The Alchemist: Ben Jonson
Details
Samuel Taylor Coleridge believed that the three best plots in literature were Oedipus Rex, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (1610).
Set during a time of plague, three swindlers--Face, Subtle, and Doll Common--set up shop in the house of their master, who has fled from London to escape the pandemic. The rogues' first target is Dapper, whom they lure into a get-rich-quick scheme (for a small fee, of course) and a rendezvous with the "Queen of Fairies." Later they meet Mammon, whom Subtle (the titular alchemist), using his philosopher's stone, has promised to turn the world's base metals into gold. As the cons, dupes, and ruses pile up, the trio is forced to maintain their increasingly desperate plots with a series of disguises, tricks, and double-crosses.
The Alchemist is full of sharp wit, comic hijinks, and unrelenting momentum. It was first performed by The King’s Men in Shakespeare’s time, and has been successfully revived on stage nearly continuously through the present day.
The Alchemist:
Supplemental:
Extracts:
- "Then there was...some odd volumes of plays, each of which was a precious casket of jewels of good things, shaming the trash nowadays passed off for dramas, containing “The Jew of Malta,” “Old Fortunatus,” “The City Madam.” “Volpone,” “The Alchymist,” and other glorious old dramas of the age of Marlow and Jonson...." (White-Jacket, 61)
This meetup is part of a series on Muses and Monsters.