Riassunto
Riassunto di Il diavolo è un asino
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love satire, schemes that go wrong, and sharp talk about money and vanity, and for anyone curious about English theatre after Shakespeare.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Devil is an Ass is a comedy for the stage by Ben Jonson, first performed in London in 1616 and printed in his collected works that same year. Jonson was the leading comic dramatist of his day after Shakespeare, and here he turns his sharp eye on the city he lived in. The play asks a simple question. What would a devil learn if he came to London to cause trouble? The answer is that he would find he has little left to teach.
The story begins in hell, where a young devil named Pug begs to be sent to earth for one day to do real mischief. He lands in a world of swindlers, fools, jealous husbands and fashionable gossips. You get a quick, crowded plot full of disguises and get-rich-quick schemes, and a view of early seventeenth century money and manners that still looks familiar. The first key point is Pug's arrival, and the master he chooses to serve.
In questo riassunto
- 1Hell sends a young devil to LondonFree
- 2A greedy squire dreams of devils and dukedoms
- 3A cloak buys a quarter hour with a wife
- 4Fashion, gossip and disguise fill the city
- 5Human vice outdoes the devil
- 6How Jonson builds a comedy of folly
Punto chiave 1 di 6
Hell sends a young devil to London
The play opens in hell. Satan, the great devil, sits with his followers, and a minor devil named Pug asks for a chance to prove himself. He wants one day on earth to do some real wickedness. Satan is doubtful, but he allows it, and a figure called Iniquity, who stands for the old Vice of medieval morality plays, comments on the scene with rough humor.
There is a rule attached to the trip. Pug cannot simply appear as a devil. He must take the body of a human being, and the body he is given is that of a hanged thief. So the creature who comes to London does so wearing a dead criminal's shape. The joke starts at once, because Pug is meant to be the corrupter, yet he arrives as a simple newcomer with a borrowed body and no experience of city life.
Pug has already picked a target. He has heard of a Norfolk gentleman named Fitzdottrel, a man so greedy and so easily led that Pug expects him to be a ready victim. Pug plans to enter his service and push him toward damnation. The devil believes he is the clever one in this arrangement.
The first scene sets up the whole structure of the play. We expect the devil to be the great trickster, and Jonson quickly makes us doubt it. Pug is a learner, and London is about to become his schoolroom. Watch how soon he finds out that the humans he came to ruin are already well ahead of him.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Il diavolo è un asino
What is The Devil is an Ass about?
It is a comedy about a young devil named Pug who visits London for a day to cause mischief. He finds that greedy, vain and cunning people are already better at deceit than hell's own servants.
When was The Devil is an Ass written?
Ben Jonson's play was first staged in London in 1616 and printed in his collected works that same year. It is set in the London of its own time, so it is not based on a true story.
What does the title The Devil is an Ass mean?
The title says the devil is a fool. Pug comes to earth expecting to tempt and corrupt, but he is outwitted by human schemers, which suggests that people can be more wicked and more clever than any devil.
Who is Meercraft in The Devil is an Ass?
Meercraft is a projector, someone who sells business schemes and patents to investors. He persuades the greedy Fitzdottrel to back wild ventures such as draining fens, and he stands for the fraud of Jonson's age.
Is The Devil is an Ass hard to read?
The plot is clear and quick, and the humor about money, vanity and jealousy is easy to follow.