Key Facts of The Alchemist
- The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Jonson.
- First performed in 1610 by the King's Men.
- Genre: Comedy.
- The Alchemist is a five-act play by Ben Jonson, an Elizabethan dramatist.
- It was set in Blackfriars, London, in 1610.
- Literary Period: English Renaissance
- Setting: London, England, in 1610, during an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
- Themes: Alchemy and Transformation, Religion, Sex and Greed, Deception and Gullibility, Foolishness and Arrogance.
The Alchemist by Ben Jonson Literary Analysis
Ben Jonson, in the play “The Alchemist” blatantly ridicules the vices, vanities, and follies of the humans, primarily gullibility induced by greed in the man. Jonson, with his pitiless satire and wit, criticizes all the social classes. He taunts hominid faults and naivety to publicity and to “miracle treatments” through the personality of Sir Epicure Mammon, who thinks that by sipping the tonic of youth to enjoy eccentric sexual subjugations.
Jonson, in the play “The Alchemist” emphases on the consequences, when one man tries to seek advantage over another man. A big city like London is prone to the advantage-seeking over others. The three conmen Face, Subtle, and Dol are deceiving themselves through shortcuts for achieving their desires, consequently, un-fastened by the same flaws they searched for in their victims, known as the clients.
The fate of the conmen is prefigured in the comedy’s introductory act that structures them unruffled in Lovewit’s house, which handover to the Face to take care of it. The dialogues between the characters show the inconsistency in the play, as illustrated by the metaphor; For instance, it is foreshadowed that the alchemical will end up in a reaction with undesirable consequences. Moreover, the play begins with the fight between Face and Subtle and Dol always suppressing their voices also foreshadowed the imbalance among the characters.
Jonson also assets his ruthless satire on the Puritans of the real world who wished to close the theatres. He illustrates the Puritans as the man who claims to men of religion and wants to eliminate all the vices in the society but only a few know their real face.
All other characters in the play might encounter some pity from the audience but the Puritans, for Jonson, are supercilious unworthy of it. Jonson, time and again, looks down on two-facedness, particularly the religious two-facedness which expresses its critical findings in exalted language. According to Jonson, these so-called religious men are greedy for money and sell the religion by calling every other person as “heathens”.
In most of the comedies, particularly in European and English, it is conventional that the main character, especially the high-class character resolves the conflict between the lower characters. However, in this play, Jonson breaks the tradition. Lovewit is supposed to resolve the conflict, yet when Face offers him to help in marriage with a young lady, Dame Pliant, he accepts the offer enthusiastically.
We see both masters, lovewit, and servant, Face or Jeremy, as the opportunist and knows how to have to good fortune in the life disregard of any ethical boundaries. Lovewit skillfully feats Mammon’s unwillingness to acquire a lawful authorization of his foolishness to grip on to the old fellow’s wealth.
Jonson, in the play “The Alchemist” emphases on the consequences, when one man tries to seek advantage over another man. A big city like London is prone to the advantage-seeking over others. The three conmen Face, Subtle, and Dol are deceiving themselves through shortcuts for achieving their desires, consequently, un-fastened by the same flaws they searched for in their victims, known as the clients.
The fate of the conmen is prefigured in the comedy’s introductory act that structures them unruffled in Lovewit’s house, which handover to the Face to take care of it. The dialogues between the characters show the inconsistency in the play, as illustrated by the metaphor; For instance, it is foreshadowed that the alchemical will end up in a reaction with undesirable consequences. Moreover, the play begins with the fight between Face and Subtle and Dol always suppressing their voices also foreshadowed the imbalance among the characters.
Jonson also assets his ruthless satire on the Puritans of the real world who wished to close the theatres. He illustrates the Puritans as the man who claims to men of religion and wants to eliminate all the vices in the society but only a few know their real face.
All other characters in the play might encounter some pity from the audience but the Puritans, for Jonson, are supercilious unworthy of it. Jonson, time and again, looks down on two-facedness, particularly the religious two-facedness which expresses its critical findings in exalted language. According to Jonson, these so-called religious men are greedy for money and sell the religion by calling every other person as “heathens”.
In most of the comedies, particularly in European and English, it is conventional that the main character, especially the high-class character resolves the conflict between the lower characters. However, in this play, Jonson breaks the tradition. Lovewit is supposed to resolve the conflict, yet when Face offers him to help in marriage with a young lady, Dame Pliant, he accepts the offer enthusiastically.
We see both masters, lovewit, and servant, Face or Jeremy, as the opportunist and knows how to have to good fortune in the life disregard of any ethical boundaries. Lovewit skillfully feats Mammon’s unwillingness to acquire a lawful authorization of his foolishness to grip on to the old fellow’s wealth.
