Volpone, or The Fox, is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, and considered one of the finest comedies of the Jacobean period.

Characters

• Volpone (the Fox) – a greedy, childless Venetian nobleman
• Mosca (the Fly) – his servant
• Voltore (the Vulture) – a lawyer
• Corbaccio (the Carrion Crow) – an avaricious old miser
• Corvino (the Raven) – a merchant

Plot

Volpone fakes a long illness to pique the expectations of all who aspire to his fortune. Mosca tells each of them, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, in their turns, that they are to be named Volpone's heir, thanks to Mosca's influence. Mosca then announces Volpone's impending death. The hopeful heirs shower Volpone with gifts. Corbaccio disinherits his own son in Volpone's favour; Corvino offers Volpone his wife. Complications ensue, and just as Volpone is about to be outsmarted by Mosca, he reveals all in open court and the characters are punished according to their crime and station.

In 1918 the theme of a man faking his death to cozen his friends was taken up by Puccini in the third part of Il Trittico, namely Gianni Schicci .

Volpone was adapted by Jules Romains and Stefan Zweig in their 1928 production, with the ending changed so that Mosca winds up with Volpone's money.

This version was used by George Antheil in his 1953 opera Volpone.

The stage adaptation Sly Fox, by Larry Gelbart, updated the setting from Renaissance Venice to 19th century San Francisco, and changed the tone from satire to farce.