Comedy In Ben Jonon's The Alchemist And Bartholomew Fair

Comedy in Renaissance literature is a major aspect to most of its major plots. The sense of comedy within a play shows that it is a dramatic piece of work that central motif results in triumph over adverse circumstances. (dictionary.com)

In this essay, the work of Ben Jonson will be discussed. The two works which have been chosen are two of his most famous plays, ‘The Alchemist’ and ‘Bartholomew Fair.’ Both of these plays are of a satirical nature meaning that it is work that is intended to ridicule the shortcomings and antics of a person or a group. Along with Jonson’s satirical plays, he is also known for his lyrical poetry and is regarded as the second most important English dramatist after William Shakespeare. Ben Jonson’s importance to the history of English drama is mainly due to his envisagement of a new kind of comedy of which he gave excellent examples. He was a vigorous

Many of Jonson’s plays were slammed because of the fact there was too much information in them. Many people felt that Jonson had exceeded with too much information and research into his drama. Jonson increases the amount of his characters as he moves on to create more drama as a way to voice his own opinion. The tension between author and audience and between the authors own conflicting ideas about the purposes of theatre is evident in Bartholomew Fair. In Bartholomew Fair a number of different characters can be seen as authorial stand-in at various points in the play, and most of these self-portraits are plainly satirical. As a playwright distinctive in his ability to make his audience feel ‘discomfort,’ Jonson was equally adept at pleasing his audience, and the enduring appeal of the plays of Bartholomew Fair and The Alchemist discussed, indicates that he was enough of a pragmatist to realise that he has to give at least equal weight to the pleasing and troubling elements of his