The Nature of Human Avarice In Ben Jonson's Volpone
By
Abdel Karim Ibrahim Rawashdeh
P.O. Box 9873
Department of English
Princess Alia College
El - Balqa Applied University
Amman, Jordan e-mail: 503@bau.edu.jo
kareem.rawashdeh@Gmail.com
The Nature of Human Avarice In Ben Jonson's Volpone
Throughout history, avarice has always been an important topic in works of literature. This human desire for more of something and the craving to accumulate more and more wealth; and to hold on to what one has accumulated has always been the focus point of writers since the Greek antiquity and the myth of Midas' lust for gold is a case in point. The goal of this
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Celia and Bonario, like Faithful Few, function as virtuous figures whose behaviour provides a standard by which to judge the world of the play. The last set is Volpone and Mosca, who victimize both the “estates” and the virtues ( Dessen 81 ). Because satire is his object, Ben Jonson therefore has to begin with a character or a group of characters fitted to his lash. He then places them in a certain situation to show them at their worst, and by a prodigious intellectual mastery contrives the complete series of their logical development into successive scenes ( McDonald 14 ). Jonson's depiction of humans in society disturbs us, for he is pessimistic about the penalties of Adam. His characters are rarely better off at the end than at the beginning of his comedies, and those who accidentally profit do so only financially. The Jonsonian world is static and confined, hardly subject even to change. The characters are flat that they have very little change in mood and motive. They are different from Shakespeare's characters that develop and surprise us ( Parteidge 63 ). Russ McDonald states
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two young, “star-crossed” lovers from feuding families, destined for disaster. The Capulets and the Montagues have an ancient grudge on one another that has been passed down over generations. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet end up victims of their families’ vicious loathing. Romeo and Juliet’s story has several intertwining themes such as the aforementioned hatred between the Capulets and Montagues and the revenge Romeo strives for after his friend Mercutio’s death. Also, the love and passion between Romeo and Juliet and the loyalty of Romeo and his friends. Honour and revenge also feature frquently throughout the play including Juliet’s pressure to honour her family, and the revenge Romeo sees as his duty when Tybalt kills Mercutio.
...es toward the forbidden love, acting against his consciousness of formidable fate, and the reassurance and scheming of pitiable decisions points fingers at Friar Laurence as the most to condemn for the deaths of the gentleman Romeo and the beautiful Juliet. Yet, Shakespeare's original play retains tremendous levels of twists and turns that spiral to the tragic finale of Romeo and Juliet's end. Consequently, the blame cannot be assigned so simply to one figure amongst many characters who fed the flames, strangling the existence of the young lovers. But, when the question of blame plagues of onlookers of this play, the Friar's name lingers in the thick air polluted by the toughs of slithering lips.
The concept of greed, which was previously centered on consumption, is currently associated with material accumulation and seen as a self-conscious material vice (Robertson 2001, p. 76). Further analysis singles out several types of greed for money and possessions: greed as service and obedience to wealth, greed as love and devotion to wealth, greed as trusting in wealth (Rosner 2007, p. 11). The characters of The Great Gatsby portray all of the aforementioned types of greed. For instance early in the story Gatsby becomes aware of “the youth and m...
In Chapter 4 of a book titled Escape from Freedom, the famous American psychologist Erich Fromm wrote that "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction" (Fromm 98). Fromm realized that avarice is one of the most powerful emotions that a person can feel, but, by its very nature, is an emotion or driving force that can never be satisfied. For, once someone obtains a certain goal, that person is not satisfied and continues to strive for more and more until that quest leads to their ultimate destruction. For this reason, authors have embraced the idea of greed in the creation of hundreds of characters in thousands of novels. Almost every author has written a work centered around a character full of avarice. Ian Fleming's Mr. Goldfinger, Charles Dickens' Scrooge, and Thomas Hardy's John D'Urberville are only a few examples of this attraction. But, perhaps one of the best examples of this is found in William Shakespeare's King Lear. Edmund, through his speech, actions, and relationships with other characters, becomes a character consumed with greed to the point that nothing else matters except for the never-ending quest for status and material possessions.
Minor characters play a very crucial role in Shakespear's Hamlet. They serve as narrators for events that occurred outside the immediate play: the Dane's ghost. Distinct contrasts are created through the usage of the play's minor characters. The reader gains new perspective on Hamlet's character when he is compared with Laertes. The presence of these minor characters can also have a direct effect on the action of the play. The actors in the play within the play are used to expose the guilt of Claudius; Hamlet then has proof of the King's crimes. The expertise use of these characters - either to exemplify good and purity, or to spread the vile corruption which permeates Elsinore - is one of the main reasons for Hamlet's success as one of the greatest plays ever written.
Almost all of the characters in the film are a depiction of aristocracy and their struggle to maintain their status and glory and to live their lives as expected by the society they live in. Infidelity is also evident in the film wherein Jourdain and Elmire are included. Disloyalty also comes in on the part of Moliere as a servant to Jourdain, when he had an affair with Elmire and on the part of Dorante as a friend of Jourdain, when he fooled Jourdain. Hidden agendas and plans are also apparent on the part of Jourdain’s older daughter: her secret love with her piano teacher and on Dorante’s part of performing his hidden evil plan to Jourdain.
However, Volpone is by no means a simple comedy, and there are elements of several genres contemporary to Jonson an...
Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, depicts an ancient feud ended by a pair of star-crossed lovers’ deaths. A lord and lady from warring families seek a forbidden love with guidance from a friar and nurse. Due to a tragic course of mischances and fateful errors, their attempt of eloping led the lovers to a tragic end. Because of rash decisions, the four characters are torn apart by miscalculating events and misunderstandings. Ultimately, the four characters encounter a heartbreaking ending, as a result of their hastiness.
And so greed exists in the modern periods, saturating its two of its most famous novels and a theme of two of its most famous authors, portraying as all evil as caused by greed, illustrating the true cynicism of the era.
Romeo and Juliet is a famous play that was first performed between 1594 and 1595, it was first printed in 1597. Romeo and Juliet is not entirely fictional as it is based on two lovers who lived in Verona. The Montague’s and Capulet’s are also real. Romeo and Juliet is one of the ten tragedies that William Shakespeare wrote. In this essay, I aim to investigate what act 1, scene1 makes you expect about the rest of the play.
Their heart-rending deaths are of course tragic, resulting as they do from an unforeseeable flaw in Friar Laurence's well-intentioned but unlikely plan. Their lives, however, serve to prove that young love is viable, that young people know what they want and will go to extreme lengths to find it. The fair (ie beautiful) city of Verona is a city of promise, one where young love can flourish; it is also a city where swords are drawn in an instant and where life can perish on a sword-point. In such a situation, we cannot be surprised at the existence of a smouldering feud between two prominent families (the Capulets and the Montagues) nor should we be surprised if the young people do not always follow their parents' wishes.
In the tremendous play of ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Shakespeare’s ways engages the audience straight away. The astounding methods he uses hooks the audience into the play and allows them to read on, wondering what will happen. The tragic love story of Romeo & Juliet, as mentioned in the prologue, sets a variety of themes throughout Act 1 Scene 5. Many of the recognisable themes are: youth and age, revenge, forbidden love, fate, action and hate. The main idea of the play is a feud that had been going on between two families, The ‘Montagues and Capulets’, the son of the Montagues and the daughter of the Capulets fall in love and the story tells us how tragic, death, happiness and revenge find them throughout the play.
...goal of the Antitheatrical movement in the Renaissance, was both supported and denounced by Jonson in various ways. However, the general perception is that Jonson (unlike Shakespeare) fueled the fires of degradation- implicating women with the weakness, lack of intelligence, and reason they were believed to exude. In the annals of theatrical history, Jonson's metadrama could be said to perpetuate this social stereotype. Nevertheless, Jonson's crossing of the gender line and sexual scenes like Volpone's "flashing" of Celia were enough to have religious, moral, and social commentators screaming blood murder. Two issues demand prominence in the play. While outwardly a play driven by blatant genderless controversy, the inward thematic, character-driven nature of Volpone suggests a conformity and adherence to the intellectual and theological moralism of the time.
"The Necklace," Guy de Maupassant effectively employs a very dreary mood, despondent character and a surprise ending to develop the idea that when an individual is overcome by greed, that person has an excessive desire to obtain material wealth to feel self sustained.
Love is a very passionate and powerful emotion that can unite and conquer several generations of hate. William Shakespeare’s play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set the 14th century in Verona, Italy. It is centred on the important conflict between two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The play focuses moreso on the romantic relationship between the heirs of the feuding families, Romeo of the Montague house and Juliet of the Capulet House, and flow on effects of the conflict on both families. The conflict can be shown at three different key stages in the play, at the beginning, near the middle and at end. The two lovers, one from each family, commit suicide after becoming entangled in this conflict. It is only after the deaths of their kin do