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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Volpone's Grift:
In Act 1, Scene 2 of Volpone, the audience is privy to a planning session between Mosca and Volpone as they prepare to fleece the latter’s prospective heirs. In Act 1, Scene 3, as Voltore earnestly arrives at Volpone’s side bearing gifts for the supposedly dying man, Jonson sets up an extended sequence of dramatic irony:
Mosca: You still are what you were sir. Only you,
Of all the rest, are he commands his love,
And you do wisely to preserve it thus,
With early visitation, and kind notes
Of your good meaning to him, which, I know,
Cannot but come most grateful. Patron, sir.
Here's Signior Voltore is come —Volpone: What say you?
Mosca: Sir, Signior Voltore is come this morning
To visit you.Volpone: I thank him.
Mosca: And hath brought
a piece of antique plate, bought of St Mark,
With which he here presents you.Volpone: He is welcome.
Pray him to come more often.
Related Themes:
Act 1, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—Mosca's Deceptive Advice:
In Act 1, Scene 5, Corvino arrives at Volpone’s side with a gift of a pearl and a diamond. In a moment of particular dramatic irony, after Corvino declares that seeing Volpone in his sick bed is a “pitiful,” Mosca confides:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tut, forget, sir.
The weeping of an heir should still be the laughter
Under a visor.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Monkey Spies:
The entirety of Act 2, Scene 1 is a masterpiece of dramatic irony in which Peregrine toys with Sir Politic Would-Be, who will agree with anything he says. Peregrine goads him into making up more and more ridiculous stories. The audience is well aware of the farce, but Sir Politic himself is quite out of the loop:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Peregrine: I have heard, sir,
That your baboons were spies, and that they were
A kind of subtle nation near to China.Sir Politic: Ay, ay, your Mamuluchi. Faith, they had
Their hand in a French plot, or two; but they
Were so extremely given to women as
They made discovery of all; yet I
Had my advices here, on Wednesday last,
From one of their own coat, they were returned,
Made their relations, as the fashion is,
And now stand fair for fresh employment.Peregrine [aside]: —Heart!
This Sir Pol will be ignorant of nothing—
It seems, sir, you know all.
Act 3, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Mosca's Gift:
In Act 3, Scene 2, Mosca sees Bonario in the street and recognizes him as Corbaccio’s son. Bonario rebukes Mosca for his “baseness,” dismissing him as a vile and immoral creature. When Mosca explodes in a fit of emotion at these accusations, Bonario realizes he may have been too “harsh” with the man:
Unlock with LitCharts A+This cannot be a personated passion! —
I was to blame, so to mistake thy nature;
Pray thee forgive me and speak out thy business.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Thrill of the Chase:
In Act 5, Scene 5, Volpone leaves Mosca alone in his house as he leaves to check in on the court proceedings. Soliloquizing on his machinations to the audience, Mosca builds upon the metaphorical animal identities of the play's characters and reveals his plot against Volpone, or "the fox."
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] My fox
Is out on his hole, and ere he shall re-enter,
I’ll make him languish in his borrowed case,
Except he come to composition with me.[...]
So, now I have the keys and am possessed.
Since he will needs be dead afore his time,
I'll bury him, or gain by him. I'm his heir,
And so will keep me, till he share at least.
To cozen him of all were but a cheat
Well placed; no man would cònstrue it a sin.
Let his sport pay for 't. This is called the fox-trap.
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