After analyzing the satire of Volpone, the concepts of greed and money were at the forefront of my thoughts. We currently live in a world where often money is the root of all evil. A battle regarding wealth can destory friendships, marriages, businesses, families, and even countries. Every person probably knows at least another being whose obsession for money has impacted them in a negative way. It is fascinating to realize that some things never change. Regardless of class, race, ethnicity, location, or religion, the need for accumulation of wealth is endless. Within the literature of Volpone, each character's life revolved around the notion of wealth, whether they directly engaged in that crusade or they were forced into the struggle.
In the play, every character was in desperate lust of something; money. Each character reveals their greed in a unique way, as well as distincively chastised for their gluttony. Moreover, each person's greed is portrayed through a maze of disguises and betrayels.
Volpone, the main character, has no family or real friends, yet all he wants in the world is the acquision of more money and gifts, despite the fact that he has all he needs. When people are blinded by greed, they refuse to see the true lacking in their lives. Nonetheless, after he wrongly acquires exceeding amounts of objects from the legacy holders and purposefully deceives everyone he knows, he comes out on bottom.
Two can play at this game; Mosca learned from the best. This character thought he had an ideal situation; he obediently carried out and assisted in all of Volpone's evil plans. Nonetheless, Mosca thought he had the last laugh when he helped execute Volpone's last hoax; the imitation of his own death. Volpone trusted Mosca (since he was the only "family" he had), and Mosca continued to elaborate his death, in order to gain Volpone's money for himself.
All three of the "legacy holders" were also in lust of Volpone's money, and seemed to stop at nothing to gain control of his assets. They were all willing to give up everything; the non-material things that matter most in life. Voltore was willing to sacriface his profession and identity, Corvino was willing to give up his beautiful and kind wife, and Corbaccio was willing to forfeit his own son in return for short-lived wealth.
In the end, every person involved did end up happy, wealthy, or successful. In actuality, they were alone, banished, dismissed, and ridiculed. It was amazing to think that the actions and consequences of greed are the same throughout time and space.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines greed as “Inordinate or insatiate longing, especially for wealth; avaricious or covetous desire” So if there was no greed would there be a world with no desire for self-improvement? People work hard to gain luxuries such as fancy cars and big homes. But my question is, isn’t it more important to give to others when you have too much yourself? Yes, you can be greedy but also be greedy for mankind.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post..greed and money is certainly a powerful theme in this play and like always,it is something that everyone will always need and want more of. Jamie, makes a good point that there are people who keep it all for themselves and others who share. I think that the true "greedy" people, like Volpone, only think about themselves and therefore that is why they are left so unhappy. If money never existed would there still have this problem?
ReplyDeleteJack, I'm going to answer your question ...and the answer is yes we would still have a problem. This is because it is not just money that creates this problem of greed- it's an obsession with material items and having things that others don't have or that others want. Even if we went back to the bartering system there would be people who would barter for outlandish things just to seem wealthy and mantain a certain social status in the eyes of others. True happiness comes from within and from the relationships you mantain with the people you love... the characters in Volpone and many people in today's society fall to realize this!!
ReplyDeleteTo try and answer your question Erin, I do think that in the real world greedy people can die happy. Volpone seemed like a very greedy and happy person for most of the play. Volpone got in trouble not because he was greedy, but because he was a criminal. A person can accumulate wealth in a greedy way without doing something illegal. Some greedy people will never give money to their loved ones, country, or charity yet are happy because of the money they accumulate. I think this story is an optimistic story and one that is hopeful for mankind. It is funny how a society can judge criminals. When watching Ocean's Eleven do we not root for George Clooney and Brad Pitt to leave with stolen money? There are some ludicrous double standards in society. And that is what I call a ramble. Great rumination!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I couldn't help think about was that Volpone could have gotten away with his schemes if Mosca hadn't gotten greedy. While it's obvious that he's punished for his own greed, it's just the nature of greed in general and its effects on groups of people that completely spoiled the plot.
ReplyDeleteI think there's a very fine line between greed and ambition. Ambition is the desire to make a difference somehow. Greed is just the desire to have possession of something in order to simply satiate that desire. Ambition leads to self-improvement through actual innovation, and greed is just an endless cycle of self-gratification.
Of course, both greed and ambition have led mankind from caves and jungle floors to kingdoms to skyscrapers to space exploration. But, I don't think I could ever say that greed itself is a good thing or can ever really be a good thing. Every once in a while it may yield "good" results, but I think ambition is the actual "good greed" that I've seen mentioned in this week's ruminations and comments.
I agree that we would still have the same problem of greed even if we didn't have currency in the world. Even now we still have greed for land, food, women, beautiful things like jewels and gold. Money is simply only side of the equation, an important side, but still only one of things that helps greed grow.
ReplyDeleteWe might be happier and better off if we were still in caves/didn't progress past our basest instincts. I know I wish I could just lounge under a tree during the heat of the day instead of worrying about stocks or some such thing. The lions and most other animals seem fine with not taking more than they need, why not us?