Parasitism
Throughout the play, numerous characters remark about Mosca's status as a "parasite," or a creature that feeds off of another to sustain its own life. The prevalence of parasitic imagery suggests that the legacy-hunters experience anxiety over Mosca's low status but proximity to Volpone – Voltore is more upset by Mosca's promotion to heir than he is about his own loss of the chance. The play suggests, however, that Mosca is not the only parasite, and that all the characters are parasitic in one form or another through their reliance on others for their livelihood.
Divine Gold
Volpone's elaborate description of his shrine at the beginning of the play places gold and coins in the position of a near-divine being. He essentially worships at the "temple" of his shrine, arguing that it is brighter than the rising sun. This over-the-top depiction of gold showcases Volpone's skewed perspective of what matter most in his life.
Luxury
During Volpone's attempted seduction of Celia, he paints a portrait of an indulgent and luxurious lifestyle for her – one in which she will have pearls, more beautiful than Cleopatra's, that she can simply dissolve and drink. This imagery of luxury emphasizes Volpone's self-involved perspective and disillusionment; he thinks he will be able to win over the devoutly Christian Celia with material goods and promises of indulgence.
Animals
Of course, animal imagery underlies the entire play, which enacts a beast fable involving a fox, a fly, and three carrion-birds. As such, descriptions of characters are often made in animalistic terms, associating each character with the quality of the animal their name represents. Mosca, for example, is the Italian word for "fly," and Mosca demonstrates his fly-like nature by parasitically living off of Volpone (before, of course, manipulating all the characters and stepping into the role of heir himself).
