00027--What’s Ben Jonson’s concept of Humours? How does he apply them in his comedies?

                                      

The term ‘humour’ as used by Ben Jonson, is based on an ancient physiological theory of four fluids found in human body.  According to this theory there are four fluids in human body which determine a man’s temperament and mental state.  These four humours are:

·         BLOOD,

·         PHLEGM,

·         CHOLER (yellow bile), and,

·         MELANCHOLY (black bile).  
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A normal man has these four humours in a balanced proportion.  But the excess of anyone of these humours makes him eccentric in one way or other.  He becomes abnormal and develops some kind of oddity in his temperament and behaviour and thus becomes an object of fun and ridicule.
 

1. The humour of blood makes a man excessively optimistic or sanguine even without the slightest chance of hope or success.

2. Phlegm makes one excessively calm and docile.

3. Choler makes one highly ill-tempered.

4. Black bile makes one excessively melancholy and morbid.
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Ben Jonson explains the theory of humours in the introduction to his play EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR.

Ben Jonson’s comedies are called Comedies of Humours because the principal characters in all his comedies are victim of one humour or the other.  BOBADIL, for example, is characterised by his decorous manners, uttering improbable boasts.  ASPER in EVERYMAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR is a harsh and pitiless judge.  DELIRO is an idolising husband consistently rebuffed by his wife.  There is a stream of satire in all Ben Jonson’s principal characters.

                                       

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