To start with, the definition of an allegory is that it is a type of writing that has a double meaning. On one level, it is a romance or adventure etc while on another level, it is a description of a moral, spiritual or political reality common to all people either actually or potentially. While it is not specifically stated in the definition of allegory that the characters have titles as names , it is a common characteristic of allegory that they often do substitute names Having said this, the genre that Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist is analyzed under is that of farce.
Critics consider that his characters, which are similar to the types in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, are farcical rather than allegorical. Jonson is using farce, with a whole catalog of “typical” characters, to mock the social element of swindlers and victims, a prevalent aspect of Jacobean society. “Typical” characters are those drawn from established literary types as opposed to fully realized individual characters.
In farce (as in fable and allegory) this technique works rather well because audience members are familiar with these established literary types and can therefore all the more easily understand and appreciate the farce set before them, indeed, they may have on occasion been one of those types (e. g. , victim or swindler) themselves. In considering The Alchemist, it is important to note that as a critic and analyst, the reader may choose to read The Alchemist as an allegory if allegorical representations strike your perception of the story.
Furthermore, a work of prose or poetry may be in whole an allegory or in part an allegory or have isolated passages or lines that are allegorical. Dr. Wheeler elaborates on this point more fully. When a reader gives an analysis or critical opinion of a work not typically considered allegory (e. g. , The Alchemist) as being allegorical in whole, in part or even in one sentence, this sort of allegorical reading is called allegoresis.
So in summary, The Alchemist is in the farce genre having characters who are well established literary types, not an allegory with allegorical characters, but an individual reading of allegoresis may find a unified allegory or partial allegorical sections or lines. When determining if a story or literary work is meant to be an allegory one must identify symbols within the story that represent other things, and to see if the story relates to another meaning as well, one that is deeper than the obvious. In the book “The Alchemist” there are several deeper meanings that Santiago learn from his search for the treasure:
The journey in search of the treasure is a reward in itself: Santiago learn sthis after he has had the chance to have wonderful and risky adventures on his trip, met many new people, and seen sights such as the pyramids that he never would have seen had he not gone on his quest. “There is no place like home” (Wizard of Oz phrase). Santiago is so busy dreaming and looking for the treasure that he fails to see the treasures at his home environments. However, he later learns this lesson. If one does not ever follow ones dreams, then one can never attain them.
Santiago is pushed forward by the King who tells him that many people stop going after the things they want because they just give up. However, nothing is gained then. Symbols abound within the story. Fatima represents the gift from home that waits on Santiago’s return. The treasure and tip that Santiago seeks is a symbol of striving for one’s dream. The Alchemist is one of Ben Jonson’s more popular comedies. Cony-catching or swindling (a cony was another word for dupe, gull, or victim) was as popular in the seventeenth century as it is in the twentieth.
The con or swindle was a familiar theme and one which Jonson found to be a natural topic for comedy. There is little known about audience reaction to any of Jonson’s plays. There were no theatre reviews and no newspapers or magazines to report on the opening of a play. The little that is known is drawn from surviving letters and diaries. But Jonson was not as popular with theatre-goers as William Shakespeare. In general, Jonson’s plays were not well received by audiences, but The Alchemist appears to have been more popular than most, probably because of its topic.
Jonson differed from other playwrights of his period in that he did not use old stories, fables, or histories as the sources for his plays. Instead, Jonson used a plot “type” as the basis for most of his drama. In The Alchemist the plot is the familiar one of a farce. The characters are common, a man or men and a woman who set up the swindle. The victims offer a selection of London society. Like the characters from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, there are religious men, a clerk and a shopkeeper, a widow, a knight, and a foolish young man. Jonson’s characters are not well-defined, nor do they have any depth.
Instead, they are “types” familiar to the audience. The initial popularity of The Alchemist diminished in subsequent years; by the eighteenth century the play was rarely being produced. As is the case with most of Jonson’s plays, The Alchemist has been rarely produced outside of England during the twentieth century. 1. I believe the book “The Alchemist” is an allegory. Quite often in life people have dreams that they never try to fulfill. They talk about them, even plan them, but when an obstacle gets in their way, they let their dreams go. It is also human nature to make a journey but not to see the beauty in the trip.
In the story Santiago has a dream about a treasure. To fulfill his dream he has to make some drastic changes and take chances. He also has to learn to listen to his inner voice. Santiago sells his sheep, works for different people, and gradually moves towards finding the treasure. His journey to find the treasure introduces him to new skills and new people. He even finds his love on the way. Santiago never finds the tangible treasure but he learns that the things he had seen such as the pyramids, and done such as working for the merchant, and the people he had met have been rewarding.
