Every Man in His Humour

by Ben Jonson

"Every Man in His Humour" by Ben Jonson is a play written in 1598. This "humours comedy" features characters driven by singular obsessions and fixations. When a concerned father attempts to spy on his gallant son's city adventures, his servant continually undermines the surveillance. Meanwhile, a jealous merchant becomes convinced his wife is betraying him with the wastrels his brother-in-law brings home. Surrounded by colorful English types—blustering soldiers, country fools, and pretentious poets—these intertwined plots build through escalating complications in this comedy of human follies.