Comparing Othello and Volpone Essay -- Comparison Compare Contrast Ess

Similarities in Othello and Volpone Upon reading Shakespe bes l604 tragedy, Othello, the Moor of Venice and Jonsons l606 comedy, Volpone, or The Foxe, a reader will notice both similarities and differences. In both solves, we knock against characters of rare ingenious knavery. Indeed, Iago, Volpone, and Mosca are uncommonly similar in nature. An puzzle out con game is practiced in each play by dint of intriguing dramatic inventiveness. However, the focus of Shakespeares tragedy is upon a noble and deluxe figure the focus of Jonsons comedy is upon a monster of depravity, a supporter in crime. Comparisons between these great plays continues to pale when Jonsons script is held up to scrutiny. Whereas Shakespeares 17th century work in comedy would turn continually toward aristocratic edges, romance, and the pastoral, mixing both the serious and the humorous, Jonson cleared a reputation as one of the major social satirists of the English dramatic tradition. In fact, Jonsons co medies establish the tradition of social comedy on the English stage. In Volpone, although the sarcasm is ultimately moral, its immediate aim is mostly social or legal. The play unmasks the artificial features of respectability, exposing vice and the manipulations of hypocrites. To his credit, Jonson did not altogether excuse the imperceptiveness of the victims in the play. Jonsons substitution characters are among the early models of anti-heroes, a term generally restricted to characters put together in Dostoevski, Sartre, or Camus. The specimens dramatized in Volpone are not merely fools, scarce money-hungry, lustful, morally despicable knaves. Their names immediately suggest their depravity because they are identified with the world of beasts. Thus, the lawy... ... Now, though the Fox be punishd by the laws, / He yet doth hope, there is no suffring due, / For any fact which he hath through gainst you / If there be a censure him here he provisional stands. / If not, fare jov ially, and clap your hands. Works Cited and Consulted Barish, Jonas A. Ben Jonson A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963. Campbell, Lily B. Shakespeares Tragic Heroes. New York Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1970. Dessen, Alan C. Jonsons Moral Comedy. Northwestern University. Press, 1971. Kermode, Frank. Othello, the Moor of Venice. The riverbank Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, MA Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.