The relationship between Volpone and Mosca is central to the play and to the development of the theme. They represent types, embodied in animal imagery, with the greedy lawyer being the fox and with his wily and scavenging servant being the fly. In the Italian tradition, these types were presented with specific routines and vulgar comedy that emphasized the defining characteristic. This is seen in Volpone as Mosca hones in on anyone with money like a fly buzzing around garbage and as Volpone lies, cajoles, invents, and play-acts as necessary to con his visitors out of their money. Volpone is as much a parasite as his fly, Mosca, but they are on different social levels and so are viewed differently by society. It is this hypocrisy that Jonson sees embodied in the law.

Volpone's greed is alluded to in the Argument, and it is made clear in the first line of the play as Volpone awakens: "Good morning to t

In The Scarlet Letter, the seduction has taken place perhaps a year before the opening of the novel, but the fact of the seduction is incontrovertible because of the baby Hester Prynne has borne. She is being punished for this sin alone, though this is a sin that could not have been committed alone. She will not reveal the name of her partner in sin, and she bears what the public burdens her with stoicism and courage. Her sin is a sin of passion, but this passion is never evoked directly in the novel. This has all taken place off stage, and it is the aftermath of the seduction that interests Hawthorne.

For that matter, it is less the seduction itself than the response to it that is important in the novel. Dimmesdale suffers greatly because of this seduction, a sin he committed with greater knowledge than that of Hester and with greater culpability as a result. Not only is he a clergyman who should remain above such things in the eyes of society, but in addition he is living a lie by allowing Hester to be punished while he remains a secret sinner. The innocent question of Pearl highlights the depth of his sin: "But wilt thou promise. . . to take my hand, and mother's hand tomorrow noon-tide?" (p. 126). Of course, he will not do so because to do so would bring his sin into the open. His suffering is terrible, but it is entirely because his sin is the greater because it is unrevealed.