Jonsons Volpone :: Jonson Volpone

 Homosexual Overtones in Volpone    During the Renaissance, women did not participate in the theatre hence, men, dressed in drag, played womens roles. This particular characteristic of Renaissance drama adds many dimensions, erotic and social, to the spectacle on the stage. However, The primary difficulty in surveying this landscape results from the strong indications that primaeval modern eroticism was fundamentally different from that today. Consequently, the challenge deciphering what may be radically different cultural codes for the Rena issance is formidable (Zimmerman 7). The interactions between cross-dressed boy actors and the adult priapic actors, by todays standards, would be considered homo-erotic. In Ben Johnsons Volpone, the role of Celia, the main female person character, would have be en played by a cross-dressed boy hence, many inferences around Renaissance eroticism may be made by exploring the element of cross-dressing and how it transforms the a ction on stage and the audiences perception. Celia (played by a cross-dressed boy) interacts with men throughout the play. The pictorial matter in which Volpone attempts to rape Celia could be construed as extremely homo-erotic. Volpone desires Celia, yet she refuses to succumb to his advances thus he trie s to force himself upon her. Bonario is Celias true love interest, which also has transgendered overtones. The sexual and intimate interactions between Celia and the male characters creates an interesting dynamic. For instance, When an actor in a male role did not need to impersonate adult-ness, his interaction with a cross-dressed actor, particularly a cross-dressed boy, change. Presumably, the adult actor, by virtue of age, voice, physical appearance and interpretive range, lent credence to the (usually) heterosexual valences of cross-dressing within that fiction. The dual lens on the dramatic action that the adult male actor provided was in all likelihood angled most directly at adult male spectators (Zimmerman 46). The actors ar interacting like hete rosexuals of the opposite sex, however, the fact that it is really two males blurs the lines of what the audience was actually seeing and enjoying. Celia was obviously made to be attractive to the male spectators, because she is the main female love interest in the play. The male spectators may be attracted to what aesthetically appears to be a woman, or they may be attracted to an androgynous, cr oss-dressed boy. Hence, Celias appeal is twofold.