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Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Alchemist, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Alchemy and Transformation
Religion
Sex and Greed
Deception and Gullibility
Summary
Analysis
Face, a servant, enters with a sword. He is accompanied by Doll Common and Subtle, who is carrying a small glass bottle. Face and Subtle are arguing loudly, and Doll tells them to quiet down before the neighbors hear. The home of Face’s master is in the Friars, and they don’t want to draw attention to themselves. Face and Subtle continue to argue and insult each other, and Face recounts where he first met Subtle—at “Pie Corner,” looking thin and starved, his face “full of black and melancholic worms.” It is a wonder Subtle should have been so hard up, Face suggests, with all Subtle’s “alchemy and [his] algebra” and all his “cozening.” Despite all this, Face says, he has still given Subtle clients and a house “to practise in.” Subtle is quick to point out that the house doesn’t belong to Face.
The “Friars” is a reference to the Blackfriars, an area of London and the name of the theater where Jonson’s play was acted in 1610. From Face and Subtle’ argument, the reader can infer that they aren’t seeing eye to eye, and that one is trying to claim superiority over the other, presumably to claim more profits from their illegal operation. “Pie Corner” is a reference to a marketplace in London where cheap food is sold, and Face thus implies that Subtle is poor and has a very bad complexion (his face is “full of black and melancholic worms”). Face also alludes to Subtle’s con—“alchemy and algebra”—and takes credit for giving them Lovewit’s house to “practise,” or stage their cons in. Subtle points out that the house belongs to Lovewit, not Face, which implies Face is no better than Subtle and they both deserve an equal share.
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Subtle claims that he found Face in such a shameful state that no one else would keep Face company, and he brought Face “to spirit, to quintessence, with pains” so great, Subtle should have the “philosophers’ work” twice over. Now, Subtle says, Face is causing trouble before the “projection.” Face threatens to publically accuse Subtle of sorcery, and Doll asks the men if they plan to undo their plans with fighting. Subtle and Face continue shouting, and Doll grabs the sword from Face and smashes the glass from Subtle’s hand. They have “cozened” so long, Doll says, they have begun to “cozen” each other.
Subtle’s insults of Face are full of alchemical references. He implies that making Face fit and believable for their con was so difficult, Subtle should already have the “philosopher’s work”—or the philosopher’s stone—for his efforts. Subtle also refers to “projection,” one of the final stages of the alchemical process, to mean the execution of their con. This passage speaks to the level of deception within the play. Just as Face and Subtle deceive their victims, Doll implies they are also deceiving each other, and that no one is immune to this kind of behavior.
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Doll asks Face if he really plans to accuse Subtle of sorcery, and she asks Subtle if he really plans to “claim primacy in the divisions.” Must Subtle be “chief,” Doll asks, or can there be some equality? She begs the men to get along, or she will quit and leave them. Doll finally convinces the men to stop arguing by promising her “Particular” to whoever draws “the longest cut” later at dinner. Suddenly, the bell rings. Subtle worries it is Face’s master, Lovewit, but Face promises his master is far from London. It is a law clerk named Dapper, whom Face swindled the night before. Dapper is in search of a “familiar” to help him win at gambling, so Face orders Doll out of the room and tells Subtle to go and change.
Ostensibly, Subtle is trying to “claim primacy in the divisions” and declare himself “chief” to get a larger cut of the profits. Subtle is greedy, and Face is, too, since he has threatened to turn Subtle in for sorcery, which is illegal and punishable by law. From Face’s references to sorcery, alchemy, and algebra, the reader can infer that Subtle has been posing as an alchemist. Doll’s “Particular” is a reference to sex (she is clearly a prostitute, hence her name Doll Common), and she has offered to have sex with whoever draws the longest straw—provided the men stop bickering. The nonchalant and easy way in which Doll offers sex to the men suggests sex is not uncommon in their relationship.
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