Home > The Alchemist Summary & Study Guide > The Alchemist Group > Question and Answer

Question:

Answers:

1. 
   ingenuoussai

   The comedy of humours pertains to a genre of dramatic comedy that focuses on one or many eccentric characters, each of whom has one overriding trait or ‘humour’ that dominates their personality and obssesses their mind.  In The Alchemist, Jonson concentrates mainly on greed which is the humour that dominates almost every character. Besides, the play presents lust as a humour through the character of Mammon.  In The Alchemist, the humour of greed is presented as endemic in society – almost all the characters display it. Subtle uses his excellent knowledge of alchemy in learned, scientific speech to fool people and amass money. Face goes about in order to “shark” foolish people like Drugger and Dapper, and Dol joins the two to rob people of as much money as possible. Those three conspirators are in fact the greediest. It is this very avarice that brings them into conspiring with each other to gull other greedy people.
   Every other character shows their greed through their gullibility. I feel that this avarice comes as a disease from which the characters suffer. They are so covetous that they become ridiculous in our eyes. It is because of this very humour of rapacity that they end up in becoming so gullible. In believing Subtle, they dream of acquring riches. Finally, they all pay a heavy price due to their avarice.

   Sources:

   http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/24588.html

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by ingenuoussai on Monday January 26, 2009 at 3:36 AM