The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, Characters, Summary and Analysis

The Alchemist was first performed in 1610 and it was again revised during the age of Restoration. Samuel Taylor Coleridge mentioned The Alchemist as one of the three most perfect plots of English literature. The other two works that Samuel Taylor Coleridge compared with The Alchemist were Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus Rex’ and Henry Fielding’s ‘Tom Jones.’

Let us first understand the title The Alchemist. Alchemy used to be a branch of studies during the 12th century in Europe under which people used to study the patterns of astrology and natural science for the benefit of man. The main aim of alchemists was to find out ways of turning a base metal like iron, copper, lead, etc into noble precious metals like gold or silver. So, Alchemy was more about materialism than spiritualism, and since it was an early science or better say a pseudoscience, cunning people often tried to make profits through alchemy. Ben Jonson’s comedy The Alchemist is also a story of three cunning people working as a team to fool and rob others. It is considered the best comedy of Ben Jonson in which he cleverly maintained the three classical unities of time, place, and action and depicted human follies and foibles funnily and entertainingly.
So this is it about The Alchemist. As it can be seen, the victims of Subtle and Jeremy themselves are examples of human follies and foibles which include a lustful knight, slave of his libidinous desires, corrupt Anabaptist ready to use ill-gotten money for religious purposes to gain leadership and power, and a corrupt and greedy legal clerk involved in gambling. Drugger is the only victim who loses some of his precious tobacco and hopes to marry Dame Pliant. So this is for today. We have discussed all the major comedies of Ben Jonson. We will now discuss some of his masques before completing our discussion on Ben Jonson. We will continue to cover every aspect of English literature pertinent to the exams like UGC NET English, GATE English, TG PRB English, and SET English. TGT PGT English and other similar competitive exams. Stay tuned to the Discourse, Thanks, and Regards!