Three Comedies

by Ben Jonson, Michael Jameison (Editor)

Jonson, Ben, Three Comedies: Volpone, The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, Fiction, British Literature

496 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 1966

About the author

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets. A house in Dulwich College is named after him.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson

Reviews

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three plays:
1. Volpone
2. The Alchemist
3. Bartholomew Fair

Nice collection of plays. Entertaining.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Proving himself to be the Andrew Dice Clay of Early Modern Comedy, as opposed to the more insightful insults from Lenny Bruce or Louis C. K., Ben Jonson got by for a while by being the bad bay among his peers, but fell out of favour quickly, obviously not for all times as the playwright himself had praised Shakespeare. The three plays presented here may be more indicative of how nasty, brutish and short-tempered the early seventeenth century Londoners really were, in contrast to the elevated language and humanity seen elsewhere. Volpone and the Alchemist argue that everyone is easily taken in by illusions of wealth and intelligence, while Bartholomew Fair at least levels the playing field by showing everyone is an ass, the takers and the took. Especially harsh on female characters, none of whom are raised on pedestals but rather swapped around like pieces of meat between loutish husbands and creepy jerks. Why Jonson became poet laureate says more about the society he came from than all of the Sonnets could say otherwise.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume contains three of Ben Jonson's comedies, of which Volpone is probably the best, the most entertaining. Jonson's use of language is compelling and his learning shines through the text. That being said it is clear that Shakespeare is the better dramatist.

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Jonson's Comedies > Shakespeare's Comedies.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Bill FromPA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volpone 11/15-16
The Alchemist 12/8-9
Bartholomew Fair 1/20-22