Volpone as a Non – Comedy

Abstract

Jonson was not the only one to hold this belief. A little earlier,
Sidney had already defined comedy as „an imitation of the common
errors of life3
.” He was surely following Aristotle who defined
these „common errors of life‟ as „mistake or deformity which is
“ridiculous‟ on the grounds that „it is not productive of pain or harm
to others 4
. “