Volpone, Or, The Fox

Born in 1572, Ben Jonson rejected his father's bricklaying trade and ran away from his apprenticeship to join the army. He returned to England in 1592, working as an actor and playwright. In 1598, he was tried for murder after killing another actor in a duel, and was briefly imprisoned. One of his first plays, Every Man Out of His Humor (1599) had fellow playwright William Shakespeare as a cast member. His success grew with such works as Volpone (1605) and The Alchemist (1610) and he was popular at court, frequently writing the Christmas masque. He is considered a very fine Elizabethan poet. In some anti-Stratfordian circles he is proposed as the true author of Shakespeare's plays, though this view is not widely accepted. Jonson was appointed London historian in 1628, but that same year, his life took a downward turn. He suffered a paralyzing stroke and lost favor at court after an argument with architect Inigo Jones and the death of King James I. Ben Jonson died on August 6, 1637. Suzanne Gossett (Ph.D. Princeton) is Professor Emerita of English at Loyola University Chicago. She is a General Editor of Arden Early Modern Drama and has recently served as president of the Shakespeare Association of America. John Jowett is Emeritus Professor at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. Gordon McMullan is a professor of English at King's College London, UK.