• In ‘Conversations with Drummond’ (1619), it is clear that Jonson was a bit of a charlatan himself!
  • Blackfriars, where the house is supposedly set is an old monastic quarter of london which turned into a merchant and commerce centre, with a glassworks and a theatre, possibly the one in which this would have been shown! A very local play!
  • Knocking at the door is a key signal and propels the action.
  • Alchemy: represented chemicals as animals – animation inherent in the universe.
  • There is a reference to fake alchemy – linked to Dr. Faustus.
  • “Upon our Dol, our castle, our Cinque Port, / Our Dover Pier, or what thou wit.” Is there genuine affection for Dol? Also ambiguous word “wit” related to a woman, e.g. Shakespeare.
  • Face must become the servant in the play, and Subtle becomes the sage alchemist. Note the names – deception is set lower than subtlety!
  • For each client, the tricksters use different clothing and slightly different personalities.
  • Clientelle can be seen as “England in miniature” – Leggatt.
  • Women come to the door, but many leave again (possibly when they see others) – a hint that Subtle is also an abortionist!
  • Dapper:
  • Wants a talisman for gambling – luck.
  • Erotic hints in the fairy queen.
  • Strip him of all wealth.
  • Fumigate in the lavatory with gingerbread, then they forget about him! Yet when he is finally revealed by calling out the window, he still believes in the plot!
  • Pretending family members were fairies was common!
  • Able Drugger:

Star actors have tended to choose to be Able Drugger! Other parts are often word heavy and of lesser interest.
Face introducing Subtle to Able Drugger: specific physicality in descriptions!
They exploit him mercilessly, take his money etc. Constantly sending him to fetch things!

  • A Jonson [play] is a collection of sub-plots drawn together.
  • Comic effect from the brevity in the final act – Robert Armin = Shakespeare’s Fool! Near his retirement – perhaps allowing a famous fool one bow out?
  • Body comedy – many descriptions of appearance!
  • Mammon:

He benefits the most, as he is allowed to dream of voluptuous fantasy.
The plot is to convince him that his unchastity of the mad sister of the Lord has caused the projection of the Philosopher’s stone to fail. (?)
II.iv = “Has he bit? Has he bit?” – fallen / interested in Dol Common.
Mammon and Surly – fat knight and lean gentleman – attention on the body.
Long-planned let down of Mammon, with the unseen ‘crack’.

  • “What a brave language here is! Not to canting”… – different language which only those of common folk could understand, = the code of thieves!
  • Greenblatt = “vertiginous swirl of words” – “the avoidance of depth” in his works.
  • Language of appearance and clothing with the tailor.
  • Biological process of alchemy, consequently allowed for eroticisation / sexualisation.
  • The venter tripartite runs out of human resources – Dol is occupied as the mad lady, Surly the Spaniard also wants Dol, Face and Subtle both want to snap up Kastril’s sister.
  • Once in a room with Dame Pliant, Surly does the wrong thing and consequently misses out.
  • Puritans: Jonson disliked them, but why? Was there a reason?
  • The humbug of alchemy = the humbug of Puritanism.
  • Surly does nothing, then tries to expose them, but F & S turn the other clients on him!
  • It would be a perfect medicine – Jonson distorts this in Epicure Mammon, as the perfect medicine becomes an erotic elixir, 50 times a night…
  • Lovewit unexpectedly returns to his house, and is met by these actors. Face meets him at the door, saying that nothing happened.
  • Ceaseless humour, e.g. in the 6th neighbour.
  • Dapper and gingerbread – Face tells Lovewit that he can get a wife by merely sleeping with the woman upstairs – Surly has lost his chance – “Must I needs cheat myself”.
  • See powerpoint for info. on Alchemy and comparison of the central female characters!
  • Morally reduced by the close of the play.
  • Yet Dol is not really condemned – as expected in a 17th C play.
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