Volpone is different from other comedy of humor :
Volpone as a comedy of humor reigns supreme in the world of comedies and Ben Jonson’s skills as a genius dramatist soars to its peak in this play. A comedy of humour is a comedy which exposes the follies and foibles of the society through some humourous characters. According to the medieval medical theory, human body is made of four elements or humours : blood, choler, phlegm and bile or melancholy. The imbalance of any one element causes some queerness in the character and that becomes his dominant trait or humour. His comic figures always have some or the other element in excess ,and therefore, are humorous. Jonson is the master of comedies of humour and satirizes the society at large by mocking these humorous characters. His play “Volpone” criticizes and subtly suggests the society to correct itself by targeting a specific trait of avarice in almost all the characters.
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. He extols his wealth or gold to be the most desirable,supreme and sublime object in the earth. Its beauty surpasses the sun, its grandeur parallels the light first created by God. It can make a room ” blessed” or a treasure ” sacred”. Gold is being worshipped and all life and force depend on gold.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 tries to seduce Celia by attractive description of wealth and sensual pleasure . But when he fails, 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.
But certainly ” Volpone” is different from other Jonsonian comedies of humours. Unlike other comedies Johnson applies imagery freely in ” Volpone ” . The gold imagery and the beast imagery enrich the play and expose the characters. Volpone is the fox, Mosca is the fly and the greedy trio – Voltore the vulture, Corvino the crow and Corbaccio the raven – are birds of prey awaiting Volpone’s carcass. The source of all the imbalances is chiefly greed but it is differently manifest in different persons.
What is more interesting is the fact that Volpone involves characters that show more shades of traits except for the monomaniac sweep of the predominant humor. Unlike Ben Jonson’s previous comedies of humors 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.
