Comedy of humors Volpone :
The dominant trait or humour in this play is an unnatural avarice. This excessive greed controls almost every character. The title character , Volpone himself is a gold worshipper. To him gold is all the virtues, ” Dear saint” and even ” the dumb God”. Volpone’s greed is not only of gold but also of lust and knavery. He attempts to ravish Celia to satisfy his lust. Volpone’s irresistible greed for roguery is also evident. That’s why he enjoys the “cunning purchase” of his wealth than the “glad possession”.
The three legacy hunters also are extremely greedy to grab Volpone’s wealth. The greedy Venetian trio also lack morality and will do just anything to gain Volpone’s grace. Corvino rebukes Celia for favouring the mountebank but later forces her to sleep with Volpone only for money. Old Corbaccio believes in his son’s integrity but still disinherits Bonario to please Volpone. The corrupt lawyer Voltore unfairly accuses Celia and Bonario.
This dominant trait of greed leads to a general atmosphere of immorality and godlessness. The devotion Mosca shows is not genuine since his chief feature is also greed for money and a still greater greed for position. For the same central position in society Volpone wants to dislodge the prestigious rankholders and Mosca wants to dislodge Volpone. This hollowness of character becomes another vital trait or humour. The figures in the subplot also echo this greed and the shallowness in the main plot. Sir Politic’s humour is to affect political skills and statesmanship. His wife Lady Would-be is very greedy and is ready to use her body to extract profit from Volpone . Both of them blindly imitate the Italian manners.
Unlike the previous comedies like ” Every Man in His Humour”, characters in this play are not totally humour-dominated. Except their dominant trait, the characters show other side of their features also. Volpone and Mosca are not only greedy impostors, but also lovers of beauty and social power. Their complex characterization at once exposes the Renaissance spirit and Jonson’s art of expressing more than is spoken.
Thus Jonson’s mature art of characterization creates some complex but more life like , round characters. His slight deviation from his own theory doesn’t mar the comedy but improves it. His character sketching makes ” Volpone” more than a mere comedy of humour. It makes the play fulfill the tragic, comic and the satirical purpose at the same time.
