The Alchemist

by

Ben Jonson

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Themes and Colors
Alchemy and Transformation  Theme Icon
Religion Theme Icon
Sex and Greed Theme Icon
Deception and Gullibility Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Alchemist, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sex and Greed Theme Icon

Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist is rife with vice and sin. The play focuses on Face and Subtle, two conmen who pose as expert alchemists with knowledge of the philosopher’s stone to swindle unsuspecting Londoners—known in the play as “gulls”—out of money and loose metal. Face and Subtle work closely with Doll, a prostitute who helps to lure and scam their victims, and each of the “gulls” they target are in search of alchemy and the philosopher’s stone to selfish ends, such as personal wealth and sexual prowess. In the prologue, Jonson claims the play is set in London, as “No clime breeds better matter for your whore, / Bawd, squire, impostor, many persons more.” Jonson deliberately highlights vice and sin, primarily sex and greed, and those who commit such moral crimes are the basis of his satire; however, Jonson does not attempt to pass moral judgement on such sinners, and he doesn’t explicitly condemn their behavior. Instead, Jonson maintains that he only hopes to encourage such sinners to be “better men.” With the widespread depiction of sex and greed in The Alchemist, Jonson highlights the frequency with which such sins are committed and ultimately argues that such behavior is merely human nature.

In addition to Doll’s career as a prostitute, there are multiple references to sex within the play, which suggests that almost everyone is having sex, despite the popular belief that sex should be confined to marriage. As the play opens, Face and Subtle are the middle of an argument, and Doll fears their loud voices will alert the neighbors to their illegal activities, so she silences them with sex. Subtle and Face agree to draw straws after supper, and “the longest cut, at night, / Shall draw thee for his Doll Particular.” In other words, whoever draws the longest straw gets to spend the night with Doll. When Mammon, one of Face and Subtle’s victims, believes he will soon possess the philosopher’s stone, he plans to use the elixir of life to give him sexual strength and stamina—enough “to encounter fifty [women] a night.” Then, Mammon says, he will fill his room with mirrors, “to disperse / And multiply the figures as I walk / Naked between my succubae.”  What Mammon means is that he wants the philosopher’s stone so he can have sex with 50 women—in this case prostitutes—each night. As Mammon is waiting for Subtle to finish creating the philosopher’s stone, Mammon sneaks off to have sex with Doll, a decision which causes the stone to supposedly burst into flames. According to Subtle, the philosopher’s stone can only be created for those with pure intentions, and Mammon’s behavior with Doll proves he isn’t pure. Of course, Subtle isn’t an alchemist, and he doesn’t have possession of the philosopher’s stone. Subtle knows that Mammon would seduce Doll if given the chance, and it is the perfect excuse to explain Subtle’s inability to produce the philosopher’s stone.

In addition to sex, The Alchemist is also rife with greed, which implies that greed is similarly common and widespread. The argument between Face and Subtle that occurs at the beginning of the play begins because Subtle claims “a primacy in the divisions” and says he “must be chief.” As the one posing as the alchemist, Subtle believes he deserves to be in charge and get a larger cut of the profits. Subtle is greedy, and he wants more money than Face, who only lures their victims into the trap. When Face lures their first victim, a local clerk named Dapper, to Subtle, Dapper claims to be in search of “a familiar,” a bit of alchemical magic that will give him an advantage in cards and gambling. “I would have it for all games,” Dapper says to Subtle, proving he is just as greedy as the rest of them. Mammon, too, proves to be greedy. With the philosopher’s stone, Mammon hopes to change all the loose metal in his house to gold, and then he will move on to the metal belonging to others. “And early in the morning,” Mammon says, “will I send / To all the plumbers and the pewterers, / And buy their tin and lead up; and to Lothbury, / For all the copper.” Mammon isn’t satisfied with just a little bit of gold; he wants as much as he can possibly get his hands on.

It is not only Face, Subtle, and their victims who are guilty of the sins of greed and inappropriate sex. After Lovewit—Face’s master and the owner of the house where Face and Subtle execute their cons—returns home from the country to find his butler, Face, running an illegal operation out of his house, Face convinces Lovewit not to punish him. “I’ll help you to a widow,” Face says. “In recompense, that you shall gi’ me thanks for, / Will make you seven years younger, and a rich one.” Lovewit agrees not to punish Face in exchange for Dame Pliant, a young, rich woman. Lovewit proves himself to be just as greedy and interested in sex as the rest of the characters, which, Jonson thus implies, are very popular sins. Jonson states in the prologue that theatergoers will find in his play “things they’d think, or wish, were done.” In short, the vices in Jonson’s play, especially greed and sex, are “natural follies” that “doers may see, and yet not own.” With this, Jonson implies that most people are guilty in some way of greed and sex, even if they don’t admit it.

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Sex and Greed Quotes in The Alchemist

Below you will find the important quotes in The Alchemist related to the theme of Sex and Greed.
Prologue Quotes

Our scene is London, ’cause we would make known
No country’s mirth is better than our own.
No clime breeds better matter for your whore,
Bawd, squire, impostor, many persons more,
Whose manners, now called humours, feed the stage,
And which have still been subject for the rage
Or spleen of comic writers. Though this pen
Did never aim to grieve, but better men,
Howe’er the age he lives in doth endure
The vices that she breeds, above their cure.
But when the wholesome remedies are sweet,
And in their working, gain and profit meet,
He hopes to find no spirit so much diseased,
But will, with such fair correctives, be pleased;
For here, he doth not fear, who can apply.
If there be any, that will sit so nigh
Unto the stream, to look what it doth run,
They shall find things they’d think, or wish, were done;
They are so natural follies, but so shown,
As even the doers may see, and yet not own.

Page Number: 215-216
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

And you, too,
Will give the cause, forsooth? You will insult
And claim a primacy in the divisions?
You must be chief? As if you only had
The powder to project with? And the work
Were not begun out of equality?
The venture tripartite? All things in common?
Without priority? ’Sdeath, you perpetual curs,
Fall to your couples again, and cozen kindly
And heartily and lovingly, as you should,
And lose not the beginning of a term,
Or, by this hand, I shall grow factious too,
And take my part, and quit you.

Related Characters: Doll Common (speaker), Face / Jeremy the Butler, Subtle
Related Symbols: The Philosopher’s Stone
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:

For which, at supper, thou shalt sit in triumph,
And not be styled Doll Common, but Doll Proper,
Doll Singular: the longest cut, at night,
Shall draw thee for his Doll Particular.

Related Characters: Face / Jeremy the Butler (speaker), Subtle, Doll Common
Page Number: 222
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Yes, Captain, I would have it for all games.

Related Characters: Dapper (speaker), Face / Jeremy the Butler, Subtle
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:

Sir, against one o’clock, prepare yourself.
Till when you must be fasting; only, take
Three drops of vinegar in at your nose;
Two at your mouth; and one at either ear;
Then bathe your fingers’ ends; and wash your eyes,
To sharpen your five senses; and cry ‘hum’
Thrice; and then ‘buzz’, as often; and then, come.

Related Characters: Subtle (speaker), Dapper
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 4 Quotes

Methinks I see him entering ordinaries,
Dispensing for the pox; and plaguy houses,
Reaching his dose; walking Moorfields for lepers;
And offering citizens’ wives pomander-bracelets
As his preservative, made of the elixir;
Searching the spittle, to make old bawds young;
And the highways for beggars to make rich.
I see no end of his labours. He will make
Nature ashamed of her long sleep, when art,
Who’s but a stepdame, shall do more than she,
In her best love to mankind, ever could.
If his dream last, he’ll turn the age to gold.

Related Characters: Subtle (speaker), Doll Common, Sir Epicure Mammon
Related Symbols: The Philosopher’s Stone
Page Number: 234
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 2 Quotes

For I do mean
To have a list of wives and concubines
Equal with Solomon, who had the stone
Alike with me; and I will make me a back
With the elixir that shall be as tough
As Hercules, to encounter fifty a night.

Related Characters: Sir Epicure Mammon (speaker), Face / Jeremy the Butler
Related Symbols: The Philosopher’s Stone
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:

I will have all my beds blown up, not stuffed;
Down is too hard. And then mine oval room
Filled with such pictures as Tiberius took
From Elephantis, and dull Aretine
But coldly imitated. Then, my glasses
Cut in more subtle angles, to disperse
And multiply the figures as I walk
Naked between my succubae.

Related Characters: Sir Epicure Mammon (speaker), Face / Jeremy the Butler
Related Symbols: The Philosopher’s Stone
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes

Sweet Madame, let me be particular—

Particular, sir? I pray you, know your distance.

Related Characters: Doll Common (speaker), Sir Epicure Mammon (speaker), Face / Jeremy the Butler, Subtle
Related Symbols: The Philosopher’s Stone
Page Number: 281
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4, Scene 7 Quotes

Be silent: not a word if he call or knock.
I’ll into mine old shape again, and meet him,
Of Jeremy the butler. I’ the meantime,
Do you two pack up all the goods and purchase
That we can carry i’ the two trunks. I’ll keep him
Off for today, if I cannot longer; and then
At night, I’ll ship you both away to Ratcliffe,
Where we’ll meet tomorrow, and there we’ll share.
Let Mammon’s brass and pewter keep the cellar;
We’ll have another time for that. But, Doll,
Pray thee, go heat a little water, quickly,
Subtle must shave me.

Related Characters: Face / Jeremy the Butler (speaker), Subtle, Doll Common, Sir Epicure Mammon, Lovewit
Page Number: 306
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, Scene 3 Quotes

Sir, you were wont to affect mirth and wit—
But here’s no place to talk on’t i’ the street.
Give me but leave to make the best of my fortune,
And only pardon me th’ abuse of your house:
It’s all I beg. I’ll help you to a widow,
In recompense, that you shall gi’ me thanks for,
Will make you seven years younger, and a rich one.

Related Characters: Face / Jeremy the Butler (speaker), Dame Pliant, Lovewit
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, Scene 5 Quotes

So I will, sir. Gentlemen,
My part a little fell in this last scene,
Yet ’twas decorum. And though I am clean
Got off, from Subtle, Surly, Mammon, Doll,
Hot Ananias, Dapper, Drugger, all
With whom I traded; yet I put myself
On you, that are my country; and this pelf
Which I have got, if you do quit me, rests
To feast you often, and invite new guests.

Related Characters: Face / Jeremy the Butler (speaker), Subtle, Doll Common, Sir Epicure Mammon, Dapper, Ananias, Surly / The Spaniard, Abel Drugger
Page Number: 326
Explanation and Analysis: