Volpone The Alchemist and Other Plays

Benjamin Jonson was a Renaissance dramatist poet and actor known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. Jonson focused on creating works that implemented elements of the realistic as well as the absurd. Jonsons 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. Also included in the is collection are The Alchemist a comedy which relates the fraudulent enterprise of a butler when left in charge of his masters house who has fled to the country during an outbreak of the plague; The Epicoene which concerns the farcical scheme of Dauphine to get his inheritance from his uncle; and Bartholomew Fair the comedic tale of a plot to win the widow Dame Purecraft from the hypocritical Puritan Zeal-of-the-Land Busy. All together this collection presents Jonsons most admired and often performed works. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.