Every Man in His Humour by Ben Jonson

Q: "Every Man in His Humour" as a comedy humour.

Every Man in His Humour is one of Jonson's best-known and most influential plays. Considered a comedy of intrigue, the play archives the efforts of a young, well-born man to wed his true love, although his well-intentioned father's tries to stop the wedding. Every Man in His Humour also famous in the theory of humours and is regarded as a major work of comic realism.

The main plot consists of three strands- the over enthusiastic father and his rakish son; the unreasonable misgiving of the Kitely family regarding the loyalty; the love intrigue between Edward and Bridget. These three elements have their separate unit.

The play opens with the miss-delivery of a letter addressed to Edward Knowell. It is written by Wellbred, friend of Edward. The letter is about the invitation to visit the Windmill Tavern. The letter finally reaches in the hands of Old Knowell. The letter rouses the suspicion of the father. He sets out to investigate the matter. The father always suspects that the son becomes very wasteful and derailed. Edward actually visits the city both to visit his friend, Wellbred, and to seek the hand of Bridget, his love who is from a lower economic and social class. But realizing that his father is following him and intent on damaging his attempts to wed Bridget, Edward begs the help of his father's clever servant, Brainworm, who assumes several masks to trick the elder Knowell and foil his pursuit.

Kitely, the victim of the second intrigue, is one of Jonson’s most striking ‘humours’. Jonson’s intention is satiric comedy; he eliminates from Kitely all but the one idea of foolish jealousy, which, after the manner of ‘humour’, becomes an obsession, and ridiculously colors all his thoughts and behavior.

The third is the very thin love intrigue between Bridget and Edward Knowell. This is the one typically romantic aspect of the play. But Jonson naturally makes little of it. It is introduced in Act IV Scene iii with no preparation; but it is slightly elaborated.

All the twists are finally resolved at Justice Clements’s house. Kitely’s jealousy and his wife’s suspicion are found baseless. Brainworm unmasks his disguise. The wedding of Edward and Bridget is occurred. Old Knowell realizes his folly.

It is based upon the ancient theory of humours. The ancient and medieval universe was conceived to be composed of four elements. The four elements were combinations of four qualities- hot, cold, dry and moist. The earth was regarded as a combination of cold and dry qualities. Water was regarded of cold and moist qualities. Air was characterized as hot and moist qualities. Fire represented as hot and dry qualities.

Man’s body was composed of earth and water. His soul is of air and water. The elements present in the human body were known as four humours. Each humour was responsible for peculiar physical and mental traits in the human personality.

This drama introduces us to a group of eccentric attitudes. Each of his character has his particular humour. Knowell’s humour is he is excessively anxious and suspicious of the attitude of his son. Kitely’s humour is his jealousy, which is humourous. The other characters come up with various eccentrics. Justice Cement is a crazy magistrate and he is fond of liquor. Stephen’s humour is his melancholy mood. Edward and Wellbred’s humours are their sense of intellectual superiority. Humour as the trait of absurdity, eccentricity or abnormality is perfectly portrayed.