My first focus is the dwarf, or the ape figure, in Volpone and elsewhere in Jonson. In Every Man Out of His Humour (1599), Asper, the presenter, describes the new parvenus and parasites in London as apes:

Asper's words characterise Renaissance satire, which used concepts such as the mirror and the anatomy to describe what the comedy was doing in studying such ‘apes’. Showing figures of deformity by means of the mirror, Asper emphasises the need to see Jonson's comedies as distorting, creating anamorphic shapes, hence the idea of apes. Asper's characterisation of ‘apes’ is instrumental for us to think of another of Jonson's apes: Nano in Volpone. Critics usually slight the significance of Volpone's three bastards. Herford and Simpson argue that the three of them are there to ‘reflect their deformities’. Enid Welsford describes the trio as ‘peculiarly odious grotesques whose only function in the play is to emphasize the luxury and selfishness of the Fox, and to perform an occasional jig, presumably to gratify the groundlings’. In this chapter, I want to draw readers’ attention to the signification of Nano the dwarf, suggesting how the study of his representation can enrich our reading of the play. I argue that the dwarf functions as a mirror to Volpone's own inner states. Using Lacan's theory, I suggest that he can be read as a figure of anamorphosis, signifying the presence of death and castration within Volpone/Volpone, challenging the audience to read the play in an anamorphic way. The dwarf is an important presence if we allow ourselves to think of the play from a different angle. Deciphering the signification of Nano, I will address how the representation of the dwarf contributes to the study of the comedy and its critique of the nascent early modern capitalism. Through the discussion of Velázquez and Holbein, and Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard III, with reference to the theoretical arguments of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan, I am going to discuss the representation of the dwarf as an anamorphic figure.