The Alchemist

The first act of The Alchemist presents the “venture tripartite” of Face, Subtle, and Dol. As their names would suggest, Face, or Captain Face, is the salesman of the group, who brings home the “stuff,” or people and materials, for Subtle to “work on” (261). Face is boisterous and enthusiastic, reflecting his sanguine temperament; his job is to bring customers to Subtle, make Subtle’s work seem more desirable by running a con, and then secure a greater payment than the customer may have planned to spend. This process emphasizes the theme of The Gullibility of the Greedy, as Face and Subtle create a fantasy to deceive customers with promises of fast wealth. Face gets Dapper and Drugger to spend additional money on Subtle’s services, in each case requesting more money while emphasizing Subtle’s abilities. Subtle’s name implies that his role in the “venture” is less obvious than Face’s; his job is to create the atmosphere and appearance of legitimacy once the customer has been brought in. Subtle’s robe, references to the “Queen of Fairy” (255), and practice of “metoposcopy” and “chiromancy” (259) are a part of the ongoing deception—already at this time, palm-reading and other types of fortunetelling were seen as the province of charlatans. Finally, while Dol Common holds the group together, stopping the fights of the other two, her name implies that she is a lower-class woman; Face’s suggestion that either he or Subtle “draw” her “for his Doll Particular” (252) suggests that she is a sex worker.

The customers Dapper, Drugger, and Epicure Mammon, also have names that highlight the ways they want to use Subtle’s supposed magic powers for their own gain. The would-be debonair gambler Dapper wants to cheat at games of chance. Drugger, who is literally trying to drug his clientele, is looking for an edge in business. Epicure Mammon, whose first name means the pleasure of good food—evoking the sin of gluttony—and whose last name refers to the evil influence of wealth—evoking the sin of greed—is trying to acquire the philosopher’s stone. These weaknesses signal that although all three will be victims of the “venture tripartite,” their predispositions make them equally to blame—a dynamic that points out The Guilt of the Deceived.

The play is a farce, a genre that creates comedy through a piling on of unlikely confrontations, mistaken identities, and numerous intersecting plots. The humor comes from dramatic irony, or a device in which the audience knows more than the characters. Because the characters do not fully grasp their involvement in the many plot threads, their dialog is often full of unintentional double-entendres and vague statements that perpetuate the misunderstandings that fuel the play. Here, we can see Jonson setting up the layered plot of farce, as the team is juggling more customers than they might be able to handle. As Mammon approaches, Face and Subtle have already instructed Dapper and Drugger to return in the afternoon, and Lovewit could also return at any time. Face notes that Lovewit would send ahead if he was returning—a sure sign that Lovewit will surprise them at some point.

The main question in Act I is how the team will sustain their scheme, as none of the promises they have made can be fulfilled. With Dapper, Face convinces him to share half of his winnings, but he also convinces Dapper to “thank the doctor” (256) by paying extra against the winnings he is supposed to make from gambling with the aid of the familiar. Similarly, Face convinces Drugger to hand over his portague, or gold coin, against the success in business that Subtle is promising him. Finally, Mammon is already preparing for the wealth and magic that he will be able to use once Subtle gives him the philosopher’s stone. In all three cases, the customer will eventually find out that they have been cheated, and Act I sets the audience up to expect that conclusion.

Much of the play’s humor comes from the audience watching Face and Subtle trick their customers, greedy people who lack The Ability to Judge Quality, whether of people or of the too-good-to-be-true deals they are being offered. When Face pretends to speak privately with Subtle in front of Dapper and then asks Dapper if he has “heard all,” (256), the audience laughs because we know that Face and Subtle intend for Dapper to overhear them. Dapper refuses to consider that he could be getting conned in the exchange. Likewise, when Face overstates Drugger’s honor and virtue as a merchant, the puffed up Drugger eagerly agrees to pay Subtle more money for his horoscopes and fortune-telling. Subtle’s supposed predictions seem so amazing to Drugger because they underscore his overestimation of himself as an exemplary human being: Having been flattered to excess, he is happy to pay for the privilege.