The picture of life, drama and society which ben jonson gives in his writings is full of the colour and atmosphere of london at one of its fascinating moments. Is the alchemist too cruel to be a comedy this question asks you to consider the alchemist generically as a comedy, but to weigh its sense of humor with the cruelty of the play towards its characters and perhaps, towards its audience. Directing ben jonsons the alchemist the british library. Samuel taylor coleridge considered it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature. Here the aspiration of the renaissance to control and remake the world is imaged as a great swindle, alchemy. The alchemist is a play by bon jonson, which follows tricksters jeremy, subtle, and dol as they swindle a series of increasingly naive victims. The satiric and the didactic in ben jonsons comedy. The comedy of humours is a genre of dramatic comedy that focuses on a character or range of characters, each of whom exhibits two or more overriding traits or humours that dominates their personality, desires and conduct. Jonsons use of the morality of vice in volpone and the. The court had learnt how to be brilliant and lavish and often irresponsible. Ben jonson the alchemist ben jonson 15731637 was one of the foremost of the jacobean dramatists.
Yep, thats ben jonsons way of giving a shoutout to the disease that killed boatloads of people between 1609 and 1610, the year this play was written. This thesis is an attempt to demonstrate the ways in which ben. First performed in 1610 by the kings men, it is generally considered jonsons best and most. Jonson writes the alchemist ensuring that the later scenes. The alchemist ben jonson 1572 1637 an outbreak of plague in london forces a gentleman, lovewit, to flee temporarily to the country, leaving his house under the sole charge of his butler, jeremy. Jonson alchemist mammon monologue great as an audition piece for male actors, this 12 minute monologue is spoken by sir epicure mammon from ben jonsons classic play, the alchemist. The project gutenberg ebook of the alchemist, by ben jonson this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Full text of ben jonsons theory and use of satire in. Its use in ben jonsons the alchemist by gary nored, b. A thesis in english submitted to the graduate faculty of texas tech university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts approved december, 1970.
Pdf the alchemist and other plays download full pdf. In merit its only rivals are volpone and bartholomew fair and fortunately no judgement of paris is needed between them. Polly findlay discusses the challenges of directing ben jonsons play, the alchemist. It is believed that he had a profound influence on the evolution of comedies and poetry in his country. Full text of ben jonsons theory and use of satire in comedy. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at.
Ben jonsons the alchemist by emily perkins works cited on the stage alchemists were those who tried to turn base metals such as lead or copper into silver or gold or find a cure for disease and a way of extending life gilbert. The term derives from the latin humor more properly umor, meaning liquid, and its use in the medieval and renaissance medical theory that the human body held a balance of four liquids, or humours. This system envisaged four major humours corresponding with the four elements fire, air, earth, and water and possessing the quality respectively of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture. Jonsons most performed play, and the one that sparked a period of great success for the playwright, is volpone, or the fox. Big willy shakespeare may have put english comedy on the map but, ben jonson is famous for being one of the younger 16th17th century playwrights who came along and helped reshaped the genre into something new and different rather than write old school romantic comedies with happy endings about people who lived in faraway places like, say, twelfth night, jonson was into whipping up. Folly knows no gender sherry broadwell niewoonder, ph. Jonson parodies philosophers, scientists, the new protestantism, the great renaissance merchant adventurers. I recommend an inexpensive collection, the alchemist and other plays, publish by oxford university press as a worlds classic. His book, jonsons moral comedy, compares the structure of jonsons plays to the structure of the elizabethan morality play. The alchemistben jonsonfree downloadpdf epubfreeditorial. The alchemist is one of jonsons finest comedies, arguably the finest. The alchemist the inductions to ben jonsons plays open the action of the stage to the audience. Magic and spectacle on the renaissance stage shayne confer dissertation.
The con or swindle was a familiar theme and one which jonson found to be a natural topic for comedy. Contribution of ben jonson to development of the english renaissance comedy abstract. Ben jonsons the alchemist by emily perkins on prezi. Ben jonson had theories about poetry and the drama, and. The alchemist is one of ben jonson s more popular comedies. Despite the large number of characters in this play i found it difficult to care or. The sickness hot a master quit for fearhis house in town and left one servant thereease him corrupted and gave means to know. The plays clever fulfilment of the classical unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of. The picture of life, drama and society which ben jonson gives in his writings is full of the. Dramatic functions of costuming in plays by ben jonson emmett w. For students of british drama, ben jonsons career has a special interest. Study of ben jonsons the alchemist english literature essay.
Despite a somewhat muddled denouement, the play is a masterpiece of construction. As far as is known, the plot is original with jonson. What can you do for your grandparents 10 lines 6 ways of wild animals saved my mother cooks delicious food. The trio of conartists subtle, face and dol are selfdeluding smalltimers, ultimately undone by the same human weaknesses they exploit in their victims. Reading a play on paper rather than watching it performed is hard enough without a complex plot. Ben jonson has a literary rep for being totally obsessed with the importance of his characters names. Does the alchemist fit your definition 2 believt, i will. Jonson focused on creating works that implemented elements of the realistic as well as the absurd.
This comic technique may be found in aristophanes, but the english playwrights ben jonson and george chapman popularized the genre in the closing. For centuries, critics and audiences alike have delighted in its sharply drawn characters, its labyrinthine plot, its deftly interlaced imagery and its general brilliance. Compare and contrast ben jonsons the alchemist and. Peterborough festival july 2011 cast subtle steve gravett face mark freeman dol common holly brown lovewit dave lescott dame pliant. Introduction the greatest of english dramatists except shakespeare, the first literary dictator and poetlaureate, a writer of verse, prose, satire, and criticism who most potently of all the men of his time affected the subsequent course of english letters. Benjamin jonson was a renaissance dramatist, poet, and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. Begin with either volpone or the alchemist if you are new to jonson. The play alchemist is generally considered as one of the most characteristic and best comedy and satire on the vices of the society. He had a keen eye for the follies of his contemporaries, and in this play he particularly satirises human gullibility. The alchemist by ben jonson summary, themes, and analysis.
This is an easytoread retelling of ben jonsons classic comedy the alchemist, whose theme is the love of money. Its use in ben jonsons the alchemist ttu dspace home. He is best known for the satirical plays every man in his humour 1598, volpone, or the fox c. This edition brings together jonsons four great come. Alchemist, london, plague, playtext, puritanism and social history. The age of jonson, the age in which the great dramatist matured and created, covers roughly the last quarter of the 16th century and the first 37 years of the 17 th century.
In a big city like london, this process of advantageseeking is rife. In none of ben jonsons plays is renaissance heroic humanism converted to comic reality more obviously and successfully than in the alchemist. Benjamin jonson, popularly known as ben jonson, was a 17th century english literary critic, playwright, poet and actor. The study will encompass the compare and contrast of two great writers literary works. The alchemist jonson evaluate ben jonsons the alchemist. Gloom, humour, playwright,knowledge,melancholy,disillusionment. The alchemist is a crook who, with the help of a woman and a servant, tries to get as much money as possible from anyone who is ready to believe brilliant promises founded on myths like turning lead into gold, or ready palms, or ready the stars and predicting the future, or getting married to some.
The plays clever fulfilment of the classical unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of the few renaissance. Bus a man of eminence is a adjective phrase or adverb phrase or a noun phrase write a short story based on the following outline. This play was first staged in 1610 in kings men theater. It will take comprehensive discussion on ben jonsons the alchemist and william shakespeares the tempest. Comedy of humours, a dramatic genre most closely associated with the english playwright ben jonson from the late 16th century. See other formats \n 1933 hi i t boston university graduate school thesis ben jonsons theory and use of satire in comedy by bradford michael morehouse hill a. The play concerns the turmoil of deception that ensues when lovewit leaves his london house in the care of his scheming servant, face. The alchemist by ben jonson with glossary the alchemist is a comedy by english playwright ben jonson. He wrote a number of plays both comedies and tragedies and a series of stylised masques for the court.
Perhaps the bedroom scene of the first act of volpone is funnier than any single sequence in. Chuck jones said that comedy is unusual people in real. Conycatching or swindling a cony was another word for dupe, gull, or victim was as popular in the seventeenth century as it is in the twentieth. The term humour comes from the ancient greek physicians and, later, from the medieval system of medicine. The comedy the alchemist is written by a playwright, ben jonson. Dramatist, 1984 how does jonson use names in the alchemist to reveal important information about his characters and some of the plays major themes like, say, the theme of transformation some folks argue that the characters in the. Jonson alchemist mammon monologue instant monologues. Jonsons use of the morality of vice in volpone and the alchemist. Research paper on the alchemist as a satire and comedy. P olly findlay has taken a bold and, by todays standards, radical decision in her staging of ben jonsons 1610 comic masterpiece. Health imagery and rhetoric in the major comedies of ben jonson leona f. There are very few plays from the english renaissance that modern readers find impossible to put down but ben jonsons 1610 comedy the alchemist is one of them.
Ben jonsons works, published in 1616, included all his comedies written that far, and meant an important precedent which helped to establish drama as literary kind comparable to the rest of literature. First performed in 1610 by the kings men, it is generally considered jonsons best and most characteristic comedy. When reading jonsons play the alchemist, i was inundated by the busy plot and numerous characters that entered and exited escaped is probably a more accurate description the storyline. The alchemist is a comedy by english playwright ben jonson.
Download the education pack for the alchemist riding lights. This is where surly comes right out and says that alchemy is total b. The alchemist, comedy in five acts by ben jonson, performed in 1610 and published in 1612. The alchemist focuses on what happens when one human being seeks advantage over another. This comic technique may be found in aristophanes, but the english playwrights ben jonson and george chapman popularized the genre in the closing years of the sixteenth. Evaluate ben jonsons the alchemist as a comedy enotes.
With the aid of a fraudulent alchemist named subtle and his companion, dol common, face sets about dispensing spurious charms and services to a. A comedy that reveals some common traits in ben jonson plays. Theres no getting away from the fact that the alchemist is a difficult play to direct. W hen the cats away, the mice certainly do play in ben jonsons 1610 comedy a play that, like theatre itself, revels in lies and illusions. Study of ben jonsons the alchemist english literature essay if his dreams last, hell turn the age to gold. The introduction, glossary, and explanatory footnotes by gordon campbell are quite good. There are a number of collections of ben jonsons plays.