Volpone is an Elizabethan comedy, written—like most works of Elizabethan drama—in a five-act structure. Ben Jonson’s comedies are considerably harsher than those of Shakespeare, whose legacy somewhat eclipses Jonson’s, but Jonson nonetheless makes room for a few hilarious moments. The work is also a satire, as Jonson offers up a severe critique of the insatiable greed of the Renaissance period—although he sets the play in Italy, rather than England, to distance his critique from the divisive political landscape of his own country.
Although Jonson is clearly influenced by contemporary 16th- and 17th-century English theater, Volpone also draws inspiration from a variety of dramatic genres. Indeed, some of the tropes he uses come from classical theater—for instance, the plot device of Volpone and Mosca manipulating Volpone's prospective heirs comes from the Greek satirist Lucian, and characters like the lawyer Voltore draw heavily on similar characters in Roman comedies. What's more, certain elements of Jonson's caricatures, humor, and Venetian set pieces draw inspiration from the Italian dramatic tradition of commedia dell'arte.
The medieval fable is another genre that heavily influenced Volpone. As in many fables, the characters in Volpone have allegorical associations with animals—Volpone from the Italian volpe, or fox, Corvino from the Italian corvo, or crow, Voltore from vulture, and so on—and, just as a fable would impart a life lesson, Volpone has a clear moralizing force. As Jonson writes, in his prologue:
According to the palates of the season,
Here is rhyme not empty of reason.
This we were bid to credit from our poet,
Whose true scope, if you would know it,
In all his poems still hath been this measure:
To mix profit with your pleasure;
Entertaining though the play may be, Jonson also hopes it is productive for his audience, ultimately pairing the pleasure of good rhyme with the instructive potential of reason. Thus, he presents the audience with his “quick comedy refined / as best critics have designed”.
