Ben Jonson's Dramas

Ben Jonson’s dramas are comedies, tragedies, and other theatrical works shaped by classical learning and close attention to social conduct. Volpone makes the hope of inheritance a test of character, while The Alchemist turns a London house into the centre of an elaborate confidence trick. Every Man in His Humour develops comedy through people dominated by particular habits and ambitions; Bartholomew Fair brings a wider variety of voices into contact. Carefully organized plots allow deceivers and willing victims to reveal one another. The plays’ energy comes from language, social friction, and the exposure of pretensions beneath respectable appearances.