Poster Title
P-55 Gender, Family, and Morality in Ben Jonson’s Volpone
Abstract
Ben Jonson’s Volpone (1606) diagnoses social ills arising from the proto-capitalist culture of his time. The two distinct embodiments of moral good in Jonson’s play, Celia and Bonario, prove ineffective in battling emerging value transformations associated with money; in part, their failure derives from systemic fissures in Early Modern understandings of the family unit and gender roles. My project combines a close reading of Celia and Bonario as dramatized in Jonson’s play alongside a careful analysis of sixteenth-century conduct books that articulate understandings of the family unit and gender roles during a time of proto-capitalist transition.
Location
Buller Hallway
Start Date
3-6-2015 2:30 PM
End Date
3-6-2015 4:00 PM
P-55 Gender, Family, and Morality in Ben Jonson’s Volpone
Buller Hallway
Ben Jonson’s Volpone (1606) diagnoses social ills arising from the proto-capitalist culture of his time. The two distinct embodiments of moral good in Jonson’s play, Celia and Bonario, prove ineffective in battling emerging value transformations associated with money; in part, their failure derives from systemic fissures in Early Modern understandings of the family unit and gender roles. My project combines a close reading of Celia and Bonario as dramatized in Jonson’s play alongside a careful analysis of sixteenth-century conduct books that articulate understandings of the family unit and gender roles during a time of proto-capitalist transition.
Acknowledgments
J.N. Andrews Honors Scholar, Undergraduate Research Scholar, and Earhart Emerging Scholar
Advisor: L. Monique Pittman, English