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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in The Alchemist
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Antiquity :
Through the figure of Sir Epicure Mammon, Jonson satirizes what he considers to be the greed of those who live in London in the early 17th century. Jonson employs allusion and fallacy in his satirical portrait of the greedy Mammon in a scene in which Mammon attempts to convince his skeptical acquaintance, Surly, that alchemy is real:
Mam. Pertinax, [my] Surly,
Will you believe antiquity? records?
I'll shew you a book where Moses and his sister,
And Solomon have written of the art;
Ay, and a treatise penn'd by Adam—Sur. How!
Mam. Of the philosopher's stone, and in High Dutch.
Sur. Did Adam write, sir, in High Dutch?
Mam. He did;
Which proves it was the primitive tongue.Sur. What paper?
Mam. On cedar board.
Sur. O that, indeed, they say,
Will last 'gainst worms.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Kind of Game:
Sir Epicure Mammon, who places great faith in alchemy, is accompanied by Surly, who is deeply skeptical of Subtle’s promises. When Subtle defends alchemy with a fallacious premise, Surly responds to his fallacy with a metaphor that characterizes alchemy as little more than a card trick:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sub. Art can beget bees, hornets, beetles, wasps,
Out of the carcases and dung of creatures;
Yea, scorpions of an herb, being rightly placed?
And these are living creatures, far more perfect
And excellent than metals.Mam. Well said, father!
Nay, if he take you in hand, sir, with an argument,
He'll bray you in a mortar.SUR. Pray you, sir, stay.
Rather than I'll be brayed, sir, I'll believe
That Alchemy is a pretty kind of game,
Somewhat like tricks o' the cards, to cheat a man
With charming.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Puritans:
Through the figures of Ananias and Tribulation Wholesome, Jonson satirizes the Puritans, a religious group that, in 17th-century England, believed that the Church of England had not gone far enough in “reforming” itself after splitting from the Catholic Church. Jonson, like other playwrights of his time, satirizes the Puritans as being religious hypocrites, whose religious zeal masks a desire for wealth and power. When Ananias, for example, suggests to Tribulation that it would be unholy to work with an alchemist, Tribulation’s response reflects his own willingness to bend his principles in order to achieve his goals:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tri. The children of perdition are oft-times
Made instruments even of the greatest works:
Beside, we should give somewhat to man's nature,
The place he lives in, still about the fire,
And fume of metals, that intoxicate
The brain of man, and make him prone to passion.
Where have you greater atheists than your cooks?
Or more profane, or choleric, than your glass-men?
More antichristian than your bell-founders?
What makes the devil so devilish, I would ask you,
Sathan, our common enemy, but his being
Perpetually about the fire, and boiling
Brimstone and arsenic?
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