Ben Jonson’s 1606 play Volpone explores the themes of human desire and its manifestations in complex and multifaceted ways. The central character, Volpone, is driven by an insatiable greed and lust for wealth and status that consumes him and drives the action of the play.

Volpone feigns a terminal illness in order to manipulate a host of greedy, self-serving characters into showering him with gifts and bequests in the hopes of inheriting his supposed fortune. This reflects an extreme form of the human desire for material wealth and social power. Volpone’s elaborate schemes and the lengths to which the other characters go to curry his favor highlight the corrupting force of unchecked greed.

Alongside Volpone’s desire for wealth, the play also examines human desire in its more primal, sexual forms. Volpone lusts after his servant Celia, who he tries to seduce through trickery and coercion. The character of Corvino, Celia’s husband, also exhibits a possessive and controlling desire over his wife, going to extreme measures to prevent Volpone from corrupting her.

The play juxtaposes these lustful, acquisitive desires with the nobler human capacities for love, integrity, and justice. Celia and her suitor Bonario represent a moral counterpoint to the self-serving machinations of the other characters. Their desire for virtuous, reciprocal love is repeatedly thwarted by the corrupting influence of greed and lust.

Ultimately, Volpone illustrates how unchecked human desire, whether for wealth, status, or sexual gratification, can lead to the breakdown of moral and social order. The play’s satirical tone and comeuppance of the greedy characters serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of prioritizing base desires over higher human values.