The Alchemist: Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics)
By Ben Jonson
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About this ebook
The NHB Drama Classics series presents the world's greatest plays in affordable, highly readable editions for students, actors and theatregoers. The hallmarks of the series are accessible introductions (focussing on the play's theatrical and historical background, together with an author biography, key dates and suggestions for further reading) and the complete text, uncluttered with footnotes. The translations, by leading experts in the field, are accurate and above all actable. The editions of English-language plays include a glossary of unusual words and phrases to aid understanding.
In The Alchemist Face, Subtle and Dol Common are three rogues intent on conning the gullible out of their money. Setting up a quack-doctor's practice in Lovewit's house they promise miraculous services that cost their customers dear. Everything goes swimmingly, until Lovewit returns and the three turn against each other.
Edited by Simon Trussler, with an introduction by Colin Counsell.
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637 was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox (c. 1606), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare.
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Reviews for The Alchemist
2 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5In reading plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries, it is often easy to see why Shakespeare is the most performed playwright from this period. Jonson utilizes stock characters, with names to go along with it. His plots follow a fairly standard formula, and in the end, the bad guys "get theirs' in some form or other, though since these are comedies, they usually manage to survive. The language is difficult to read, and is often written dialectically, making it even more difficult. In addition, there are long expository speeches which are not really needed to explicate the plot. Overall, an interesting bit of cultural history but jarring to the modern reader.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5In reading plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries, it is often easy to see why Shakespeare is the most performed playwright from this period. Jonson utilizes stock characters, with names to go along with it. His plots follow a fairly standard formula, and in the end, the bad guys "get theirs' in some form or other, though since these are comedies, they usually manage to survive. The language is difficult to read, and is often written dialectically, making it even more difficult. In addition, there are long expository speeches which are not really needed to explicate the plot. Overall, an interesting bit of cultural history but jarring to the modern reader.