Antigone And Greed

Each of the plays are set in Italy and during the Jacobean era in England playgoers would have viewed Italians as “vengeful, cunning and bloodthirsty.” Both the characters of Volpone and Vindice are corrupted by the end of each play, Volpone is corrupted through greed and Vindice through vengeance. Jonson and Middleton are critiquing corruption in both of these plays and we see this not only from the protagonists but also the other characters such as the men attempting to get Volpone’s will by prostituting his wife, disowning his son. In the Revengers Tragedy, we see the Duke’s family murder each other at the very end of the play, both Jonson and Middeton are critiquing the effects of greed in both of their plays. Each of these characters could never declare victory in achieving their goals …show more content…
In The Revenger’s Tragedy Middleton is making a statement that even characters who appear to have good intentions, in particular Vindice can also be corrupted by vengeance or any fatal flaw such as greed or pride. Jonson’s character Volpone is similar to Vindice in the sense that what appears to be a cunning entertaining game between men, turns into excessive greed, in particular when he threatens to rape Celia. Both of these men do not have limits and that’s because both Jonson and Middleton are trying to point out corruption and the punishment that follows when you allow yourself to become corrupted. Volpone and Vindice are unable to achieve their goals because the power they truly seek is through inflicting misery on other people, no matter how much wealth Volpone acquires or how horrible the Duke’s death is, both of these men thrive off of seeing and causing pain in the people around