Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Der Alchemist
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love sharp comedy, clever schemes and the way words can fool people. It also suits anyone curious about Elizabethan and Jacobean London.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Alchemist is a comedy for the stage by Ben Jonson. It was first performed in London in 1610 by the King's Men, the company that also played Shakespeare, and it was printed in 1612. Jonson wrote it for a city audience that knew the real tricksters of its streets. Alchemists, fortune tellers and fake doctors all promised wealth or cures to anyone with a few coins and a great deal of hope.
The whole play happens in one house, on one day, in one London neighborhood. A master leaves town to escape the plague. His servant Face teams up with two partners in crime and turns the house into a workshop for making gold. You get a fast, crowded farce, with disguises, invented jargon and a line of visitors who each want something badly. It also gives you a sharp look at how greed makes people blind. Let us start with the three people who run the scheme.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Three rogues take over an empty houseFree
- 2Small dreams are the easiest to sell
- 3Sir Epicure Mammon dreams of golden pleasure
- 4Holy talk can cover hunger for gold
- 5What the play says about greed and belief
- 6A comedy built like a clock
Punkt 1 von 6
Three rogues take over an empty house
The play opens in the middle of a furious quarrel. Face and Subtle are screaming at each other, and Dol Common is trying to stop them. Face is the household servant, whose master, Lovewit, has gone to the country because plague is spreading through London. Subtle is a seedy man who poses as an alchemist. Dol is a clever woman who plays whatever part the scheme needs.
Their argument shows how the partnership began. Face found Subtle as a shabby beggar and gave him a place to live. Subtle, in return, has learned to talk like a learned master of secret arts. Face says he has made Subtle into something impressive, and Subtle replies that Face was nothing but a poor servant until he came along. Dol reminds them both that they are equals in the fraud and must share what it earns.
Once they make peace, the house becomes a business. Face, who goes by the name Captain in his working hours, scouts for customers in the streets and taverns. He brings them to Subtle, who sits in the laboratory with furnaces, glass and strange tools. Every customer hears a different story, built to fit what that person most wants. The three agree to split the money equally, though none of them quite trusts the others.
The opening matters because the swindlers are open about everything with each other and nothing with the world. The audience learns the trick before any victim knocks on the door. That makes you a partner in the plot, watching the traps being set. It also makes each new visitor funnier, because you see how easily the three can bend each man's hopes.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Der Alchemist
What is The Alchemist by Ben Jonson about?
It is a comedy about three con artists who use a London house, left empty in a plague, to trick customers with promises of gold, luck and love. It mocks greed and gullibility.
Who are Face, Subtle and Dol Common?
Face is a servant who poses as a captain, Subtle is the fake alchemist, and Dol Common is their clever partner who plays different parts. Together they run the scheme and share the money.
What is the philosopher's stone in The Alchemist?
It is a legendary substance that alchemists believed could turn base metals into gold and cure illness or lengthen life. Subtle dangles it before greedy customers, who hope it will make them rich.
When was The Alchemist written and is it a true story?
Jonson's play was first performed in 1610 and printed in 1612. The story is invented, but it is based on the real fraudsters, fake astrologers and doctors who preyed on Londoners in his day.
Is The Alchemist hard to read?
The alchemical jargon is meant to sound confusing. The plot is simple and fast, and it is easier when heard aloud or seen performed.