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Act 2, Scene 3
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
Subtle and Doll enter, and Subtle asks Face if Mammon took the bait. Face says Mammon has definitely taken the bait, and Subtle tells Doll that she must now pretend to be the sister of a lord. Doll says pretending will be no problem, and Subtle asks Face if Mammon is sending his metal. All of it, Face confirms and says he has also duped Surly into going to the Temple Church. There is a knock at the door, and Subtle says it must be the church elder who is coming to barter for Mammon’s metal. Doll and Face exit, leaving Subtle behind. Subtle claims the “holy brethren / Of Amsterdam, the exiled saints” are searching for the philosopher’s stone, too, and “hope / To raise their disciple by it.”
Like Face and Subtle, Doll transforms into a different character with each new victim, which further suggests things and people are constantly changing and deceiving one another. The “holy brethren / Of Amsterdam” refers to Anabaptists, a group of radical Protestants known for their religious fanaticism, who were exiled from England to the Netherlands in the 1500s. The Anabaptists want the philosopher’s stone so they can use the wealth it will bring to further their cause and their radical religious views.
Themes
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