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Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Act 4, Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—The Tears of a Hyena:
In Act 4, Scene 6, Lady Would-Be arrives at the courthouse and berates Celia for testifying against Volpone. She uses both metaphor and idiom to belittle Celia's character:
Ay, This same is she.
Out, thou chameleon harlot! Now thine eyes
Vie tears with the hyena. Dar’st thou look
Upon my wrongèd face? — I cry your pardons.
I fear I have forgettingly transgressed
Against the dignity of the court—
In keeping with the strain of comparisons between characters and animals throughout the play, Lady Would-Be first rebukes Celia's betrayal by casting her as a "chameleon harlot"—that is, a sex worker who changes allegiances like a chameleon changes colors. Then, following-up this remark with an equally vicious idiom, Would-Be accuses Celia of "vying tears with the hyena," or "crying like a hyena." In the Elizabethan English of the time, this phrase would have been akin to "crocodile tears," which is a contemporary expression used to describe emotional insincerity. Indeed, Would-Be denounces Celia's emotion as a performance that is not to be trusted.
While no character escapes Volpone looking good, Jonson is particularly critical in his portrayal of women throughout the play. This depiction of the interaction between Lady Would-Be and Celia relies on contemporary stereotypes of women as distrustful and deceitful by their very nature, and it pits Jonson's two dueling-stereotypes of femininity (Would-Be's exuberant rebelliousness and Celia's quiet obedience) against each other.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Volpone's Fated Threads:
In Act 5, Scene 3, Mosca and Volpone continue to toy with the suitors by faking Volpone's death. As Mosca begins to read the lengthy will without naming any of the suitors as an heir, Lady Would-Be bursts into the room, using an idiom to inquire about Volpone's fate:
[Enter Lady Would-Be.]
Lady Would-Be: Mosca!
Is his thread spun?Mosca: Eight chests of linen—
In Ancient Greek myth, destiny was personified by the three Fates (the sisters Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos), and mortal life was represented by a thread of fabric. The sisters would spin these threads of a life and, when they had been spun, measure and cut the threads; they would thereby determine how and when a mortal would die. When Lady Would-Be asks, "Is his thread spun?" she is idiomatically asking whether or not Volpone has died, thus alluding to this mythic tradition of the Fates. This is also a bit of wordplay on Jonson's part, as Mosca is reading a portion of the will that lists the considerable variety of fabrics in Volpone's fortune, which are technically "Volpone's spun threads."
Lady Would-Be's idiomatic question builds upon a strain of classical allusion that Jonson weaves throughout Volpone, as he builds the Italian Renaissance setting of his narrative; as a satirical take on an over-educated English aristocrat, Lady Would-Be constantly makes erudite allusions that emphasize her elite education.
