The Alchemist play

 

Ben Johnson as a writer:

Born on 11, 1572 in Westminster and left this temporal world 6, 1637 in London. He gave currency to the comedy of manners. He is counted as one of the greatest dramatists of the English literature.

Ben Johnson’s Every Man in His Humor is most important work, Shakespeare has acted into it. This comedy brought fame and money to him. He wrote every Man out of his humor too, unfortunately, it could not emulate former.

Ben Johnson has endeavored to demonstrate contemporary life of his time. He has an in-depth insight of social and his presentation is marvelous too. In Alchemist, he sheds light upon the ingrained pitfalls of the renaissance society.

Ben Johnson worked at the court and also called as first poet of the laureate albeit at his time there was no such term. He was able to make more money by submitting his work to court than public plays.

Ben Johnson dramas embodies absurdity. It may include some obscene things. In the alchemist, for example, at the outset of the paly face says, “you dirty dog. You insolent cur and slave.” Still there are certain dialogue that can’t be alluded for the sake of formality.

Alchemist summary:

It is story of a band of people who robe their customers by misuse of knowledge. They claim to prove some supernatural characteristics to human being or things that will make them. They proclaim to have knowledge of alchemy, art converting base metals into Gold, but the band is charlatan. The band includes the alchemist named subtle, face a house master, and DOL common.

He here provides the lucid picture of evil in the society of England. In play, one can clearly see the misuse of knowledge. Ben Johnson here enunciates that knowledge does not necessarily mean development. It can be used for duping people. Exhibiting the purpose of knowledge he foreshadowed the future of Britain. 

Moreover, he hints to the exorcised religion dominance. Not only this, but he make fun of puritans too. He depicts puritans as proud and foolish. 

In short, it is the image of the age. He shows puritanism, elimination of religious dominance and social evils. In crude terms, he is the Renaissance man.

Themes:

Gratification of desires:

The important theme around which everything surrounds fulfill human desires. Everyone is pinning for mundane things.  Like mammon always talks about these things like gratification of desire for sex, luxury and money, to name a few. Mammon wants to achieve that through simple and swift way.

Puritanism:

Another important theme of the play is puritanism. He depicts Anania and Turbulation as such. In the words of Anania, “puritans suffer everywhere” shows their proud. In the drama puritan character conceive themselves guided by the right path. Ben Johnson also shows their extremism as, “there is pride about your neck…you seem like an anti-Christ” says Ananias.

Superstition and collusion:

One of the central themes of The Alchemist is deception. People are made fools easily because of their superstitions. Mammon believes in philosopher stone because Mary believed in it. Mammon says, “Moses, his sister and Solomon have written about this.” Here the writer actually satirizes the religious dogmatism and call for being rational. 

Satire:

It is beyond question that satire plays pivotal role in the play. It satirizes each social evil of that time. Firstly, Greed and lust of Jacobean age. Secondly, the hypocrisy of the age. Thirdly, misuse of knowledge through this he suggests kind of check and limit of it. Fourthly, he satirizes every character for not being humanist. As we are cognizant of the fact that humanism was the central role. Unfortunately, people are depicted selfish, thus, satirized. 

Pakistani society vs The Alchemist:

Politics:

Here I am referring to connotative meaning, or the meaning other than literary meaning. Every politician in Pakistan claims to bring relentless progress. But it is just a farrago of distortions. Realistically, we have scanty resources at disposal and are not suffice for that kind of development. But, the claim, by all means, compels and dupes us to single out that politician. It is cognate to the idea of philosopher stone. Which would have, as envisaged by mammon, handed over prosperity, strength and money to him.

Fake products:

This grave evil stemmed from our society.  It is related to fake promotion, claims and trapping people to buy a product at the highest cost possible. Say for example, you are out to buy a product named A. the real price of that product is 1,000. But shopkeeper suggest you that product has such and such qualities and dupe you to buy it at higher cost. And, deceiving people is the sole theme of the Alchemist. To make the idea crystal clear, take an example of teachers in Pakistan. The weight of a Ph.D. in Pakistan is the teachers can’t tech. Even most of the so-called Ph.D. holders cannot speak English properly. It is embarrassing.

Women’s position: 

The position of women clearly parallels to what we see in Pakistan. In our country, a woman is thought to be a callous object. Her body does not belong to her. She is, almost all the time, puppet of culture or the rules of behavior set by a culture. Similarly, in the drama there are two women characters.  One is Dorothy or dol. Common. The word common implies everyone’s as she is a prostitute. In the drama, she is considered to be an object to get the things done. Another is Dame Pliant –a rich widow. To realize her status in relation is man, her brother’s remarks would be enough. He says, “come-in ewe-like lady…you are nothing short of a puppet. O, I can pull you and toss you about.”

Faustus vs The Alchemist:

1. Desire for material prosperity

2. Both shows the misuse of knowledge for selfish gains.

3. cynical view of human

4. Excessive greed causes the downfall.

5. Both marks the end of religious dominance

Difference:

1. the Alchemist is a comedy is tragedy

2. both vary in plot structure

3. Faustus’s actions earned him inevitable damnation. But Subtle escapes. 

4. The alchemist embodies vulgarity, not Faustus.

Both plays express some anxiety about the political activity enabled by science. In Doctor Faustus, the title character uses science to generate political power for himself although his plans are ambitious and spectacular, he does not achieve the grandeur he imagines. Nonetheless, despite his base birth, through his association with science, he gains access to some very powerful people, and though he might effect real change, he adopts a toadying personality and becomes more an entertainer than a politician. Science does, however, grant him access to enormous power, and this, without the requisite hereditary status, was a seditious position in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

In The Alchemist, the cozeners create a microcosmic republic inside Lovewit' s house generating sedition as an analogy, a metaphor, as in reality. An elaborate conceit sustains the republic throughout the play. It relies on isolation to maintain its independence, and runs into a series of problems when the outside world intrudes on the internal functions of the republican government. Nonetheless, the "venture tripartite" (the Siedlecki 5 ruling body consisting of Doll Common, Subtle, and Face) negotiates its position in its international milieu, subsidizing religious sedition in Holland, minting Dutch money, and planning a strategic marriage between an English woman and a Spanish lord. 

The empowering of Doll Common is directly related to her position in the alchemical metaphor. She is indispensable and equal. This adjustment of gender relations would have been striking and uncomfortable for an early seventeenth-century playgoer.