SEDERI Yearbook ISSN: 1135-7789
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RIBES TRAVER, Purificación Araquistáin' s 1929 version of Volpone SEDERI Yearbook, núm. 15, 2005, pp. 81-100 Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies Valladolid, España
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Araquistáin' s 1929 version of Volpon e' Purificación RIBES TRAVER U IIiwr sily of Valencia ABSTRACf
This paper de als with Araq uistáin's 1929 free ada p tation into Sp;m ish of Ben jonson 's Va/pone. 1I cen ters on Ihe an thor's clai m lo
originality as a means o f stressing its relevan ce in a theatrical con text of fierce competítion, with thr ee Span ish versions of the play simultaneo usly on stage . Araquistá in 's claim lo o rigina lity ís r a id a ttention lo by analysing the relationship tha t his text bea rs lo the two sources he ackno wled ges as h ís o wn : Sen Jon 5On '5 original play, on the ene hand , an d Zweig's Ce n nan adaptation , on the other . A third possible source of inspiration that he does not mention is also taken into cons ide rahon: Ludwig Tieck's (1793) Hcrr 0011 FIIChs, since certain traits in lhe cha racters of Bona rio, Celia, and, lo a lesser exten t, Volpone, bea r resemblance to Karl Krah teld, Louise and Her r von Fuchs in the Gen nan vers íon. As regards the general assessment o f Araquistáin 's ada ptatíon, this analysis stresses its uneven qu ality, sínce, whereas its first part is d rama tically effective, its second part is careless and ccnfusing, in spite of which certain innovations would later preve in fl uential, such as the changes he introd uced into the cha racter of Urraca , that can be traced in Tasis's (1956)depiction of Can ina.
V o/polle had ne ver been as presenl on the Spanish stage as in 1929, nor w ou ld so man y d iffere n l productions of th e play be sim ultaneo us ly perfonned in ou r coun try again. Th e reason for such an unpreced en ted ou tburst of p rod uction s is as crem a tis tic as th e behaviour o f the cha racters in the com edy, w ha t did n ol go unnot iced a t th e tim e, as echoe d , for exa m p le, in the h eading of sorne review s where the interest of the producers is related lo that
1 1 gra tefu lly acknowledge finantial assistance for the research here repor ted, as granted by the Span ish Min istr y o f Science and TechnoJogy (BIT 200J-06096).
~c¡"'ri '5 (2005: pp. 8, -,(0)
".
of the bird s o f p rey in the comedy.' The enormous success enjoyed by Rom ains's ada p ta tíon of Zweig's Cerma n version o f the play in Paris ara se the in teres t of a hos t of translat ors and theat er nlanagers tha t m shed to have their versions bo th staged and p ubl ish ed in as sh or t a perio d o f tim e as possj ble . Th is st rcc ess had also been echoed in Spa in, where Ceria, from ABC (24/11 /1928: 37) for
exam ple, had reviewed the pen n iére . 111e im portance of the theatrical even t in Pari s wa s stress ed by having the news of its success sha re tille with a piece of relevant po litical info rrna tion, The till e rea d : "Mayor ía d el G obie rno en la C ám a ra , Es tre no d e
Volpo"e." One yea r later the play still held the stage in Paris, as recalled by S ánchez Gue rr a (ABC, 5/t2/1929: 11) a couple of weeks before the premi ére of his own versi ón in Madrid: " El invierno pas ado ... el éxito fue g rande ... El público sigue llenand o tod avía el teat ro d onde voipone se represen ta."! Al the same tim e, h e regretted the unfair op po rtunism of hi s competitors, who had sud denly felt an ur gent need to translat e Vo/polle, and who had m ad e claim to origina líty as a way of calling attcn tion lo thcir mcrits: " Y cuand o nos di sponemos a estrena r el arreg lo hecho po r nosotros res ulta qu e hay ¡dos o tres mlaptaciolles III/is tomndns directmnenie del illglés!'" This
Wil S I
in fact , th e ch aract eris tic tha t a dvertise m en ts o f [arnés 's
version s tressed : "Se enS Cfr., for example, the Hem/do de AmgólI (29/ 12/1 929) wh ere Rober to Castrovi do in "Charla de la se ma na . El magn ífico ZOITO , el pícaro Mosca y el pobre Gazapo" establishes the link s berween the s ubject mat ter of the p lay, th e rhearrtcal ba ttle unleashed bv it and a flnantial sccnda l of the dav which carne to be known es the . "Gazapo aff~ir ." ) Trans . "The p lay pr e ved trem en dously successf ul lasr win ter ... And audíences stíll fill the playh ou se wh ere Volpont' ts on s tage." 4 Trans . "And wh en we are about lo stage O UT ow n versi ón of the p lay, it so hap pens th at hn' or tllree /lIMitio1lJ11 IId/I¡1flltitms d /lim lo ElE' fi litliflll tmnslll/io1/s of t/w Ellg1úJI oriX;,tIll íex í í" [my italics]. 5 Tr ans. "Rehearsa ls of Benjamí n [arn és's ji lilllj iil tmns/Iltiml of Vo}pmlt' into Spanish are now tak ing pla ce" [my ita lics]. 6 Trans. "Thí s is the on/y ji)iIJiflll lll!ll¡rf/¡t ioll o f the English text into Sp anish ... España Press, Madrid " [m y ita lics ].
82
olro lugar, excelente"? (E. Diez Canedo: El Sol , 20/12/29: }). But the ou tcome o f such a ferocious competit ion w as us uall y m ore accomplished on the page than on s lage, lhough this wns not always the case. The cle a rest ex a m p le o f this a p pa ren t co n trad ic tio n 15 to be
found in the Spa nish \'ersion of Romains 's adaplalíon mad e by Artem io Precioso and Rafael S ánchez Gue rra, tha t is an alm ost literal rendering of Romains's most theatrically effective \'ersion of the play· Their translal ion reveals an excellen l kn ow led ge of Frenc h as well as their ability to rec rea te the essential strategies of thc so u rce te xt in to th eir target langua ge. Th e ad ap ta tion of th e text for a new aud ience abo involves, in this case, a careful suppress ion of an y word or expression tha t m ight offend the ears of a sensitive audi en ce (and, no less, those of official censo rs).? Thi s m os t correct of versions, howe ver, d oes not seern to ha ve p re ved as successfu l on s tage as its a u thors p robably anti cipa ted whe n they secured the prescriptive copyrigh l from
7
Trens. "(that has been) both published and staged in Buenos Aires. It is a
cf{)~
rell¡["r i flg o/ ti/(' Euglish ft'xt, and, as I have alrea d y pom ted out elsew here , it is an
excellen t versi ón" [m y italics). Rom aíns had taken good car e te ímprove the dramatíc qu ality oí Zwe íg 's versíon , as has bee n extensively arg ued by P. Ribes Traver in "Sparus h Adaptation s of Ben [onso n's Voll'0f/e." S' tlllis¡' Síudies in SlllIkes,lt'flre (111// lli s Contempomriee: Ed . J.M. Gonz.ález d e Sevilla . Newark: Delaware Universitv Press (vol ume to be íssued in 8
2(0
5).
•
It m ust be reme mbered tha t censorslup was in full action a t the time, as the D ictator Primo de Rivera himself proud ly acknowledged, finn ly persuaded tha t it was a necessa ry m easur e agatnst excess: " La censura y otr as restricciones han hecho posible vivir con eficiencia d iez veces más de lo qu e h ubiera podido vivir en el absurd o régime n de crtnca y propagand a libre , d esenfadado, opresor e irresponsable, incomp atible con las d ictaduras y yo creo que con tod o modo d e gobern ar que algun os llam an libertad " (A Be, 2.j. /12/t929: 17) (Trans . "Censorship and other restri ctive measu res have províded ou r way o f life wi th ten times as much efñctency as it wo uld have ever been im aginable, had we been gove med according to en absurd 5Y5tem o f un restrained críticism cnd p ropaganda , tha t wo uld have p reved both opp ress ive and irresponsible, and that is incompatible not on ly wi th any kind o í dí ctatorslup b ut also with wha t some people 11.11('1 as ' freedom '"}. One exam ple o f this zeal was the unp recedented measure o f imprisoning the author s o f saucy compl iments addressed a t the fair sex: "Las au torida des se vieron pr ecisad as a velar por la seg uridad d el pudor d el bello sexo y establecieron como bu en p recedente el encarcelamien to d e los p rofesiona les d el piropo insolen te y agresi vo"(ABC, 29/ 12/'29 : 57) (Trans. "The a uthorít ies felt compel led to g uard the mod esty of the fair sex and thus regar d ed the imprisoning of pro fessionals o f inso len t and aggressive comp hmen ts as a fitting meas ure to p reven t insta nces oí similar beha viour in the tuture" ).
9
Rom ains. The rea son - it is n ot diffi cul t to guess - d oes notlie in the unresponsi ven ess o f their au d ience , but, ra ther, in the short time of reh earsal that the play enjoyed and that resu lted in a careless production where ac tors performed very poorI y. If reviews a re to he trusted , n ei th e r were th e lend in g cha racters in
él
pmpe r
com m and o f th eir roles, nor had the sp righ tly rh ythm o f Romains 's versi ón been la ken advan lage of, According lo " Florid or", " Los artista s d el In fanta Bea triz ... n o 'en tra ron' en s us respectivas figuraciones"!" (A Be, 20/ 12/ '929: 33) an d , in E. Diez Ca nedo's view, "u nos acto res que a ún no se habían a p re nd ido sus pa peles fueron a rrastran do ha sta el fina l d e los cinco ac tos" !' (El Sol, 21/12 / ' 929: ) . As rega rd s lhe second versi ón lhat was staged in Mad rid the followi ng day," it is not easy lo d ecid e h ow success fu l it was sin ce re views of th e perfon nances so mewha t differ from eac h o ther. Wh ereas E. Diez Ca nedo, from El Sol (21/12/t929: ) , for exa rnple, praises both th e individ ual performance and the overa ll effecl of thc p lay, F., from ABe (21/t 2/29), pres cnts us wilh a less en th us ias tic view . According to Diez Canedo, Conviene anotar en el créd ito d e los artistas del Alk ázar el esfuerzo interpretat ivo con que han animado estas escenas, d ando un rend imien to que muchos no esperaban Pero yo alabo, sobre todo ... el tono d el conjun to, que responde certeramen te al movim iento de la acci ón.' ? o • •
wha t is not w ho lly sha red by F., w ho m akes a d ifferen t read ing o f the indi vid ual perfonnances: " Ma rga ri ta Robles en un papel tan fuera d e su tem pera mento como el d e Mosca bast ante hi zo con sa lva rlo d ecor osamente ... El Sr. Delgr ás (Volpone) no responde tampoco a l que nosotros im aginamos. Es un papel para u na
Truns. "The ar tis ts from the Infan ta Beatri z ... did not quite succeed in their figura tive parts." 11 Tran s "Cer taín players that, so far, had no t achíeved a proper comman d of theír pa rts kept d raggi ng them lo the end of the fifth act." u The versi ón by Ar lemio Precio so was firsl perfonned al th e 11lj iudtj l3t>lltr ;z on the t qth of Decembe r, 1929, and [arnés' s ad ap tation was premíered the followtng da y at the Alkti;:¡lr. 1j Trans. "The effort mad e bv the Alkazat's ar-tista in a rd er to enll ven these scenes is worth s tressi ng . They h ave performe d far be rter than expec ted . I wish to und erlin e not only individual ou tstanding performance bUI also the su ccessful tone achieved by the company as a whole, in line with the movement a l'the ecrion ." 10
primera figura."14 111e critic, howe ver, d oes no t d ism iss the pla yas a w hole: "E l con jun to nos pareció ace p table."? A d etniled analysis of the printed \'ersion by [arn és (1929) re veals that h e followed [onson 's original close ly excep t for a n umber o f o m isa io ns, tr an s pos itio n s, ano , ah oye all, the d o uble
end ing of the p lay, which was probably n ever staged , as can be gat hered from th e d esc rip lions found in d ifferen l reviews (ABC, 21/12 /29: 47 or El Sol , 21/12/1 929: 3)' Even though both en d ings involved the p unish ment of Volpone in one wa y ar another, [amés chose lo underline the Fox's skill by ha ving him cunn ing ly bribe the jud ges in the last minute, and thus bea t everybody else 's w it, In Canedos view, (El Sol, 21/ 12/1 929: 3) h is en d ing was in line w íth the time's reluclance lo punish the he ro: u ¿Qué hechi zo ejerce r á es te personaje so bre los au tores mod ernos, que ninguno se decid e a cas tigarle con toda la severid ad de su p rimer pad re?"16 I ha ve the feeling that jarnés was nol m erely bewitched by Volpone, but by Araqu is t áin 's final solu tion as well . Like h im , h e chose lo resorllo a last minute lrick that cons istcd o f a w ill in fa vour of the judges. 111e difference with hi s versi ón lay in the fact tha t, whereas in Ara quis t áin, Mosca ha d su rprisingly forgo tten abo u t a d ocument th at he himse lf had handed to the magi strates, in Iamés, Volpone was wide a ware of w ha t he wi sh ed lo ach íeve, and thus his fina l víctory p re ved a just rewa rd lo his cunning. Even this third en d ing, tha t was p robably devised as a way of pro viding the p lay with a more am iab le ton e than his printed versi ón cou ld achieve, proves more cons istent than Araquist áin 's, and, like his, it s ubtly hint s a t the cor m p libility of the judges. [arn és's was a drama tically cohe rent ada p tation w ith a clea r outline and skelchy ch arac ters tha t req uired a q u ick d elivery of Iin es. Th is version, though on ly slígh tly infl uenced by Zweig, was, how ever, m ore su ited than any othe r to the type of perform ance that he suggesled al the beginning o f his ¡¡eblose Komodie (1926)'7, tha t is lo say, "a ls Commedia dell'An e zu spielen,
.~ Trans . "Margarita Robles , w hose part as Mosca only sligh tly s uited her character , merely saved the situatíon with decorum ... As rega rds Mr. Delgr és (Volpone) , he doesn't meet our expectations either. His is a role for a first t ate figure ." ' 5 Tran s. "We took rhe play to be acceptable as a wh ole." .6 Trans. " I wonder wh at kínd of s pell th is character casts over mód em a u thor s that no one seems to be read y to pu nish him as stemly as his first father dld ." '7
Trans. l .lTl 't'It'~~ Ccllllt'tl }f.
8;
rasch , ehe r ka rika tu ristisch als naturalisti sch " •8 [am és 's drasti c red uction o f ch aracters lo their essence had m ad e them filting for a d elached kind of performance, an d his co llabo ra tion with the inn ovatory s lage d esign er Mignoni , helped this a p proach beco me tTll P . 19
Hi s wn s, above all , a te xt for th e scen e , rath er than a te xt for
the reading public. A differenl kind of a ud ience was p robably in Araq u ist ám 's mind wh en he a ttem p ted h is own \'ersion of the play, wh ich he proudly lenned o personal reumtíng ("obra personal d e re-crea ción"; ABe, 7/ 12/1929: 43) w h ile ackn owled gin g his d ouble d ebt both lo Zw eig and to Jon son. Th ere is a th ird so u rce, 1d are s ugges t, that he d oes nol mention: the trnn slation made in lo Cerma n by Lud wig Tiec k in 1793. Even though the parall els here a re no l as close as in the other two te xts, there ar e s till sorne traits in the cha rac teriza tion of Bon ario and Celia tha t seem reminiscent o f Tieck 's Kar l vo n Kra h feld and Lou ise. It is to be regre tted, how ever, that, as is o ften th e case with Araquist áin, he h as nol taken advan tage of the po ssibilities opcn lo hi m by this sou rcc, sin cc he a riscs ccrtain expecta tions that h e d oes nol fulfill lat er in the pla y. Thi s fla w seems to be quite a persist ent e ne, wha t lead s m e to en ter ta in the hypothesis that Araq uis t áin mad e él conscious star t, ta kin g good care of m ost d rama tic d evi ces. Bu t then , sud den ly, ma ybe d ue to an unexpected shorlage of lim e, this exq u isite ca re collapsed and ga \'e way to a In05t indigest mixture of s tyles a nd influ ences tha t we re nol properly handled and tha t resuhed in a drama tic failure. This versi on cou ld n' t po ssibly succ eed on stage, in sp ite of the eu logistic com m en ta r ies made on the successfu l reception encoun tered by En rique d e Rosas in Buenos Aires: "Se am plían las conquistas d e v oipone, o el Zorro, d e Ben [onson, concienzu do y suges lido a rreg lo d e Luis Araquist áin ... corno ya hem os d icho, llevado po r el bu en .11 Trena. "1' 0 be played as COIIJItlt'lJitl 1Jt'11'Artt', quickly, as a caricatu re ra ther than recltsrícally." 'Cl It must be bom in mind tha r Mign on í had been acclaímed as a pro mising stage d esígner, who was star tíng lo bríng about a change in Spanísh theatr ícal prod uction s. Ano ther famo us designer o f the da y was Bartolozzi, wh o had collabora ted with Araquist éin in his Zar agoza stagin g of Vo/polle. But, altho ugh Trtvelín had mad e an en thusias tic assessmen t of their worthv con tribu tion in " El tea tro en 1929" (B/amu y Negro, JO/ t2 /1928 : 28): "gracias' a ellos el realismo depauperado empieza a goza r de u na bien ganad a jubilación " (Trans. "With theír help, exhausted real ísm ha s bene fited from well d eserved re ttremen t"), the ou tcome of their collabora tion with both ada p ters of Vol'''JI1e wa s bou nd to be differen t, as the result of the con tras ting narure of their p layscript s.
86
arte d e Enri que d e Rosas, pasea por los escena rios a rge n tinos'?" (El Sol, Z8/ 11/t9z9: 6). Araqu ist áin's cornpetitive na ture loo him to give th is un even te xt to the press, so tha t no other versi on cou ld be issued befo re hi s, no m a tte r ho w m u ch revisi ón w a s s till a d v jsab le .:" It
looks as though he we re no t read y to accept any other kind of d efeat. Artem io Precioso and Rafael S ánchez Guerra had been qu icker than h im to ob tain the copy righ t of a successful piece for the stage, and he was not read y to allow any o ther tran slati on either on the pag e or on s tage - prec ede his own . N o t yet sa tis fied wi th having ranged first in the date of p ublica tion and pe rformance - though but abroad - he drew cons ta n t a tten tion to hi s remarkable work as ada p ter, 50 as lo a rise the curiosily o f polential rea d ers . It is no m ere coincidence tha t the publishing h ouse re pea tedl y advertised h is vo lume just w hile rehea rsals o f o ther versions w ere ta king p lace and being equally advertised. Shy ness and discretion were ob vio uslv unkno wn lo Ara q u ist áin, as can be on ce m ore sta tcd whcn recalling th e precise tim e whcn he felt compcllcd to lecture on Vo/po"e. It was no less than on th e zznd of December, that is to say, just whe n th e wi del y expeeted versions of Precioso and S ánchez Gue rra on the e ne hand , and [arnés, on the o the r, had just premiéred . He thus made sure he obtained a coveted space in th e papers, sha ring page with the reviews o f the o ther versions , In faet, a note placed by the re view on the ve rsi ón slaged al the Infa nta Bea triz (El Sol, zo/tz/t 9z9: J) arm ounced hi s forth coming lecture on the origin s a nd symbolism o f volpone: "El día 22, a las se is y m edia de la tarde, D. Luis Araq uis t áin disertará acerca del lema 'Orígenes, pe ripec ias y simbolismo de Vo/polle o el Zo rro' ,":" Anolher nole on the same page rem in d ed th e readers that the second pe rform ance of Vo/polle wou ld take place a t th e Infanta
JO
Trena. "Luis Araquistáin 's accurate and sog gesnve versíou of Sen [onson's by the skilful hand of Enrique d e Rosas, is wímung over the hea rts of
Voll'f/11l', led
Argentinian a udiences." ~ l On the seven th of December he was already boastmg that his prínted versi ón had been tssued ove r four months earher : "mi adaptación fue pu blicada hace ya matra meses y es trenada hace uno - el 6 de noviembre - en Buenos Aires" (A Be : -O) (Trans . " My versión was already published four months ago , and it was staged last mo nth - on the 6th of Nove mber - in Buenos Aires") whereas [arnés wo uld still have to wait unñl the 281h of December to see his versió n pubhshed (in UI Ft"S I, year m, num ber 120), tha t ts lo say, eígh t days after its first performance in Madrid. u Trans. "Mr. Luis Araqulst éín w ill deli ver a lectu re on the ongín s, symbo lism and pe rtpecte s o f Voll'cmt'(Jr the Fox on December t he aznd, al half past six."
Beatriz tha t n ighl al 10.30: " In fan ta Bea triz. 10.30. Seg u nd a represen tación d e ValpOIle, la famosísima comedia d e Ben Ionson .v" an d still a third no te reminded them that [am és's Valpolle was lo be staged a t the Alk áza r th at very same even in g: " voipone se estrena ré en e l Alk áz..a r ho y, vi e rnes, en fun ci ón de tarcie ." }4 11 was no su rprise lo any bo dy tha t the lectu re d elivered by Araqu is t áin was as fully revi ewed as a ny of the theatrical performances of his ri vals. And , as m ore than on e had an tícipa ted, h e di d nol miss the opportunity of alluding lo his own version , tha t he presented a s a homage to th e 1l1emory of Ben [onson: "Ex pone cóm o su propia adaptaci ón trata precisamente d e restablece r el sen tido que las circu ns tancias impidieron a Ben Ionson d arl e con directa y pelígrosa since rid ad ... d ando así la mejor prueba d e respeto y fid elidad a su memoria ":" (El Sal, 23/12 /1929: 4)' Eve n though no vers ion by him had been rehea rsed in Madrid d uring the p revi ous wee ks, he had cap italize d th e atten tion of the rea ding public by engag ing in a vivid d ebale with Rafael S ánchez Guerra that wcn t on for a few d ays. In it he d ídn't rcírain from attacking his rivals, w hose versions h e consid ered clea rly in ferior to his OWIl. Aware tha t h e had el better com rna nd bo th of Gen nan and English than eithe r Artemio Precioso or Rafa el S ánchez Guerra, he di sparaged th eir ve rsio n as m erely servile lo the French rendering of Romains. Al the sa rne lim e he stressed the superio r quali ty o f h is ada p lalio n beca use, on the one hand , il derived di rect lv from the En glish original, and , on the other, it had also benefi ted, not from the French rend ering of the Ge rman versi ón , bu l from Zweig 's text directly, and he d isd ainfully cha l1eng ed. anyone to look into his text and di sco ver its sou rces: ¿Quién comercia con Vo/po1le? Com ercia, en el peo r sentid o d e la palabra, el q ue adq uiere por di nero una creación q ue no es suya , pa ra lucrarse con la reven ta, sin mayor esfuerzo, no el qu e realiza lIua obra personal de recrendóll como yo he pretendido hacer ... Y ahí
l' Trans. " 10.)0 al the Infan ta Beatriz, Second performance of Volpo1lt', Ben J on5On ' 5 most famous comedy." .... Trans. "VaI,t lllt' will be p remí ered this evemn g al the Alk ázar." Trans. " He explains how h is own ver si ón tries lo restore the play 's full sense , that c ircum stances prevent ed Sen [onson from portraying due lo the d ange r inhere n t in a d irect and sincere rende ring o f tr ... He (Araquist éín) there by gtves its author the cleares t proof of esteern and faithf ulness to his mem ory .'
15
88
está el texto impreso pa ra que 10 comparen C011 el origitlal y con el arreglo de Zweig los que quieran !! pueden", (ABe, 7/12/1929: 43)
S án ch ez Guerra had open ly ad rnitted tha t h e had nol rea d either Ionson 's English text or Zw eig's C e rma n ve rsi ón , bu t merely Rom a ins's adaptat ion, Neve rtheless, he stressed Araq u ist ám 's oppor tu ni srn sin ce his tran slari on h ad been prom p ted by th e theatrical success, first o f Zweig, but, especially, of Romains's Fren eh ada p tation a t the Atelier: "¿Q uién no s prese n tó a todos - in todos! - el famoso persona je d e la antigua farsa ? Pues a unos ha sid o Stefan Zwe ig, y a otros - los m ás, [ules Romains'" " (ABe ,
5!t 2!t929: 11). It m ust be rec koned , ho we ver, that Araqu ist áin m ade a real effor t towards origina lity, for he departed in milny ways both from [onson's original play a nd fro m Zw eig's nd ap tati on, even though the final product wa s no t as th ea trica lly we ll in form ed as the ad a ptation by Romains , His version is, in faet, so mewha t un even, and , thou gh it has a promising beginning, it is n ot sus ta ined to its end. It is w orth m cntioning in his fa vour, h ow c vcr, tha t Araqu is t áin risks keeping on stage a cha rac ter tha t had been un po pular for a long lime: Volpone di sg uised as Sco lo d e Man tu a" . He not on ly reta ins th e pa r t bu t de ve lops it in suc h a w ay that Volpone e ven ge ts to handle h is own business w ith Cor vin o regarding the favo u rs of hi s bea u tifu l wife Ce lia. Seoto ma kes él genera l ca ll on Venetian wo men to help Volpo ne recover his h ealth. Th e cove tous Corvi no immediat ely rushes to ha ve his own w ife exa m ine d as a p ossible can d ida te. It is the quack himse lf, tha t is to sa y, Volpo ne in disguise, w ho perfon n s the task of assessing her chan n s. Araqu íst áin 's d evelopmen t of th is sce ne h elps por tray Volpone as a m ore humane cha rac ter, since the a ud ience is allowed JÍ> Truns . "who shoul d we :A1Y d oes trad e with Volflf.//li.'? No one bu t whoever purchases a work that ís no t his own with the only aim of selling it again al a substa ntial profit, with no o ther effort on his parl This is no t my case, sínce 1 11l1{'t! atf t'1I1l Jft'lf 1I '~~1I1l11 rt'writitl8 af fl/t' play ... Ther e tllt' pri1ltt'lf l w sitm liew o/lt'1I f m com par í-on i"'Itll lI'it/1 Oh' E1IglúJI origirud text tHul witli Zweig's IIIJI/pttl tio1l 1 ~1 lI'lu"lt'lIt'r 11lIPI /f'tlSlo be eíther wi1/ill g or rrtldy lo do so" [my italícs]. 11 Trans. "Wh o was it thal made li S //1/ acquaínred with the old farce's charac ter? It was Stefan Zwerg in sorne cases bu t, far more often, [ul es Romains." .>llSrarting in England in the third qu arler of the eighteen th century wi th G. Colman's ada ptation. Vol/_me, or íhe Ic x . A Coml'dy l IS Illtern f [nnn 13m !OtlSl.J1l (1778) and then being removed from mos t la ter rev ivals of the play.
lo see onslag e h ow he feels d raw n towards Ce lia, instead of ha ving him m erely era ve her favo u rs as a w ay of inflicting pain on Co rvino, as Zweig , for exarnp le, does, Thi s scene, a l the same time, helps d evelop Co rvi no 's blind a vance, tha t p re vents him from di sco vering w ho Se o to rea llv is, w h ile he exam ines bi s w ife und er the pre text of d eciding w hether she is goo d eno ugh lo look after Volpone, Corvin o's greedin ess is doubly underlin ed beca use Araquist áin had already allowe d the a ud ience realize to wha t extent Volpone's in teres t in Celia co u ld arou se Co rvino 's jealousy. Volpone, p robably under the in fluence o f Tieck, reveals h is ' Iove' for Celia w hen he is first vis ited by Corvino . He dreams o f her in sp ile of his ill health, w h ich is ta ken ad van tag e of by Araqu ist.iin as a wa y of ground ing Corvino 's ve rbal a ttacks on the 'deaf" Volpone. Th is change is in line w ith Araquist ám 's I110re arn iable tone, tha t is alrea d y visib le in th e first scenes w here he find s wa ys of juslifying the ch a rac ters's enrag ed rea ctio ns , Not on ly has Co r vino 's affr ontin g o f Volpone been given a reason tha t is absen t from [on son, but his jcalous rcaction aga inst his wifc aftc r the moun tebank scene is eq ually po rlra yed as the logical conseq uen ce of Bonario 's open interest in her. Co rvino is th115 crea ted by Araquis táin as el less irra tional and vio len t cha rac ter, w ho does not a ttack a d yin g m an ou t of m ere despite bu t ou t o f jealousy, and who does not threaten his w ife for no reason , Th a t he is intent on w riting a less upselti ng type o f p lay can be fu rther inferred from Corvíno's way of dealing w ith his wife, for, in spite of having been given gro unds for a jealous reaction, he beha ves in a more civilized wa y than bo th in [onson and in Zweig. Araquis t áin 's d epiction of Celia as a more a rticú la te cha racter acts as a logical com p lemen t lo Co rvino's beh aviour. Al th e beginnin g of the play she s u b tlv cou n te rs SOIn e o f her husband 's d eci s íons, probably influen ced by Lou ise's com pa rable a ttítude in Tíeck's version o f the pla y, w here she m elod rama tica llv defies Rabe's (Co rvino 's) force when h e threat en s lo force he r lo Herr von Fuchs's (Volpon e's) bed . In Araquist ám, when Corvino IITges Scoto to exam ine her: "E xam inad la ... tocad la si gl1stáis/'.l9 Celia sha rply re plies : "¡No es toy en fe rm a !'? " When he later insists tha t they both lead their way lo Volpon e's house, she rh etoricallv aks h im: " ¿A
Trans . "C o ahead, do examine her . . touch herif you wísh!" ,., Trans. "1am not ill."
Jo)
casa de Volpone? ¿No os habrá embaucado ese doctor Esco to ",' ? ' and later lries lo evade conjugal obedience by mean s of a limely headache: "Tengo mucha jaqueca, señor.")l Celia is nol who lly ignoranl of the wa ys of the world , as revea led in h er co nvcrsa rio n w ith the rn a tchrnaker Se rpmn regarding Bonario's approach es to her, 0 1" in her awa reness of Bonarios impudenl way of looking al her from the Piazza: "¡Con qué insistencia m ira ! ¡Es un d escamd o l'