The Alchemist Research Paper

Is lying an inevitable part of life? As long as people live and have free will, it seems some people will always choose to be untruthful therefore causing havoc with their choices. The Alchemist by Ben Jonson is a play unlike others of its time period. However, even it does not escape the flaws of our world such as lying. In a time period as fragile as The Alchemist’s setting, one would think the characters would be a little more cautious than they are portrayed to be by the author. In this play nobody is safe from both emotional distress and physical misery. The physical trouble of the time was the plague. It would kill people literally within hours of infestation. Only the rich had enough wealth to protect them from this disease by running …show more content…
The conmen were even powerless to the see through one another’s selfishness. Jonson teaches his audience how easily trusting someone can be when consumed by the power of greed and lend them vulnerable to deceit.
In The Alchemist, there are three main conmen whom the play revolves around. The first of the three is Subtle, who despite his name is the most straightforward of the three. He is what some would call the brains behind the operation. His job is to perform the deceiving acts required to keep the clients from questioning in the conmen’s powers. The next is Face, who most appropriately, is indeed the face of the operation. His job is to reel in the customers and charm them in order to act out Subtle’s game plan. Face is also responsible …show more content…
As it was unsafe to be in close corridors while such a deadly disease broke out people were literally dying to see it. The rich flee from the problem and as natural selection proves they will continue to prosper as the common people suffer. However, no amount of money in the world can save you from the things Ben Jonson teaches his audience in The Alchemist. With most of the cons, the reward appeared to be money, yet there were times, like Drugger who brought them tobacco, where the cons demanded more out of greed. Jonson makes an example out of this using Subtle and Face. They were two-faced to each other in order to fill their personal desires which for both was winning the notorious widow’s heart. Jonson recognized just how deceitful a group of criminals can be behind closed doors, no matter how well one thinks they know them. Do net let selfishness get in the way of the decisions made on who and what to believe