As a satire, the mood in Volpone is occasionally playful and irreverent, but often severe—Jonson did not mince words when it came to critiquing the extravagance and greed of 17th century Venice.
At its most lighthearted, Volpone is quick to poke fun at its characters, usually at their expense, as with the interactions between confident know-it-all Sir Politic Would-Be and Peregrine, who is determined to make Sir Would-Be look as foolish as possible before the audience. Take, for example, Act 5, Scene 4, when Would-Be—hoping to ward off some government officials—pretends to be a tortoise.
Just as eagerly, however, Jonson shifts the mood to something far darker. The scenes depicting Corvino’s treatment of Celia are particularly grave, as Jonson portrays Corvino’s vicious anger toward his own wife. In Act 2, Scene 5, Corvino confronts Celia about her interaction with the mountebank (Volpone in disguise):
What couldst thou propose
Less to thyself than in this heat of wrath,
And stung with my dishonour,
I should strike
This steel into thee, with as many stabs
As thou wert gazed upon with goatish eyes?
With these rather vicious words, the play's mood becomes notably darker. By the end of the play, the mood evens out to one of righteousness. The avocatori successfully deliver justice, Mosca and Volpone are charged for their crimes, and the final scene in the play—Volpone’s own plea to the audience to applaud the actors for their performance—even concludes his story on an earnest note.
