Chapter The Alchemist Summaries and Commentary of The Alchemist - Study Guide by Ben Jonson

success and in this way ensures that he may gull them much further, for he says "A man must deal like a rough nurse, and fright/ Those that are froward to an appetite" (II.v.89-90). Ananias is thus sent off to fetch his superior, Tribulation Wholesome.

Act 2. Scene 6

As Ananias leaves, Drugger, the tobacconist, enters with Face seeking a lucky shop sign. Subtle, of course, rises to the occasion creating a "mystery and hieroglyphic" combining Drugger's name with the name of John Dee, the famous Elizabethan mathematician and astrologer who was also interested in alchemy. Dee was a name that would have been familiar to Jonson's audience, another example of Jonson's use of contemporary references. Once this easy piece of gulling is out of the way Drugger tells Subtle and Face of a young women of his acquaintance who wishes to have her fortune read. The women in question is Dame Pliant, a nineteen year old "rich young widow". Immediately the cozeners see a fresh opportunity, indeed the possibility of a wife for one of them, and encourage Drugger to bring her to the house. It then comes to light that she also has a brother who wishes to learn to quarrel, the art of witty quarrelling being much valued in certain sectors of gentlemanly society at the time. Of course, "The doctor is the only man/ In Christendom for him" (II.vi.65-66) and Drugger is sent off to fetch these two new gulls.

When he's gone, Face suggests they draw lots for the hand of Dame Pliant with the winner gaining the lady and the loser being recompensed in goods. In the world of their republic it is clear that sex is more closely connected with money and business then love. This attitude towards women and more specifically towards sex may be seen throughout the play.

This arrangement between the two marks the first real split in the "venture tripartite" as they warn each other that Dol must be kept unaware of this business dealing from which she obviously has nothing to gain.

Act 3

Act 3. Scene 1

This scene again demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Anabaptists, Ananias and Tribulation. Whilst the headstrong Ananias abhors their contact with the alchemist, "a profane man", the somewhat more pragmatic Tribulation believes that it is a necessary means to an end. He convinces Ananias that their involvement is a necessary evil with specious argument and a bizarre theory about the satanic dangers of working as closely with fire as the alchemist does.

Act 3.Scene 2

Subtle, easily reconciled with Ananias when they profess that "the saints/ throw down their purse before you" (III.ii.17-18), tempts the hypocritical holy men with tales of the power and influence they will wield once in possession of the stone. They are easily deceived, though Tribulation has to rebuke Ananias at various points for his interjections regarding the profanity of certain things. Tribulation's pragmatism and willingness almost to grovel to Subtle reveal how his thirst for power ranks higher in his mind than his adherence to his cause.

This hypocrisy, coupled with language which obfuscates rather than communicates, is common to both the cozeners and the Anabaptists. They consider the question of the forging of money to raise funds for the brethren in Amsterdam. It is decided that since they are making foreign money for the brethren in Holland it is not 'coining' but rather, 'casting' and is therefore deemed legal. They decide however that they must verify the veracity of this claim with the rest of the brethren though they are convinced of its truth. Language, then, once again proves a powerful tool for deception, including self-deception.

Act 3.Scene 3