Religion Theme Analysis

Ben Jonson wrote The Alchemist in 1610, less than 100 years after the Protestant Reformation, a movement in Western Christianity that sought to challenge the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1537, mere decades before Jonson’s birth in 1572, King Henry VIII officially separated from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, a type of Protestantism that rejected papal authority. In the years following the Protestant Reformation and the creation of the Church of England, there was much tension between Protestants and those who refused to conform, as well as those Protestants considered to be radical, like Anabaptists and Puritans. There are repeated references to religion in The Alchemist, beginning with the play’s dedication, in which Jonson claims “the truth of religion” is not “in the greatness and fat of the offerings, but in the devotion and zeal of the sacrificers.” Jonson rejects the Catholic belief that sacraments represent religious grace regardless of the religious state of priests or parishioners, and in doing so, he effectively identifies himself as a Protestant. With the representation of religion in The Alchemist, Jonson mirrors the anti-Catholic sentiments of the time; however, and he also condemns religious fanaticism and those associated with radical Protestantism.

As part of his critique of radical Protestantism, Jonson makes several references to Hugh Broughton, a Puritan Old Testament scholar, who, during Jonson’s time, was under self-imposed exile in Holland for his radical views of Protestantism. As conmen Face and Subtle try to swindle Mammon, their unsuspecting victim, they convince him that Doll, a prostitute and Face and Subtle’s criminal associate, is the sister of a wealthy aristocrat. Face tells Mammon that Doll is “a most rare scholar,” who has “gone mad with studying Broughton’s works.” Jonson not only implies that Broughton’s works are rarely studied, he also suggests that Broughton’s scholarship is nonsense and enough to drive others to insanity. Before Face introduces Mammon and Doll, Face warns Mammon as to Doll’s madness. “But, good sir, no divinity i’ your conference,” Face says, “For fear of putting her in a rage—.” Because Doll has supposedly studied the works of Broughton, a radical Puritan, the very mention of religion sends her into a fit of madness. After Doll and Mammon are introduced, Mammon indeed mentions religion, and Doll begins to unravel, ranting and raving and citing Broughton’s A Concent of Scripture (1590). Just as Doll is driven mad by Broughton’s work, she quotes the Puritan in an acute fit of insanity, further portraying Puritanism as nonsense.

Jonson further condemns radical Protestantism through his depiction of the Anabaptists, Ananias and Tribulation Wholesome, two of Face and Subtle’s victims for their cons. When Ananias first meets Subtle, Ananias is confused by Subtle’s use of alchemical jargon and claims not to know “heathen language.” Subtle responds: “Heathen, you Knipperdollink?” Subtle’s response is a reference to Bernhard Knipperdollink, a German Anabaptist and leader of the Münster rebellion, a movement of radical Anabaptists that sought to overtake the city and bishop of Münster, Germany. With this reference, Subtle seems to imply that Ananias and the Anabaptists are the real “heathens.” After Ananias tells Subtle his name, Subtle kicks Ananias out of the house. “Out, the varlet / That cozened the Apostles! Hence, away, / Flee, Mischief!” Subtle says. In the Book of Acts in the New Testament, Ananias was a member of the early Christian Church in Jerusalem who was struck dead after lying to God about money, and this connection paints Jonson’s Ananias in an equally unflattering light. Neither Ananias nor Wholesome Tribulation like or trust Subtle and Face—they even refer to Subtle as “antichristian”—but they are willing to work with the conmen if it brings them profit. “Good brother,” Tribulation says to Ananias, “we must bend unto all means / That may give furtherance to the holy cause.” In other words, the Anabaptists are willing do anything—even that which they consider unchristian—to further their religious cause, which makes the Anabaptists appear hypocritical and again paints such radical Protestants in an unflattering light.

The Alchemist is full of sin, vice, and unsavory characters of all kinds. Both Face and Subtle are conmen, Doll is a prostitute, and almost all the characters are greedy and self-serving; however, the Anabaptists, Ananias and Wholesome Tribulation, are the most despicable. The Anabaptists will do anything to get ahead and turn a profit, including counterfeiting money, which Tribulation and Ananias’s brethren deem perfectly acceptable despite established English law. In this vein, Jonson condemns the Anabaptists and all forms of religious fanaticism, which threatened to undermine the Protestant Reformation.