The featured characters in this play all have one specific shared interest: Money. In this play, we witness how disgusting and inhumane money makes people behave. Mostly everyone in this play is driven by the desire to obtain more money, by any means necessary. Volpone fakes an extreme illness in order to attract money-hungry people like himself to give him gifts in hopes of being named in his will. He also impersonates Scoto the Mountebank in an attempt to sell a “magic oil” that supposedly cures any illness. Volpone is already a wealthy man, but having money only makes one lust for more of it. He spends much of the play pretending to be someone he’s not, making it very difficult to judge his character.
In exchange for money, characters like Corvino and Corbaccio are willing to give up important people in their lives. Corvino doesn’t think twice about giving his wife up to Volpone in hopes of winning him over and becoming his heir(It’s not even a sure thing). Corbaccio takes his son out of his will, and puts Volpone in his place. These characters are more concerned with their wealth than their family. To make matters worse, both of these characters are already wealthy and have an impressive income. Their greed blinds them and makes it easy for them to get fooled by Mosca. Money controls behavior and exposes some of mankind’s worst qualities.
Melissa brings out the moral vacuum in which most of these characters exist by calling attention to the willingness of Corvino and Corbaccio to give up PEOPLE in their quest for money. This makes a mere bribe seem almost inconsequential.