddenly changes roles with his victim, becomes a maladroit fool, and, like Volpone, loses all his winnings. The didactic purpose of the comedy is served, but at some cost to the integrity of the central character. We might expect Jonson to do better than this, and I think he does. Volpone destroys himself, not because he gets careless or his luck runs out at the beginning of Act v, but because of an impulse deeply rooted in his nature, an impu lse that — ironically, in view of its final results — governs his success in the earlier part of the play. It is not simple overreaching, as one might say in the case of Mosca, who, in refusing Volpone's offer of half the estate, is led by greed into taking one risk too many.

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