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The Alchemist by Ben Jonson – Analysis

Xinnia Ejaz
19U00195

‘The Alchemist’ by Ben Jonson is a Jacobean comedy published in 1610, set in London

during an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Elizabethan drama gave way to the Jacobean era,

marked not just by drama written during the rule of Queen Elizabeth’s successor James I, but

also stood out due to its particular characteristics. Different from early Shakespearean comedies

revolving around romance and closer to classical comedies like those of Aristophanes being a

critique of Greek society, Jacobean comedy is satirical. Jonson’s dark satires of contemporary

society used realism to relate to the audience by portraying the lives of lower- and middle-class

citizens living in the city of London.

London in early 1600s, saw its socio-economic structure going through a drastic change

with the emergence of capitalism and as a result, a flowering middle class, who according to

Jonson, were full of vices. The city of London in particular was unlike any other as mentioned in

the prologue to ‘The Alchemist’, where “No clime breeds better matter for your whore, Bawd,

squire, impostor, many persons more”. So, it’s a city suffering not just from the actual plague but

from moral disease and afflictions of its members. Jonson, as a pioneer in satire and a master

dramatist – second only to Shakespeare himself – was a well-educated and cultured man of the

Renaissance who wished to critique urban life and capitalism which he believed to be the

breeding ground for greed and fraud. His critique was not mere jibes at society but a ploy to hold

a mirror of its vices to his audience and expose its corruption and thus, attempt to improve it all

the while making the lesson pleasurable. His comedy is essentially what is called a ‘city comedy’

in which “trickery and swindling are celebrated, while the greed that motivates them is exposed”,
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existing as a comedic yet moral corrective for a society drowning in avarice [ CITATION Sus81 \l

1033 ].

His realist, bordering on pessimistic, view of society is reflected in his depiction of both

life and characters. Like the protagonists of ‘The Alchemist’, most of his characters were knaves,

scoundrels and hypocrites of a lower moral character. His genre of comedy was what he called

‘comedy of the humors’. The term ‘humor’, a part of medieval and Renaissance medical theory,

proposes that the human body consists of four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black

bile, when in balance, maintain the health of the body. Jonson’s characters always represent one

humor as prominent more than the others which is why they are unbalanced either in their

clothing, speech or social habits.

This is evident from the argument and prologue of the play. In an acrostic poem, Jonson

confirms, that he will indeed be narrating a story about “cheaters”, “punks”, and “cozeners” who

will be engaged in “narrow practices” i.e. tricking, deceiving others and furthering their criminal

enterprise. In the prologue he states that his play will be a comedy but his stress is on “ever aim

to grieve, but better men”, emphasizing that his satire is meant to improve society by exposing its

sins that they don’t themselves recognize as such. He employs a mocking tone, irony and

sarcasm for this purpose and to make fun of characters that are more or less caricatures and

stereotypes but are still unique and have an individual voice and quirks of their own.

The main characters in ‘The Alchemist’ are Face (the scheming servant), Subtle (the

pretend alchemist), and Dol Common (a prostitute) who are running a scam and a brothel

together and making money off of gullible Londoners with Face’s absent Master Lovewit’s

home as their base of operations. These characters embody the theme of deception throughout
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the play. Face the Butler, has an appropriate alias since he has an array of disguises and fake

names at hand for each of his gullible victims. He is Lungs for Epicure Mammon, Captain Face

for Drugger and Jeremy the Butler for Lovewit. Even though it appears that while Face is quick

on his feet, he remains second in command to Subtle, as his main job is to recruit potential

victims to be gulled for their money but proves to be the most shrewd as just when their scam

has fallen apart and Subtle and Dol mean to leave him high and dry, he quickly gets the high

ground by telling them that he has told his master everything who has forgiven him and warns

them of the coming of the police which prompts them to run, leaving behind all of the loot (Act 5

Scene 2). He also successfully maintains his image as an honest person among the neighbors and

manages to strike a deal with Lovewit, promising to marry him to Dame Pliant: “I’ll help you to

a widow, in recompence, that you shall give me thanks for, Will make you seven years younger,

and a rich one” (Act 5 Scene 1). His trickster spirit shines through as he’s able to avoid getting

into trouble with minimal punishment. Even though the three protagonists were enjoined by a

common cause, there did not exist a sense of camaraderie or loyalty towards each other apart

from conning other people.

Face knew exactly what his master’s actions would be driven by (greed and lechery) and

plays on that even though when he first appears in Act 5, it seems as though he is outraged and

concerned about the vile actions going on in his own house but he is just as deceptive as Face.

This falls in line with Jonson’s criticism of people who are easily persuaded to wrongdoing for

money and their own desires. It’s also a character defect that exists across all classes, even the

seemingly proper upper-class men such as the likes of Master Lovewit. Face’s character also

represents the deception and fraud that runs rampant in the wider society and how appearances

can be deceiving.
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Subtle too, embodies the name given to him. As a conman, he must be indirect,

inconspicuous but clever enough to be able to pull off the disguise of an old, religious,

temperamental and intimidating doctor/scientist of alchemy. To both Face and Subtle, words are

just words, just a means to an end, a powerful tool to manipulate. By being smooth talkers the

powers of their empty words and grand promises of riches are able to fool their victims. Subtle in

particular uses alchemy jargon that no one, including him, actually understand, to impress his

victims, “Infuse vinegar, to draw his volatile substance and his tincture: And let the water in

glass E be filter’d, and put into the gripe’s egg. Lute him well; And leave him closed in balneo.”

The use of impossible to understand language of alchemy and the ridiculous instructions given to

the gulled to achieve what they want, is a figurative aid employed by Jonson to satirically expose

to the audience the deception of the characters. Subtle also has defense ready for his confusing

words meant for skeptics like Surly: “Was not all the knowledge Of the Egyptians writ in

mystick symboles? Speake not the Scriptures, oft, in parables? Are not the choisest fables of the

Poets, that were the fountaines, and first springs of wisdome, Wrapt in perplexed allegorie” (Act

2 Scene 1). They are both extremely confident in their web of lies to appear knowledgeable

enough to connive money out of their victims [ CITATION Mic77 \l 1033 ]. The most unexpected of

instances of deception was by Surly as the Spaniard, attempting to beat the con artists at their

own game by stooping down to their antics. The fact that he didn’t prove to be successful and

Face triumphed out of all of them, is representative of the cynic in Jonson who views society as

addled with vice that reigns supreme.

The Londoners that Face, Subtle and Dol con carry on the theme of deception and

gullibility. Their first con is a law clerk named Dapper whose ease at giving his watch to a thief

and wholehearted belief in the existence of the Fairy Queen conveys that even someone
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seemingly smart can be easily fooled. His willingness to believe in the Fairy Queen to help him

win at gambling, “Yes, Captain, I would have it for all games” (Act 1 Scene 2), leaves the

impression as though he is almost asking to be scammed. Next is Drugger who just wants advice

on how to run his business better in exchange for money. Him being conned humanizes the

victims and makes them appear sympathetic in comparison to the cruelty and brutality of the

cons.

The entrance of Epicure Mammon adds complexity to this notion as his greedy and

outrageous boasts of grandeur of all that he will achieve with the philosopher’s stone and the

elixir, feel obnoxious and his optimism reaches the point of absurdity. Although he too, is

deliberately allowing himself to be conned despite Surly’s warnings, his unabashed enthusiasm

still makes him sympathetic. Through the characters that are gulled, Jonson is ruthless in his

satire of human vanities and follies belonging to all classes and is unapologetic in mocking their

weakness and ability to believe in “miracle cures” and false advertising [ CITATION Ola14 \l 1033 ].

Moreover, Subtle’s character exposes the practice of alchemy as a scam that was popular

during Jonson’s time as there were many false practioners. The practice was said to lead to the

creation of the philosopher’s stone that could turn metal to gold and produce the elixir of life that

could cure any sickness and grant immortality, a recurring symbol in the play. As a Renaissance

man, a believer in rationality and distancing from tradition, alchemy is nothing short of a farce to

him and yet many were in the pursuit of possessing it.

The characters of Drugger, Mammon, Dapper and Ananias are all interested in it to

satisfy their own selfish and greedy desires rather than possess it for human good. For example,

Mammon intends “To have a list of wives and concubines Equal with Solomon, who had the
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stone Alike with me; and I will make me a back with the elixir that shall be as tough As

Hercules, to encounter fifty a night”. His outrageous plans consist of turning all of metal in

England to gold and gain physical prowess to have the stamina to engage in as much lechery as

he wants. The Anabaptists also want to use the stone to further their fundamentalist ideas: “bend

unto all means That may give furtherance to the holy cause”, which will become much easier if

they have enough resources.

Moreover, the theory of alchemy suggests that things are in a constant state of flux and

change which is again relevant to the characters of Subtle, Face and Dol, who are constantly

changing their appearance and disguises. For example, Face transforming himself from a servant

to a Captain, Subtle going from a beggar to a respected Doctor of alchemy and Dol turning into

an insane scholar from a prostitute. The most interesting of disguises donned is by Dol

impersonating the Fairy Queen and her fit of insanity upon the mention religion by Mammon:

“And so we may arrive by Talmud skill, and profane Greek, to raise the building up Of Helen’s

house against the Ismaelite, King of Thogarma, and his habergions” (Act 4 Scene 3). The skill

with she is able to conjure up an array of references to the works of a Puritan scholar depicts just

how cunning the scammers are.

Additionally, Jonson reiterates the idea of a play within a play and equating the actions in

the play to those of performed by actors in a theatre. The fact that the play was first performed in

Blackfriars, which also happens to be the setting of the play itself, is no coincidence. The

characters’ ability to improvise and change their appearances on a whim implies that they’re just

like actors acting in a play and like the conned characters of the play, the audience too, for a few

hours pay money to suspend their belief and be charmed by the transformative powers of the
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theatre. Just as the characters paint fantasies and false promises of a different reality, theatre too

is a means for their audience’s imagination to live through magical events they wish were real.

The role of the audience is akin to that of a judge as mentioned in the prologue “Judging

spectators; and desire, in place, To the author justice, to ourselves but grace” and “if you do quit

me, rests To feast you often, and invite new guests” stated by Face in the last scene of the play,

imply that the audience is the jury and has to judge the characters’ actions and the moral of the

drama. By connecting the deceptive actions of the main characters and theatrics, Jonson

comments on the human desire to make money and becoming more than what we are [ CITATION

McE08 \l 1033 ].

Furthermore, Jonson is highly critical of the hypocrisy and fanaticism of religious groups.

As a Protestant himself, Jonson criticizes the fundamentalist faction of Protestantism, the

Anabaptists. When the con artists first meet Ananias and he calls the alchemy jargon “heathen”

to which Subtle implies that their group are the real heathens. Even though using the

philosopher’s stone might be anti-Christian as Ananias states “it is a work of darkness, And with

philosophy, blinds the eyes of man” (Act 3 Scene 1), to further their agenda they are still willing

to possess it, which conveys their hypocrisy. Another explicit condemnation of religious

fundamentalism is Dol’s fit of madness upon hearing anything related to religion to which she

starts reciting the works of Broughton, a Puritan writer implying the dangers of delving into

religious fanaticism [ CITATION Ola14 \l 1033 ].

Ideas of lust and greed as well are prevalent throughout the play. Despite the popular

belief at the time that sex was only appropriate after marriage, there are numerous references to

adultery. Excess of lechery is criticized by Jonson and is outlined as one of the vices afflicting
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Londoners. Subtle and Face continually sexually objectify Dol and Dame Pliant, drawing straws

to decide gets to engage with them in sexual activities first. Furthermore, Mammon’s lecherous

behavior towards Dol is what prevents him from getting the stone according to Subtle because he

is not the saint that he claimed to be. Greed is also extremely common. The whole conning

debacle is driven by greed for money; those who are being conned are also in the pursuit of more

money which makes it difficult to root for either of the parties. There is exploitation for the sake

of money. It is not just the common man who engages in it but also gentlemen such as Lovewit,

who are greedy and exploitative. This ties in with the emerging capitalism in England which

forms the basis for fraud and exploitation, according to Jonson.

The structure of the plot revives the classical style which is logical, precise and

practically perfect, argues [ CITATION CGT59 \l 1033 ]. There is a unity in not only the actions of

the play but also in its timing. The action consistently rises, marked first by the ringing of the

bell when the conartists’ first victim Dapper arrives, building tension as more and more of the

gulled gather together in the house, then at the end of Act 4 the tension reaches its peak as the

sudden appearance of Master Lovewit is announced only to be resolved at the closure of Act 5.

The acts that supersede each other prove to be more intense and greater than their predecessors.

Much like classical dramas, the events take place all in one day and in one particular place,

Master Lovewit’s home, with the exception of the scene taking place on his doorstep in Act 5.

Jonson is clearly inspired by classical dramatist Aristophanes where comedy is present but not

without the presence of a social world and social themes in it. As Ellis-Fermor’s analysis states,

the organization of the plot is akin to art design and the sublime and spectacular dialogue in

unrhymed iambic pentameter by the characters is the color which elevates ‘The Alchemist’ to a

superlative work of art.

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References
Flachmann, M. (1977). Ben Jonson and the Alchemy of Satire . Studies in English Literature,

259-280.

McEvoy, S. (2008). Ben Jonson, Renaissance Dramatist. Edinburgh University Press.

Olaniyan, M. E. (2014). BEN JONSON’S THE ALCHEMIST, AS A SOCIAL HISTORY.

European Scientific Journal , 488-498.

Thayer, C. G. (1959). Theme and Structure in the Alchemist . Johns Hopkins University Press,

23-35.

Wells, S. (1981). Jacobean City Comedy and the Ideology of the City . Johns Hopkins

University Press, 37-60.

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