Lecture Notes - The Alchemist (1610)

Ben Jonson

  • 1572-1637

  • Very highly educated and wanted to show it off in his work

  • Makes many classical references

  • Went to school in London

  • Worked for a while as a brick layer

  • Fought in the Netherlands

  • Went to prison a few times: once for killing a man during a play

  • was a huge admirer of Shakespeare

  • “Not of an age, but of all time.” (regarding Shakespeare after his death)

  • Converted to Catholicism

  • Shakespeare has acted in a few of his plays

  • His work is often satirical and set in contemporary London

  • City-comedies

  • The first Poet-Laureate

  • Writing style is not as poetic or lyrical as Shakespeare

  • Interested in including contemporary discourses

  • Interested in the relationship between Master-Servant relationships and classism

What is Alchemy

  • From the view of Alchemists, Alchemy is considered scholarly white magic. So it’s good in nature and stems from nature, but requires one to be educated.

  • There’s also a lot of connections to Christian beliefs

  • Became popular within Arab countries and more

  • In late classical Egypt Thoth and Hermes were connected together by Greek scholars.

  • Prima material - the first matter.

  • The philosopher’s stone

  • The chemical wedding

Emerging Skepticism

Extra Notes:

  • He is simultaneously debunking Alchemy with his work while describing it in depth as if it is a genuine and real thing

MAIN THEMES:

  • Inversions

    • Servants taking over masters

    • A group of thieves taking over the premises of an absent master

  • Transgression of Space

    • Servant named Jeremy (who has other names too such as Face). Supposed to be minding the premises for his master, Lovewit, but acts as if he owns it himself.

    • Face brings in two other conmen named Subtle and Doll.

    • Taking a domestic home and turning it into a place of trade. Aligns with the contemporary situation of London at the time as London went from being a place of living into a place of primary trade.

    • Shifts from systems of mutual obligation such as relationship based transaction, going into a system of exchange of money.

  • Supernatural and Skepticism

    • Deep investment in the idea of Alchemy and recognition of its potential, which argues with the validity of Alchemy

    • We hear about Alchemy through the description of everything that happens in their laboratory, but the audience never sees it. It’s all hearsay

    • Alchemy has had a long-lasting reputation with a connection to fraudsters

    • references to Fairies. The role of queen of the fairies was an actual role to fool someone.

  • 7 Deadly Sins

    • Many people come to the house in search for something

    • The thieves are able to trap their clients due to their sinful desires.

    • Links to deals with the devil

CHARACTERS:

SUBTLE:

  • The Alchemist

  • THe

Jeremy/Face:

  • Being named face suggests that he is multi-faced as in he has many disguises that he uses for different people.

Doll Common

  • The name Common was associated with prostitutes

  • She tricked one of the characters into believing she was the Queen of the Fairies

  • There’s a bit of comedy in her existence as the fact that she is a prostitute directly contradicts the idea that Alchemists must be pure

Dapper:

Lovewit:

  • Jeremy’s master and the real owner of the home

Epicure Mammon

  • Mammon was the term for riches in the bible’s new testament

Tribulation (Pastor from Amsterdam)

  • A priest

Ananias:

  • Name is mentioned in the new testament

Dame Pliant

  • Suggests yielding.

  • Ultimately the final prize

  • The only gold that people will get from these transactions