Theme of Women

Question 1

V “ a beauty ripe

Answer 1

“a beauty ripe as harvist!… a soft lip would tempt you to an eternity of kissing! And flesh that melteth in the touch of blood! Bright as your gold!”

stereotype and patriarchy
Mosca describes Celia in a way that appeals to Volpone.

Question 2

“a wife, where danger

Answer 2

“a wife, where danger or dishonour lurks, safest seemliest by her husband’s side”

stereotype and patriarchy
Women viewed as weaker and vulnerable sex

Question 3

“all her looks are as

Answer 3

“all her looks are as sweet as the first grapes or cherries”

stereotype and patriarchy
links to eve. prelapsarian image of women

Question 4

“wanton

Answer 4

“wanton growth”

stereotype and patriarchy
Cristopher ricks anti-pun. suggests Eve’s more seductive and failing character. link to book 4 “wanton ringlets”

Question 5

[celia at the window

Answer 5

[celia at the window throws down her handkerchief]

stereotype and patriarchy
the audience may criticise her flirtatious nature. but this moment does not match her character to follow. is she a believable character or just a tool to elevate the plot and Jonsons moral message? She falls due to this daring action (much like Eve who falls after wanting to be independent from Adam when working). Results of women being more independent as destructive?

Question 6

P: “spies {eve} veiled

Answer 6

“spies [eve] veiled in a cloud of fragrance”

suggests promiscuous nature , or that she is vulnerable to the predator who “spies” her. She appeals to his senses without even knowing it or being aware of his presence. (link to celia)

Question 7

C: “sir, kill me

Answer 7

“sir, kill me rather”

stereotype and patriarchy
She embodies virtue. Die to protect her honour. yet hyperbolic “kill me” suggests rash, passionate ignorance expected of women.

Question 8

“our credelous

Answer 8

“our credulous mother”

stereotype and patriarchy
the narrative voice seems to blame Eve and criticise her for being gullible.

Question 9

V: “he would have sold

Answer 9

“he would have sold his part of paradise”

stereotype and patriarchy
objectifies Celia

Question 10

S: “empress of this

Answer 10

“empress of this fair world”

stereotype and patriarchy
eve falls due to her vanity? she knows she is not an empress but accepts the flattery without correcting Satan. link to book 4 when admiring reflection. Was Eve then predestined to fall? vanity being a fallen trait? “too easy entrance won” - we could exonerate Eve, but only by implicating God.

Question 11

C: “i will not be taken

Answer 11

I will not be taken by these sensual baits

stereotype and patriarchy
unlike eve, she refuses to submit

Question 12

“step fair virgin pass

Answer 12

“step fair virgin pass, what pleasing seemed”

stereotype and patriarchy
epic simile. suggests Eve’s innocence and Satan’s predatorily nature.

Question 13

“sewers annoy

Answer 13

“sewers annoy the air”

echoes hell. suggests a morally corrupt world (foreshadowing fall). Eve is about to be corrupt by satan.

Question 14

C: “punish that unhappy crime”

Answer 14

punish that unhappy crime of nature, which you miscall my beauty”

stereotype and patriarchy
blasphemy? Or like eve, is she a victim to predators due to her appearance without being able to help it?

Question 15

E: “god hath said

Answer 15

“god hath said , ye shall not eat thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die”

stereotype and patriarchy
Eve does attempt to use her reason, but lacks the capacity to reach the right conclusion. this being her female nature, do we thus criticise god? Yet she was warned of a foe.

Question 16

v: “your highest female

Answer 16

“your highest female grace is silence”

stereotype and patriarchy
this is also suggested in court scene. Lady would-be is mocked as the verbose woman for speaking.

Question 17

E: “was i to never have

Answer 17

“was i to never have parted from thy side?”

stereotype and patriarchy
later contradicts herself with “why didst not thou the head command me absolutely not to go”

Question 18

A: “thus it shall befall him who

Answer 18

thus it shall befall him who to worth in women over trusting lets her will rule”

however Rafael did warn adam not to overvalue Eve

Question 19

E: “thee i have missed

Answer 19

“thee i have missed and thought it long, deprived thy presence, agony of love till now not felt”

womens use of language
Eve has not shown this, but appears to be flattering Adam before saying her crime

Question 20

c: “before your honour”

Answer 20

Before your honour?

womens use of language
Celia attempts to sway Corvino with this rhetoric device by suggesting that he will become dishonourable.

Question 21

For nothing lovelier can be found

Answer 21

“for nothing lovelier can be found in woman, than to study household good “

stereotype and patriarchy. women as the domestic sex

Question 22

Eve: “different degree

Answer 22

Different degree disjoints us

womens use of language
Eve’s appealing alliteration is used to convincingly argue the faults of their different statuses. The narrator criticises by stating “distemper flushing glows “; the disease of her morality

Question 23

p “distemper flushing

Answer 23

“distemper flushing glows” in Eve’s cheeks

She has been lying by saying her motives for eating the fruit was for Adam’s benefit. The disease of her morality

Question 24

Celia: “and modesty an

Answer 24

“and modesty an exile made, for money?”

womens use of language
This rhetoric device seems to suggest the morally of the play. Jonson gives this line to Celia which elevates the language of women.

Question 25

E: “one heart, one

Answer 25

“one heart, one soul….”one guilt, one crime”

womens use of language
through paralleling these two statements, Eve crafts a romantic hero of Adam. the use of the subordinate clause is a tool to reassure adam.

Question 26

Calia: “if you have…any part that

Answer 26

“if you have… any part that yet sounds man”

womens use of language
Celia tries to persuade Volpone by threatening his masculinity.

Question 27

Celia: “feed your wrath, sir

Answer 27

“feed your wrath, sir, rather than your lust - it is a vice, comes nearer manliness”

womens use of language
She is trying to convince Volpone through his masculinity

Question 28

Eve: “new hopes, new joys

Answer 28

new hopes, new joys, taste so divine

clipped statement with coordinating conjunctions. She is tempting adam. like book 8 where she shoots “darts of desire” at adam. she uses suggestive, persuasive body language and words to tempt adam. the result is him being “overcome by female charm”

Question 29

lady would-be: “i hope you ha’ not the malice

Answer 29

i hope you ha’ not the malice to remember a gentlewoman’s passion. If you stay in Venice here, please you to use me, sir.”

Uses her inferiority to excuse her actions (chain of being). Sexual implications.

Question 30

CONTEXT: “the subordination of the wife to

Answer 30

“the subordination of the wife to the husband figures Christ’s rule over his Church, and the lawful sovereign rule over the state”

• Milton comparing the marriage contract to the political contract between king and people. Seventeen century theories on the relationship between husband and wife.

Question 31

Milton on Divorce

Answer 31

wrote ‘The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643) where he said failed marriages are not true and should be legally ended. This was condemned by parliment as a ‘wicked book’.
Milton viewed marriage as a companionship rather than about dominance and submission”

Question 32

Venice

Answer 32

Venice was the centre for mercantile prosperity. the city also had a reputation for Machiavellian evil-doing. its exotic setting is appropriate and lends richness to this tale of deception, greed, lust and luxury.

Question 33

CONTEXT Lady would-be clothing

Answer 33

Lady would-be style of dress and sexual freedom can be seen as an imitation and fascination of courtesans and transvestites in venice

Question 34

CRITIC “the story that milton most notably tells

Answer 34

“the story that milton most notably tells to women is of course the story of women’s secondness, her otherness, and how that otherness leads inexorably to her demonic anger, her sin and her exclusion from that garden of the gods.”

• Sandra M Gilbert

Question 35

CRITIC: “Celia is a strong-

Answer 35

Celia is a strong-minded character who plays not only a pivotal role in the plot but an important thematic one aswell

• Catherine Mars

Question 36

CRITIC “he broke the stereotypical scapegoating

Answer 36

“he broke the stereotypical scapegoating (laying blame on one person) of Eve as essentially a temptress and uniquely gave her responsible motives for her independent movement on the morning of the fall”

• Diane K. McColly

Question 37

CRITIC: “there appears in his books to be something like a Turkish

Answer 37

there appears in his books to be something like a Turkish contempt of females, as subordinate and inferior beings”

• Dr. Jonson 1779