An article by Mr John Creaser (‘Volpone: The Mortifying of The Fox’, Essays in Criticism, July 1975) allows priority on some points to an earlier article by me, but disagrees with me on others. The agreements have not done him much good, as he murders the play all the same. I need to plead for its life more effectively than I have done so far.

We agree that the first incident, of Volpone worshipping his gold, ‘cannot be taken at face value’, and Mr Creaser decides that it is ‘a knowing act of self-adoration’ (pp. 333–4); having thus pin-pointed the flaw in the hero, he scolds him for it till the final scene. But the start of a play has its own requirements, called the Exposition. The audience have come expecting satire, and at first they are bound to think that Volpone is being presented as the ‘type’ of Avarice; but when he turns and speaks to his servant he confidently blames other people for avarice, so he is the satirist here. In real life it would be odd to tell Mosca what he already knows, a mark of vanity perhaps, but here everybody wants Volpone to define his activity, and give what defence of it he has; even the schoolboy, though severe by tradition upon show-offs, would not blame him for it here. During the last act, I don't deny, we may reflect that there has always been something unstable about Volpone, but to have made this mistake at the start is no help in understanding him.