In none of Ben Jonson's plays is Renaissance heroic humanism converted to comic reality more obviously and successfully than in The Alchemist. Here the aspiration of the Renaissance to control and remake the world is imaged as a great swindle, alchemy. Jonson parodies philosophers, scientists, the new Protestantism, the great Renaissance merchant adventurers, and the ages' ideals of military valor and impassioned love. His characters are comic versions of the ways in which the Renaissance sought power, knowledge, and pleasure--they are also a remarkably realistic cross section, ranging...
In none of Ben Jonson's plays is Renaissance heroic humanism converted to comic reality more obviously and successfully than in The Alchemist. ...
Complete text of play first performed in 1603. Modernized English text, explanatory and critical notes, and Introduction. From the Yale Ben Jonson Edition.
Complete text of play first performed in 1603. Modernized English text, explanatory and critical notes, and Introduction. From the Yale Ben Jonson Edi...
