Because of their greed they act in a funny and foolish way Now let us examine how Volpone aligns with the genre of comedy of humours One Strong Humour Each character in this play has one strong humour Hence they become overly greedy lustful cunning deceiving or foolish It makes them humorous and absurd For example Volpone The Fox Volpone is driven by greed and deceit Though he is a very rich man he wants more gold and money For this reason he scams people to take away their wealth Volpone also worships gold as a saint every morning As he says Open the shrine that I may see my Saint Mosca The Parasite Mosca s character is overly cunning and deceiving He always looks for ways to deceive others At first Mosca helps Volpone to scam the legacy-hunters Later he wants to betray Volpone to get his fortune Mosca says I'll bury him Volpone or gain by him I am his heir In this line Mosca decides to double-cross his master He even wants to bury Volpone to get his fortune Voltore Corbaccio and Corvino These legacy hunters represent unchecked greed and moral corruption Each of them wants to impress Volpone with valuable gifts so that they can be his heir after his death This excessive greed also makes them funny foolish and easy prey for Volpone s scheme Lady Politic Would-Be Another example of humour is Lady Politic Would-Be Her humour is pride and talkativeness She talks too much and thinks she knows everything She becomes a figure of fun because of her boastful nature Satire of Human Behaviour Comedy of Humours satires human behaviour In Volpone Jonson mercilessly satires excessive greed All the major characters are driven by greed Though Volpone is a rich man he wants more money and gold So he scams the legacy-hunters On the other hand the legacy-hunters try to impress Volpone with gifts only to be his heir Mosca betrays his master to take all his fortune All the characters are morally corrupted Jonson makes fun of the moral flaws of his time He turns his characters humours into tools for satire Moral Lesson Comedy of Humours contains a moral lesson and Volpone is no exception At the end of the play all greedy people are punished by the court Volpone is sent to prison and his entire property is donated to a hospital Mosca is whipped and sent away as a slave Voltore is exiled from the city Corbaccio is sent to a monastery and Corvino must pay a huge dowry to his wife Celia The play delivers a moral lesson excessive greed leads to moral corruption and ultimately self-destruction The play s end reminds us of Volpone s earlier comment about avarice excessive greed What a rare punishment is avarice to itself For these reasons Volpone is a classic comedy of humours The play contains character traits dominated by humours funny situations and also moral lessons Through this play Ben Jonson not only entertains but also critiques the vices of his society