Volpone (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) Review

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Volpone (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) ReviewI had expected Jonson's plays to be difficult and certainly less rewarding than Shakespeare. Surprisingly, despite the passage of four centuries, the humor in "Volpone" remains natural and entertaining today. I have now read several other comedies by Ben Jonson, but "Volpone" remains my favorite.
I did have difficulty getting started with "Volpone". The rather long dedication, the argument, and the prologue all took their toll. To make matters worse, I was completely confused and lost in Act One, Scene One, by a "Pythagorean satire", entertainment provided by Volpone's eccentric servants, Mosca, Nano, Andrrogyno, and Castrone. (I later learned that Jonson may have added this literary satire for special performances at Oxford and Cambridge. Apparently Jonson knew his scholars well, as "Volpone" was well-received at both universities.)
Fortunately, Scene One is not representative of the play, and I had little difficulty thereafter with either the plot or the humor. Unlike Shakespeare, Ben Jonson's characters seldom reflect on their motivations in soliloquies or insightful dialogue. We meet characters without great complexity. Once we know them, we find that they remain in character and behave predictably. This does not mean his characters are shallow or uninteresting. I even found myself somewhat sympathetic for the unscrupulous Volpone, Mosca, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. They are all villains, just not particularly villainous villains.
Even though the characters behave predictably, the plot is anything but predictable. The confusion builds throughout the play and I had no idea how Jonson was going to resolve the situation in Act Five. I quite enjoyed "Volpone" and I would like to have an opportunity to see it on stage someday.
One aspect might surprise the modern reader: Volpone's rather unusual house servants include the dwarf Nano, the eunuch Castrone, and the hermaphrodite Androgyno. These individuals, occasional targets for humor, play rather unimportant roles and are sometimes deleted from modern productions.
Ben Jonson was a talented playwright that had the historical misfortune to be a younger contemporary of Shakespeare. He is quite familiar to literary scholars and English literature majors, but for most of us he remains in the shadow of Shakespeare.
You can find several good editions of "Volpone", either alone or in collections. I recommend "Volpone or, The Fox", edited by David Cook, and published by Routledge in London. It was published in 1962, but has been reprinted many times. I benefited greatly from Cook's introduction and footnotes. This softcover book is printed on high quality paper.
Another widely available source is the inexpensive Oxford World's Classics, "The Alchemist and Other Plays" by Ben Jonson. The introduction and footnotes by Gordon Campbell are quite good.
I am a fan of Dover Thrift Editions, but I don't recommend the Dover "Volpone" 1994 edition for a first reading of Jonson as the footnotes are sparse.Volpone (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) OverviewWebster's paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently assigned readings in English courses. By using a running English-to-Arabic thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this edition of Volpone by Ben Jonson was edited for three audiences. The first includes Arabic-speaking students enrolled in an English Language Program (ELP), an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program, an English as a Second Language Program (ESL), or in a TOEFL� or TOEIC� preparation program. The second audience includes English-speaking students enrolled in bilingual education programs or Arabic speakers enrolled in English-speaking schools. The third audience consists of students who are actively building their vocabularies in Arabic in order to take foreign service, translation certification, Advanced Placement� (AP�) or similar examinations. By using the Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition when assigned for an English course, the reader can enrich their vocabulary in anticipation of an examination in Arabic or English.TOEFL�, TOEIC�, AP� and Advanced Placement� are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

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