Verse comedy · 1610 (first printed 1612)
The Alchemist
During a plague outbreak in London, Lovewit leaves his house in the care of his butler Face, who lets it to the con man Subtle and his accomplice Dol Common. Posing as an alchemist, Subtle fleeces a lawyer's clerk, a tobacconist, the greedy knight Sir Epicure Mammon and two Puritans of Amsterdam with promises of the philosopher's stone, until the master returns and the scheme collapses. Jonson's fast, savage comedy of London greed.
Contents · 14 parts
- Persons of the Play15 lines
- The Argument12 lines
- Prologue24 lines
- Act I, Scene 1about 730 lines
- Act II, Scene 1about 1030 lines
- Act III, Scene 158 lines
- Act III, Scene 2about 650 lines
- Act IV, Scene 1about 510 lines
- Act IV, Scene 2about 140 lines
- Act IV, Scene 3about 190 lines
- Act IV, Scene 4about 280 lines
- Act V, Scene 1about 310 lines
- Act V, Scene 2about 240 lines
- Act V, Scene 3about 250 lines