The three plays collected in this volume depict the faults, errors and foibles of ordinary people with exuberant humour, savage satire and acute observations. Volpone portrays a rich Venetian who pretends to be dying so that his despised acquaintances will flock to his bedside with extravagant gifts in hope of an inheritance. The Alchemist also deals with greed and gullibility, as a rascally trio of confidence tricksters, claiming to have the legendary Philosopher's Stone, fool a series of victims who are hoping to make some easy money. And in a wonderfully energetic portrait of...
The three plays collected in this volume depict the faults, errors and foibles of ordinary people with exuberant humour, savage satire and acute obser...
Ben Jonson, George Chapman, John Marston, Professor Michael Neill (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
This collaborative masterpiece of hilarious city comedy was performedby the Children of the Revels at the Blackfriars playhouse in 1605. Thestory is of an allegorical simplicity that lends itself to satire ofcivic mores and traditions as well as to parody of the sentimental, idealising London comedy presented at the amphitheatres in the suburbs: Goldsmith Touchstone, an upright London citizen, has one modest and oneambitious daughter, one righteous and one disreputable apprentice;virtue is rewarded, ruthlessness comes to grief - and receives adrenching in the muddy Thames. The introduction...
This collaborative masterpiece of hilarious city comedy was performedby the Children of the Revels at the Blackfriars playhouse in 1605. Thestory i...
'The Alchemist' has been described as the greatest farce in the English language. It offers insights into London life in the early 17th century, and satirises and celebrates the confusions and anarchy of a fast-moving city world.
'The Alchemist' has been described as the greatest farce in the English language. It offers insights into London life in the early 17th century, and s...
This edition brings together Jonson's four great comedies Volpone, Epicene, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. The texts of these plays have all been newly edited for this volume, and are presented with modernized spelling. Stage directions have been added to help actors and directors reconstruct the play the way it would have been performed in the seventeenth century, and the introduction, notes, and glossary further bring to life these timeless comedies for the modern reader. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford...
This edition brings together Jonson's four great comedies Volpone, Epicene, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. T...
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was born in London, and became a leading poet, playwright and essayist of the Elizabethan age. In 1598 he killed an actor in a duel but escaped hanging by pleading benefit of the clergy, and by 1616 had re-established enough Court favour to be awarded a pension by James I - in effect making him the first Poet Laureate.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was born in London, and became a leading poet, playwright and essayist of the Elizabethan age. In 1598 he killed an actor in a ...
This fully annotated and modernized collection of plays--including Every Man in his Humour, Sejanus, Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair--represents the full range and complexity of Jonson's art as a playwright. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text,...
This fully annotated and modernized collection of plays--including Every Man in his Humour, Sejanus, Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair--rep...
Ben Jonson, Roger Holdsworth (University of Oxford, UK)
'A silent and loving woman is a gift of the lord'
This 'excellent comedy of affliction' enjoyed enormous prestige for more than a century after its first performance: for John Dryden it had 'the greatest and most noble construction of any pure unmixed comedy in any language'. Its title signals Jonson's satiric and complex concern with gender: the play asks not only 'what should a man do?', but how should men and women behave, both as fit examples of their sex, and to one another? The characters furnish a cross-section of wrong answers, enabling Jonson to create riotous entertainment...
'A silent and loving woman is a gift of the lord'
This 'excellent comedy of affliction' enjoyed enormous prestige for more than a century aft...
The Alchemist is a sublimely accomplished satirical farce about dreams of self-refinement: people want to transform themselves into something nobler, richer, more powerful, and more virile just as base metal was touted to be transformed into gold in the alchemical process.
First performed in 1610 and set in the same contemporary London time period, the plot revolves around scheming con artists during their master's absence from the house. Face, Subtle and Doll Common dupe a series of 'customers' whose desire for aggrandizement leads them to believe in the existence of the fabled...
The Alchemist is a sublimely accomplished satirical farce about dreams of self-refinement: people want to transform themselves into something noble...
