- The Works of Ben Jonson V3
von Ben Jonson
58,00 - 67,00 €
1816. Part Three of Nine. Dramatist, poet, scholar and writer of court masques, Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure during the reign of King James I. Jonson was known as an avid scholar of Latin and Greek, and his mastery of the classics, the high-spirited buoyancy of his plays and the brilliance of his language have earned him a reputation as one of the great playwrights in English literature. Sejanus is a tragedy in which is told with discriminating taste the story of the haughty favorite of Tiberius with his tragical overthrow. In stressing the arrogance and fall of Sejanus, Jonson was influenced by the medieval conception of tragedy still surviving in the popular Mirror for Magistrates. The play was not a success. Volpone or The Fox Volpone restored Jonson's popularity, which had been temporarily dimmed by the poor reception accorded Sejanus. The subject is a struggle of wit applied to chicanery; from the villainous Fox himself, his rascally servant Mosca, Voltore (the vulture), Corbaccio and Corvino (the big and the little raven), to Sir Politic Would-be and the rest, there is scarcely a virtuous character in the play. The Silent Woman is a gigantic farce. The whole comedy hinges on a huge joke, played by a heartless nephew on his misanthropic uncle, who is induced to take to himself a wife, young, fair, and warranted silent, but who, in the end, turns out neither silent nor a woman at all. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.