Summary
Act Two, Scene One
Outside of Corvino's house in the public square, Sir Politic Would-be and Peregrine discuss England, their home country. Sir Politic tells Peregrine that he is away from England because his wife is fond of Venice. Peregrine becomes suspicious that he is being mocked when Sir Politic asks if it is true that a raven made a nest in one of the King's royal ships. Peregrine quickly comes to gather, however, that Sir Politic is full of hot-air. Jokingly, Peregrine confirms the story of the raven as well as a rumor that a lioness gave birth in the Tower of London; Sir Politic becomes agitated at these bad omens. Peregrine comments to the audience that Sir Politic would make a good actor.
Act Two, Scenes Two and Three
While discussing the death of Master Stone, a clown who Sir Politic believed to be a spy, Sir Politic and Peregrine are interrupted by the entrance of Mosca and Nano, in disguise, who begin to set up a mountebank's platform. Though Peregrine protests that mountebanks are "lewd impostors" (2.1.14), Sir Politic insists that "They are the only knowing men of Europe!" (2.1.9) Volpone enters in the guise of Scoto of Mantua, a well-known mountebank.
Upon his platform, Volpone clears the name of Scoto and advertises his oil, Oglio del Scoto, as an elixir. Ironically, while doing so, Volpone notes that gold is powerless to heal bodily afflictions like colds, and that good health is priceless. He also claims that he despises money. After pretending to offer his elixir at a discount, he asks for a handkerchief as a favor from a member of the audience. Corvino's wife Celia, who had been watching from her window above, tosses her handkerchief down to Volpone. Volpone tells her he will repay her with a magic powder. Corvino enters the public square and furiously breaks up the mountebank demonstration.
Act Two, Scene Four
Back at Volpone's house, Volpone swoons over Celia. Volpone tells Mosca to use his fortune in whatever way he needs in order to win Celia. Volpone admits that he never truly intended Corvino to be his heir, but that he intends to cuckold him. Volpone worries that his disguise was not good enough and that he will be discovered by the color of his beard and eyebrows. Mosca reassures him and makes a passing comment about wishing he could follow in Volpone's footsteps and yet "Escape [his] epilogue" (2.4.34).
Act Two, Scene Five
In his house, Corvino reprimands Celia for flirting with a lowly mountebank in public. He brandishes his sword, threatening to stab her with it. He becomes fixated on the idea that Celia will now begin a secret love affair with the mountebank. Celia protests that she never even leaves her room except to go to church. Corvino vows to cover up the window and forbid her from even going within three yards of it. A knock comes at the door and he tells her that if she interferes with his business, he will cut her into pieces.
Act Two, Scenes Six and Seven
Corvino believes that Mosca's appearance at his door means that Volpone has died. However, Mosca tells Corvino that Volpone has made a miraculous recovery by taking the Oglio del Scoto. Now, says Mosca, the doctors have recommended that Volpone sleep with a woman in order to keep his health. Corvino recommends a prostitute, but Mosca says he does not trust them. Mosca then claims that Lupo, a doctor, offered Volpone his virgin daughter. Taking this as a sign of competition for Volpone's inheritance, Corvino offers up his wife. Mosca tells Corvino that he is certain to be Volpone's heir and that during Volpone's next seizure, Mosca might pull the pillow from behind his head and let him die.
Corvino, convinced that Celia must sleep with Volpone in order to secure his inheritance, tries to patch things up with Celia. He tells Celia that he didn't mean the things he said. He tells her he is not jealous and that he will show it to her if she comes with him to a feast at Volpone's.
Analysis
Act Two, Scene One
The roles of Sir Politic Would-be and Peregrine are more subtle than the roles of any other characters in Volpone. Although Sir Politic's wife is directly involved in the action, Sir Politic himself is more of a bystander. In fact, it is as a bystander that we are introduced to him at the beginning of Act Two. The subplot involving Sir Politic and Peregrine comes close to violating Aristotle's unity of action, but seems to underscore the theme of Vengeance in the play. In addition, the fact that Sir Politic and Peregrine are from England signifies that Jonson did not intend to exempt his home country from criticism. As Jonas Barish has pointed out, the presence of Sir Politic, Lady Would-be, and Peregrine is most likely intended as a connection between the Italian state and the English state. In Volpone, Barish points out, Venice is a "looking glass for England whereby that country is warned to heed the lesson of the Italian state lest its own follies turn to vices and destroy it" (84).
Moreover, the Animalization theme continues in the characters of Sir Politic and Peregrine. Pol, the shortened form of Politic's name, means "parrot" and sums up perfectly the hollow garrulousness shared by him and his wife. Peregrine, whose name means "falcon," is named for his shrewdness. Not surprisingly, Peregrine is the one who sees through the mountebank's scam while Sir Politic is utterly fooled by it.
Act Two, Scenes Two and Three
Volpone's sales pitch is an example of dramatic irony. Only we the audience know that the mountebank is not Scoto of Mantua but rather Volpone. Thus, when Volpone says that despises money, we know that he is contradicting his speech from 1.1. What's more, when Volpone states that good health is priceless, he foreshadows his own punishment in 5.12 - the deprivation of good health - as ordered by the Avocatori.
The handkerchief which Celia gives to Volpone is a classic Elizabethan symbol of affection and intimacy. Considering that in Jonson's era, the exchange of a handkerchief was seen as a flirtatious act, Corvino's furious reaction is historically understandable, though the extent of his jealousy will certainly disgust a modern reader. In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello reacts similarly when he suspects that Desdemona has given her handkerchief away to another man.
Act Two, Scene Four
In this scene, it becomes clear that Mosca has done well to expose Volpone's weakness. Before he heard of Celia, Volpone was obsessively protective of his gold. Now that he has seen her for himself, he is willing to give Mosca any amount of gold in order to bring Celia to him. In fact, he does just that, for, as a belated consequence of bringing Celia to his house, Volpone is tricked out of his fortune by Mosca. Considering these twists of fate which we the audience are aware of, Mosca's comment about escaping Volpone's epilogue appears even more ominous.
Act Two, Scene Five
Much has been written on Corvino as the embodiment of jealousy. Clearly, his overreaction to the handkerchief incident provides a good example of how poisonous jealousy is. Exposing Corvino's jealousy as a vice is certainly one of Jonson's intentions in writing this didactic play.
But neither should the sadomasochistic desires of Corvino and Celia, which appear first here in 2.5, be overlooked. In this scene, Corvino threatens Celia with gruesome bodily harm for the first time. Whereas Corvino seems to take pleasure in the thought of Celia's sleeping with the mountebank - as suggested by sexual innuendo such as "I think you'd rather mount? would you not mount? / Why, if you'll mount, you may; yes truly, you may, / And so you may be seen, down to th' foot" (2.5.18-20). - Celia is noticeably distressed by the thought. Afterward, in 2.7, she is seen crying. However, Celia later, in 3.6, welcomes her husband's threats with religious stoicism.
Act Two, Scenes Six and Seven
Here, Mosca's conniving is at its most subtle. Once again, he manipulates a character into action not by ordering him but rather by preying on his weakness - as all good parasites are wont to do. By fabricating a story about a doctor Lupo (meaning "wolf") offering his daughter to Volpone, Mosca convinces Corvino to give Celia to Volpone. And we the audience realize how effective Mosca's manipulation techniques must be if he can convince Corvino to willingly become the thing he is most afraid of becoming - a cuckold. Similarly, Mosca is able to connive Volpone into parting with the thing he seems to value most - his gold.
Mosca thus emerges in the play as an interpreter of these corrupt men's inmost desires. Even though they vociferously declare greed and jealousy to be their respective defining vices, Mosca understands that Volpone's overriding vice is lust, not greed, and that Corvino's is greed, not jealousy. Mosca seems to know these warped men better than they know themselves, and plays them accordingly.
