Ben Jonson 
Volpone, or, The Fox 

Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. He worked shortly as an actor in ’The Admiral’s Men’, but soon moved on to writing original plays for the troupe. Jonson’s works are particularly recognizable because of his consistencies in style, intricacy of plot, characterization and setting. He focused on creating works that implemented elements of the realistic as well as the absurd. Jonson’s most performed play, and the one that sparked a period of great success for the playwright, is ’Volpone, or The Fox.’ Volpone, a Venetian con artist, is feigning to be on his death bed, pitting several aspirant heirs against one another. The dark comedy is as much serious as it is amusing, exposing the audience to greedy, corrupt characters that at first seem absurdly fictional, but who ultimately reveal a number of societal flaws.