Some elements of Boethius’ de consolatione philosophiae in Ben Jonson’s comedy Volpone

Abstract

In spite of the opinions that the theme of Ben Jonson’s comedy Volpone is »un-English« the author tries to show that all the problems dealt with in the comedy are very closely related to the time when Ben Jonson lived. In the same way, the work was inspired by real events, persons and social context. In the literary treatment of Jonson’s preoccupations, the author points out, some older philosophical works must have had some influence on him (e.g. Boethius' work De Consolatione Philosophiae), and this article tries to establish certain relations between that work and Jonson's comedy Volpone.