ABSTRACT
Lady Would-be is the wife of Sir Politic Would-be. Both are scatterbrained English tourists visiting Venice. The author's Volpone, or The Fox is a classic comedy that involves the duping of a group of legacy-hunters by a wily old miser and his parasitical associate. Together Volpone and Mosca invent schemes that yield a vast treasure of money, gold and jewels. The sub-plot of the play concerns the adventures of an English knight, Sir Politic Would-be, and his grasping wife Lady Would-be. Lady Would-be is loud in every sense of the word. She is a classic fashion-victim. Notice how she is endlessly fussing and fidgeting with her hair and accessories. She is vain, over dressed and over enunciates. She babbles on and uses more words than necessary to say anything. Lady Would-be wants to present a perfect appearance to Volpone and this is a preamble to a scene of comic flirtation.
