Electronic Research Journal of Literature, Volume 3 (2021) ISSN: 2708-3675 www.erjliterature.com

The Alchemist as a Comedy of Humors; Merits and Limitations Muhammad Anwar Fellow of M Phil (English Literature), University of Karachi, Pakistan Email: [email protected]

Fayyaz Ahmad1 Fellow of MS (Behavioural Sciences), NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan Email: [email protected]

Abstract: In the prologue to The Alchemist, Jonson points out that the stage of the time is being fed by manners which have now come to be called humours. He mentions the whore, the bawd, the pimp, and the impostor as persons representing some of the humours. Jonson‟s comedies were written according to a prescription which has earned them the label, comedy of humours. The humours of which a man‟s body was supposedly compounded, according to their relative predominance, determined his disposition - choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, or sanguine. The aim of this paper is to analyze the play as a comedy of humors and its merits and limitations as a comedy of humors. The paper concludes that the play has certain merits but it also has limitations the biggest of which is the lack of development in the characters.

Keywords: Comedy of humors, Ben Jonson, character sketch, The Alchemist, etc.

Introduction: In the prologue to The Alchemist, Jonson points out that the stage of the time is being fed by manners which have now come to be called humours. He mentions the whore, the bawd, the pimp, and the impostor as persons representing some of the humour. Jonson‟s comedies were written according to a prescription which has earned them the label, comedy of humour (Foley, 1949). The humour of which a man‟s body was supposedly compounded, according to their relative predominance, determined his disposition---choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, or sanguine (Ahmed, 2021a). Jonson applied the term humour metaphorically to what is now called a man‟s obsession or his complex. He endowed each of his characters with some particular whim or affectation, some ludicrous exaggeration of manner, speech, or dress: and he pushed forward this single odd trait to such an extent that all others might be lost sight of (Arnold, 1965). Every Man in His Humours is a brisk comedy of character, designed to make “sport with human follies, not with crimes.” Each of the characters in this play is represented as under the influence of certain humour or peculiar habit, passion, or affectation, by which he is immediately distinguished from the rest. In other words, each character has his particular humour, his prevailing mood or rather his oddity, mental habit or fad (Arnold, 1965). Old Knowell in this play is excessively worried about his son‟s moral health and his activities: it is the father‟s humour thus to make himself miserable. There is a merchant, Kitely, whose humour it is to be a jealous husband. Two young, self-confident and foolish men of fashion exist only to be duped

1 Corresponding author

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(Amir and Ahmad, 2020a; 2020b). An honest, optimistic magistrate has unshakable faith in the virtues of a cup of wine. Bobadilla‟s humour is to brag about his military prowess and his military campaigns which, however, are purely imaginary. This device of representing humour was employed by Jonson not only in the above-namely play but also in his two great comedies, Volpone and The Alchemist. In Volpone, he studied, not a foible or whim, but a master passion, which is the passion of greed, as it affects a whole social group. In The Alchemist, he made an elaborate study of human gullibility, and the humour represented here is also the master-passion if greed which afflicts each of the dupes in the play. As Jonson points out in the prologue to The Alchemist, his purpose in representing such humour in his comedies was to make people realize their own shortcomings, follies, and absurdities and thus to try to cure themselves of these undesirable humour. His comedies were “fair correctives” which aimed at curing people of their follies and absurdities by making their victims laugh at them (Donaldson, 1997). In the prologue, Jonson declares the aim of his comic art as promoting human welfare human betterment. At the same time, he shows his awareness that the tendency towards folly and evil is so strong in human nature that comic laughter can succeed only to a limited extent in checking it. The audience would laugh at the follies and absurdities represented by the various characters, but very few in the audience would find those follies and absurdities as existent in themselves (Amir and Ahmad, 2020a; 2020b).

One Particular Humour, Emphasized in “Volpone” and in “The Alchemist:” In Every Man in His Humour, Jonson deals with a variety of humour; but in his greatest plays, Volpone and The Alchemist, he concentrates on one humour which is avarice, or greed for money and gain. This is the passion which dominates all the characters. This is not surprising because the period during which Jonson lived and wrote his comedies was one rapid social change, when London was beginning to become the commercial capital of Europe, and when enormous fortunes were being made and lost in trade and commercial enterprise. It is no accident that the world of the period for financial speculation was one which appears often in the play in the context of alchemy, that word is “projection” (Ahmed, 2021a) Nor is it an accident that Subtle, Face and Dol repeatedly refer to themselves as a business enterprise, the “venture tripartite,” for which there exists a formal agreement among the three of them (Ahmed, 2021a).

The Humour of Avarice or Greed in the Various Characters: Dapper: An obsessive desire for easy money is common to all Subtle‟s clients. The clients are so varied as to show in cross-section a society led by greed to folly and loss. The nobleman, the countryman, the little clerk, the churchman, the small shopkeeper: Jonson‟s net is cast widely enough over society to include all these. What might have been a parade of miscellaneous vices, gains unity and purpose from the motive which is common to all of them: an obsession with money (Ahmed, 2021b). In this way, the play depicts a whole society, ruthlessly individualistic and acquisitive, and ultimately deluded and impoverished by its own false values (Dykeman, 1988). The first client who appears in the play is Dapper who is, by profession, a lawyer‟s clerk but who is more interested in making money through gambling. Indeed, he wishes to give up his real profession and become a whole-time gambler (Akhtar, 2019). He has come to the alchemist to be provided with a “familiar” or an attendant spirit who would enable him to win money at horse-races, at card-parties, and at dice-parties. Subtle

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promises to provide him with the required familiar who would make Dapper win all the money at gambling-parties so that all the other contestants would be reduced to bankruptcy. He then tells Dapper that Dapper is a nephew of the Queen of Fairies who would surly bless Dapper with prosperity (Amir and Aurangzeb, 2020). When Face asks Subtle if Dapper would win at cards, Subtle replies that Dapper would win so much money that people would think that the spirits of the dead alchemists, Holland and Isaac, had begun to live once more in Dapper. Dapper feels convinced by Subtle‟s and Face‟s assurances and goes home in order to sharpen his senses with the use of vinegar, as directed. Then he comes back, and this time he allows himself to be blindfolded, gagged and stowed away in the toilet in the hope that he would be granted a personal interview with the Queen of Fairies. Ultimately an interview between Dapper and the Queen of Fairies2 is certainly arranged. In the process Dapper is robbed of whatever he had got: and in the end, he finds that he has gained nothing at all (Akhtar, 2019).

The humour of Avarice in Drugger: The second client is Drugger who, by profession, is a tobacconist. He wants commercial prosperity, and he wants to expand his business. He too is given a formula for attaining success in his commercial enterprises, and he is also provided with a “thriving sign” because Subtle pretends not only to be an alchemist but also a palmist, an astrologer, and a physiognomist. Drugger too is convinced of the efficacy of the methods proposed by Subtle to ensure Drugger‟s prosperity. Drugger not only gives money to Subtle but also brings a certain quantity of his best tobacco and costly damask suit. The Humour of Avarice in the Anabaptists: Then there are the Anabaptists, Ananias and Tribulation. Ananias is certainly skeptical about Subtle‟s powers to produce the philosopher‟s stone, but the brethren at Amsterdam are fully convinced of Subtle‟s capacity to provide the philosopher‟s stone to them. Tribulation fully represents those brethren, and he tries to convince his colleague, Ananias, also of the miraculous powers of Subtle (Akhtar, 2019). The two Anabaptists then agree to pay some additional money to Subtle for providing them with the philosopher‟s stone which would place so much wealth at the disposal of the brethren at Amsterdam that they would be able to buy countries, to enlist armies to fight against their enemies, and extend the influence of their sect over large areas. They also agree to buy what Subtle describes as the “orphans‟ goods” but which are actually the metallic articles sent by Mammon to Subtle‟s establishment to be converted into gold. The Anabaptists further show their greed by agreeing to accept from Subtle counterfeit dollars. They recognize the distinction between the “coining” of dollars and the “casting” of dollars. They admit that, while the coining of dollars is unlawful, the casting of dollars is a lawful activity. It is thus that the truth is twisted and distorted in the service of greed (Arnold, 1965; Ahmed, 2021b).

The Humour of Avarice in Sir Epicure Mammon: Sir Epicure Mammon is another of the victims of the conspirators.3 This man had been given a promise that the philosopher‟s stone would be placed in his hands on a particular day.

2 who is no other than Dol in disguise 3 Subtle, Face, and Dol

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Subtle had told him, just as he had told the Anabaptists that he had already commenced the alchemical process which would yield the philosopher‟s stone or the elixir which is to make its possessor fabulously rich. On the appointed day, Mammon arrives at Subtle‟s establishment. Subtle knows the aims and purposes which Mammon has been harbouring in his mind. Subtle tells Dol that it is Mammon‟s aim to make people rich through the philosopher‟s stone and also to cure the sufferers of all their diseases. Mammon himself tells his friend Surly that the house, which they are going to enter, is Novo Orbe 4 (Akhtar, 2019). He describes this house is rich in Peru, and days that inside are the golden mines as rich as those which belonged to Solomon in ancient times. He then becomes eloquent describing the virtues of the philosopher‟s stone which will not only bring wealth to its possessor but which can also confer honour, love, respect, and long life upon a man. He then speaks of the luxurious life which he would be able to lead on the basis of the wealth he would acquire through the philosopher‟s stone. He says that he would make Surly also a rich man. “Be rich”, says Mammon to Surly, “This day thou shalt have ingots” (Amir and Aurangzeb, 2020). With unlimited money at his disposal, Mammon would eat the most expensive foods served in plates of gold, studded and embellished with the precious stone of various colours (Akhtar, 2019). The foods served to him would include carps, dormice, camels‟ heels, oiled mushrooms, and the teats of a fat pregnant sow; and these foods would be served in dishes of agate, set in gold, and studded with emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies. Mammon readily pays ten pounds more to Face when he is told that some of the materials relating to the alchemical process have been damaged. Finally, however, he gets nothing from the conspirators. On the contrary, he is told that the collapse of the alchemical process is due solely to his own sinfulness (Ahmed, 2021b).

Greed in Surly’s and in Lovewit’s Natures: Even Surly, who is otherwise a very honest man, is not completely free from the taint of greed. He would like to marry Dame Pliant, and his chief reason for wanting to marry her is that she is a rich woman who would make his fortune. Lovewit, who appears in the play towards the close, is also found to be a greedy man. We expected him to take severe action not only against the conspirators who have come from outside but also against his own butler, Jeremy, who has been wearing many disguises and who has proved to be as big a cheat as the other two. But Lovewit joins hands with Face when Face offers Dame Pliant to him in marriage (Akhtar, 2019). In his last speech, Lovewit frankly admits that he has departed from the requirements of justice by not taking any action against his butler because the butler has not only shown wit but has helped his master‟s fortune. In other words, the money, which Dame Pliant was to bring as her dowry, proved to be an irresistible lure for Lovewit (Ahmed, 2021b). The Humour of Greed in the Three Conspirators: Then there are the conspirators themselves. They are, of course, the greediest of all the characters in the play. It is their greed which serves as the basis for their setting up a laboratory and pretending that the alchemical process to manufacture the philosopher‟s stone has been commenced. Face goes about in search of victims and is able to rope in men like Dapper and Drugger (Akhtar, 2019). Subtle, who is well-versed in the lore of alchemy and who has got all

4 the new world

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the technical terms of alchemy on his finger-tips, never fails to impress his clients with his supposed powers, Dol is an active collaborator in the bog fraud. The entire project has been undertaken by these three cheats with the sole object of acquiring as much money as they possibly can (Amir and Aurangzeb, 2020).

Lust as a Humour: While avarice or greed is the principal humour depicted in the play, there is also another humour with which the play deals. The character of Mammon is dominated not only by a love of money but also by his lustful desire for sexual pleasure. In talking to Surly, Mammon not only describes the expensive foods which he would eat after receiving the philosopher‟s stone but also the sexual pleasures which he would enjoy. He says that he would sleep in the beds, would decorate his bed-chamber with erotic pictures, would fill his rooms with mists of perfume, and would fit a mirror on the walls of his rooms in order to be able to see the reflections of his make mistresses in them. He declares that he would have “a list of wives and concubines equal with Solomon who had the stone” which Mammon himself is also going to have. By means of the elixir, Mammon his back as tough as was the back of Hercules, in order to be able to have sexual bouts with fifty women in the course of one night. Wherever he comes to know of a wealthy citizen or rich lawyer, he would send a thousand pounds to him, inviting him to provide his wife to Mammon (Akhtar, 2019). Mammon says that he would not engage any professional pimps but would make use of fathers and mothers to provide to him their daughters. Indeed, mammon sees visions of endless sexual pleasure. In other words, lust is another humour which possesses Mammon. As soon as Mammon catches a glimpse of Dol, he is fascinated by her and would like to have her immediately as his bed-partner. He bribes Face, urging him to provide Dol to him for his sexual pleasure. When she actually appears before him, he begins to pay glowing compliments to her beauty and charm (Amir and Aurangzeb, 2020). Drugger too has another humour, besides his greed. Drugger would like to marry the widow, Dame Pliant. Of course, even this desire to marry the widow is based chiefly on his greed because the widow is a rich woman (Ahmed, 2021b). Kastril’s Humour: To Learn City Manners: The only character who is not obsessed with the humour of greed or lust is Kastril. This young man from the countryside has different humour altogether. He has come to the city in order to acquire city manners and to become a sophisticated man (Amir and Ahmad, 2020a; 2020b). He is especially interested in learning the art of quarrelling which in those days consisted of carrying a dispute far enough and retreating from it if there was a serious danger to a person‟s physical safety. Kastril wants to learn this art, and then practice it in the countryside where he has his home. Indeed, he is able to learn the art of quarrelling quite successfully because it is chiefly he who drives away Surly when Surly becomes a menace to Subtle‟s establishment (Akhtar, 2019).

The Ulterior Aims of the Characters:

The characters in this play show obsessive greed for money. But money is not an end in itself. None of the characters appears to be a hoarder of money. Most men desire money for the

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things which it can buy. Jonson differentiates his characters by giving them different ulterior aims. Mammon wants luxury, but at the same time, he shows a generosity of mind because one of his aims is to distribute freely the elixir as a medicine to cure people‟s diseases, and he also thinks of establishing hospitals and other institutions of public welfare. In other words, he is not only a money-worshipper, an epicure, and a sensualist, but also a philanthropist. The Anabaptists want money as a means to power (Greenhill, 1993; Akhtar, 2019). They would like to become “temporal lords.” Kastril and Dapper are social climbers. Dapper would like to give up his profession in order to become a full-time young man about town. Kastril does not explicitly seek money through he is very conscious of its importance. He boasts of his income of fifteen hundred pounds a year, and he would like his sister not to marry anybody below the status of a knight. Draggers is the meanest of all, a penny-pinching petty tradesman who gets sick with worries about his water-bills and about leaving his house empty on a night (Amir and Ahmad, 2020a; 2020b). Subtle, Face and Dol are distinguished from the dupes by their skill, wit, capacity to talk in a persuasive manner, and freedom from all illusion, even though they too are driven by the same desire for wealth. They have a business agreement to cheat others, but this does not prevent them from cheating one another if the opportunity presents itself (Ahmed, 2021b).

A Limitation and a Merit of the Play: One limitation of The Alchemist as a comedy of humour is the lack of development in the characters. As already indicated, there is a vital difference between the manners in which Shakespeare portrays his characters and the manner in which Jonson does so. Shakespeare shows his characters developing and growing before our eyes, but the characters in Jonson‟s plays are static (Greenhill, 1993). The characters in The Alchemist remain the same from beginning to end. If they change at all, they would change after the play has ended before our eyes. Dapper, Drugger, Mammon, and the Anabaptists might become wiser after their experience with the rogues and the cheats; but we do not witness this development in the play itself. We can only guess that these characters might in future show more discretion and more caution in dealing with people; but throughout the five-act of the play, these men remain the same (Aurangzeb, 2019; Akhtar, 2019). However, this limitation in the portrayal of the characters has its bright side also. We here find a greater concentration on the portrayal of particular humour. Thus Mammon‟s two obsessions---one with gold and the other with sexual pleasure----receive such a great emphasis through his speeches and his actions that he becomes for us an embodiment of Epicureanism and Mormonism. By virtue of this concentration and this increased emphasis on his humour, Mammon becomes a memorable character; and he is, indeed, one of the most famous characters created by Jonson. The same is true of Subtle and Face, both of whom have elaborately been drawn, and both of whom impress us greatly by their wit, ingenuity, and inventiveness (Amir and Ahmad, 2020a; 2020b).

Conclusion: Jonson‟s comedies were written according to a prescription which has earned them the label, comedy of humour. Jonson applied the term humour metaphorically to what is now called a man‟s obsession or his complex. He endowed each of his characters with some particular whim or affectation, some ludicrous exaggeration of manner, speech, or dress: and he pushed forward this single odd trait to such an extent that all others might be lost sight of. Each of the characters

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in this play is represented as under the influence of certain humour or peculiar habit, passion, or affectation, by which he is immediately distinguished from the rest. In other words, each character has his particular humour, his prevailing mood or rather his oddity, mental habit or fad. In The Alchemist, he made an elaborate study of human gullibility, and the humour represented here is also the master-passion if greed which afflicts each of the dupes in the play. As Jonson points out in the prologue to The Alchemist, his purpose in representing such humour in his comedies was to make people realize their own shortcomings, follies, and absurdities and thus to try to cure themselves of these undesirable humour. Limitation of The Alchemist as a comedy of humour, however, is the lack of development in the characters. The characters in Jonson‟s plays are static. They remain the same from beginning to end. If they change at all, they would change after the play has ended before our eyes. However, this limitation in the portrayal of the characters has its bright side also. We here find a greater concentration on the portrayal of particular humour. References:

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