Chapter The Alchemist Summaries and Commentary of The Alchemist - Study Guide by Ben Jonson

a word, touching the Hebrew,/ She falls into a fit". In this way, Mammon's downfall is guaranteed, artfully engineered by the rogues. The ease with which the cozeners manipulate him is further shown when he enters into deception himself to defend their name, attacking Surly who has been convinced by the sight of Dol that he is in a brothel. Mammon lies through his teeth and claims to "know the lady, and her friends, and means,/ The original of this disaster" (II.iii.267-268) Such is his greed for gold and sexual conquest that he cozens himself, without prompting, showing that though the three are exploiting people's dreams, if blame is to be apportioned, the fault lies as much with the dreamers as with the exploiters.

Throughout the scene, Surly makes disparaging remarks about the alchemist and his "Lungs" revealing that he is indeed not "willingly gulled". It is quickly obvious that he could become a thorn in the side of the thieving republic and when Face, relishing the challenge of gulling the sharp witted Surly, says that a certain 'Captain Face' would like to meet him later, he spies his chance, and sets out to prove "by a third person", in other words in disguise, that the set up is a sham. Thus ends the scene with Mammon heading off to find stuff to be transmuted and Surly plotting the downfall of the cozeners. So far the plot has largely been within the control of the three but it may be seen that with the arrival of Surly complexities lie ahead.

Act 2. Scene 4

Using the imagery of fishing to express the 'capture' of Mammon the three celebrate the success of their trickery before being interrupted by a knock at the door which signals the arrival of "more gudgeons". It is the Ananias the Anabaptist.

The Anabaptists were particularly extreme Puritans and it was Puritan antagonism to the theatre that had forced professional theatre companies to work outside the city of London's main walls. The Puritans were opposed to the theatre for a variety of reasons not least because they saw it as frivolous fun and it managed to draw huge crowds. They were also alarmed at its secular basis. Over the years of Elizabethan theatre they launched many attacks upon it, for example Stephen Gossom's Playes Confuted in Five Actions (1582), but royal patronage ensured that the theatre survived despite the Puritan pressure. They were, therefore, a group who Jonson was doubtless keen to satirise, indeed the alchemical jargon employed in the play may be seen as an attack on the religious cant which permeated the Church. The Anabaptists in The Alchemist are depicted as hypocritical and greedy for power, a view of them probably shared by many in society at the time.

Act 2. Scene 5

Ananias, one of "the exil'd brethren", exiled to England from the Netherlands after the attempts of John of Leyden, the Anabaptist 'king' of Munster, to seize control of Dutch towns, enters. Subtle has stated that he must somehow make this Anabaptist minion admire him and ignores Ananias at first, instead talking in jargon to Face. When he does take note of Ananias he is almost rude, deliberately mistaking his claims to be "a faithful brother" (II.v.7) for claims of being an alchemist. He fills the air with jargon which Ananias dismisses as "Heathen Greek" (II.v.16) for "All's heathen but the Hebrew". As Herford and Simpson note in their famous edition of the play, Puritans at the time wanted Hebrew to be used as a universal language. They believed that it had been handed down by Adam and then given to the Hebrew race after the confusion of Babel.

Subtle continues to attempt to blind Ananias with alchemy before asking of the reason for his visit. The Anabaptists it seems have also commissioned Subtle to create the stone in the hope of "rooting out the bishops/ Or th' antichristian hierarchy" (II.v.82-83). They too are greedy for power and Subtle has done well out of them having gulled a significant amount of money from them already. Ananias has been sent to tell Subtle

that he shall have no more money until they get some results. At this, Subtle explodes, calling Ananias "the varlet,/ That cozen'd the Apostles" for in Acts V i-xi a man named Ananias lies about money to the apostle Peter and promptly dies. Subtle claims that without more money they shall have no chance of