The Alchemist

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1610

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Dedication-Prologue

Act I, Scenes 1-4

Act II, Scenes 1-6

Act III, Scenes 1-5

Act IV, Scenes 1-7

Act V, Scenes 1-5

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Act V, Scenes 1-5Act Summaries & Analyses

Act V, Scene 1 Summary

Lovewit converses with his neighbors outside the house. They tell him that strange knights, ladies, tobacco men, and more have been in and out of his home while he has been away. Lovewit is shocked. How did Jeremy/Face draw in such people? The neighbors confirm that the butler did not hang any signs or promise any cures publicly. As befits his name, Lovewit loves a jest, but he worries that Jeremy/Face has sold off his possessions, in which case he would need to remove him. The neighbors then report that they have not seen Jeremy/Face in six weeks. However, they did hear a cry from the house, like a man being strangled, three weeks prior. Lovewit knocks on the door, and when no one opens, he sends a blacksmith to get tools to pry his door open.

Act V, Scene 2 Summary

Jeremy answers the door and welcomes Lovewit, but warns him that the cat had the plague a week prior. Lovewit, worried that Jeremy might also have the plague, encourages Jeremy/Face to stand far away. Lovewit tells Jeremy/Face what the neighbors reported, but Jeremy/Face claims not to have let anyone in or out in the 10 weeks that Lovewit has been gone. The neighbors accept that they must have hallucinated the various people and carriages they saw, and Lovewit sends them off, frustrated.

However, Surly and Mammon arrive at that moment, and Face is not sure how he will avoid them.

Act V, Scene 3 Summary

As Surly and Mammon approach, Surly makes fun of Mammon for believing Subtle is an alchemist. Jeremy/Face asks who they are looking for, and claims that the house has been closed for weeks. When Lovewit announces himself as the owner of the house, Surly and Mammon go to get the marshals. The neighbors tell Lovewit that Surly and Mammon were two of the people they saw go into the house. At that moment, Kastril arrives, yelling for his sister. Lovewit’s confusion grows when Wholesome and Ananias arrive, also upset to see the door closed. They yell that the home is evil, and they leave with Kastril to get the marshals.

The neighbors affirm that they also saw Kastril, Ananias, and Wholesome in the house, but Jeremy continues to deny everything. Just then, Dapper begins yelling about the Queen of Fairy from inside the house, while Subtle tries to keep him quiet. Jeremy/Face claims that Dapper’s voice is that of a spirit and leans down to whisper into the keyhole that Subtle is a rogue. Lovewit overhears him, wondering since when Jeremy/Face can speak to spirits. Caught, Jeremy/Face reveals the situation, and offers Lovewit the widow as repayment. Lovewit concludes that he came home too soon, but asks to meet the widow.

Act V, Scene 4 Summary

Face resumes his captain’s outfit and meets Subtle and Dapper. Dapper ate the gingerbread gag they gave him, which Subtle says might again prevent him from meeting the Queen of Fairy. Face tells Subtle that he has distracted Lovewit for the night so that they can complete their final schemes. Dol enters as the Queen of Fairy and promises Dapper good fortune and a bird to serve as his familiar. Dapper is instructed to feed the bird his blood once a week, but not to look at the bird except when feeding it. Dapper also agrees to avoid bad habits and unsavory games to maintain his luck, and Subtle gets him to agree to hand over a year’s salary in exchange for the blessing.

Drugger arrives with the Spanish outfit, ready to marry Pliant. Face takes the outfit and sends Subtle to shave Drugger for the ostensible wedding. Subtle and Dol assume that Face plans to marry the widow promptly, which is in violation of their tripartite agreement, but Face returns before Subtle and Dol can make off with the rest of the goods. They count everything they’ve stolen, and the list includes many things not introduced in the play, implying that the trio has been scheming for a long time. Face demands the keys to the trunks of goods, and Dol is upset by this request. Face reveals that he told Lovewit everything, and that Lovewit will be claiming all the goods for himself. But Face did manage to secure Subtle and Dol enough time to flee. Though Dol and Subtle curse Face as they leave, Face still asks to know where they will go, promising to send them more customers.

Act V, Scene 5 Summary

Mammon and Surly return with the marshals, demanding to be let into the house. Lovewit returns and confirms that he is now married to Pliant; Face tells him to change out of the Spanish outfit. Kastril joins the fray of people demanding that the door to the house be opened. Lovewit opens the door and asks the marshals to prevent the crowd from entering his home, though he will allow a search if needed. Lovewit adds that Jeremy/Face lent the house to a Doctor and a Captain, but neither of them knows who where this Doctor and Captain went. Kastril busts in to find Pliant, and Surly laments to hear that Lovewit has married her.

Mammon demands his goods, but Lovewit stops him—Mammon has no legal proof that the goods are his. Lovewit makes fun of Mammon for having thought that the metallic objects could be turned to gold. As Surly and Mammon leave, Surly promises to get revenge on Face when he finds him. Ananias and Wholesome come back to claim Mammon’s goods, but Lovewit refuses to give up the goods since Mammon has also claimed them. As Ananias and Wholesome leave, Drugger arrives, only to be beaten by Lovewit.

Kastril and Pliant come out. When Kastril threatens again to be violent with Pliant, Lovewit stops him, defending his new wife. Kastril changes his tone immediately, so impressed by Lovewit that he offers to add £500 to his sister’s fortune for the marriage. Lovewit sends Kastril and Pliant into the house to smoke tobacco, and tells Jeremy/Face that he owes this marriage and goods to him.

The play ends with two addresses to the audience. Lovewit asks us to forgive him. Face, meanwhile, tells us that not only has he escaped punishment, but also he has gotten some money and intends to bring in more customers.

Act V, Scenes 1-5 Analysis

The conclusion of the play brings an unexpected turn of events, as Face is not punished for his crimes. Lovewit, who is characterized by his love of jokes, as his name suggests, turns out not to be the arbiter of justice. Instead, Lovewit’s delight in his servant’s skill at trickery allows Face and his gang to get away. At the same time, Lovewit is twice rewarded: He receives the spoils of the trio’s schemes, including Pliant, and derives enormous entertainment from watching Face at work. In this, Lovewit stands in for the audience, who have also, it is assumed, forgiven Face for similar reasons—a dynamic that positions The Play as Analogy for the Theater. Face reveals to the audience that just as the conmen’s victims have been duped, so too have we been “cozened” (352) by the actors on stage. Just as Face will use what money Lovewit has allowed him to keep to solicit new customers, so too will the audience’s ticket sales go toward advertising to “invite new guests” (352). In other words, Face, the character, will continue to trick people in the future, while the theater will continue putting on performances. Like the theater, the tricks and schemes that Face, Subtle, and Dol perpetuate provide entertaining fantasies; just as Mammon cannot get the philosopher’s stone, the audience members cannot meet Face—only the actor who portrayed him.

While all three conmen are proficient actors, Face’s true mastery is apparent in his ability to adopt many different personas convincingly. As Captain Face, he is an enthusiastic salesman; as Ulen, he behaves with the exaggerated obsequy of a servant; now, in Act V, he dons a new persona—the blameless Jeremy, a butler so pure of heart that the six neighbors, who saw people and carriages arriving at Lovewit’s house accept that they must have been hallucinating since “Jeremy / Is a very honest fellow” (338). Even Surly, who has attempted his own disguise, and who is deeply motivated to get back at Face, cannot recognize him in Jeremy, allowing Face to get in several double-entendres as Jeremy calls Face “honest as myself” (350)—a truth that has the veneer of a lie. Other characters have a base identity. For example Subtle, even when in disguise, often reverts to his own conniving personality. However, Face’s multivalent performance makes the audience consider the nature of identity; his lack of a “real” self in the play calls into question The Ability to Judge Quality.

The play ends by emphasizing The Guilt of the Deceived, as the victims of the trio’s chicanery are the only ones punished. Mammon and Surly attempt to get law enforcement to avenge their victimization, but pride won’t let them admit that they were tricked. To sue Lovewit for their goods, Mammon must either bring a “formal writ out of a court” that he was “gulled” or “did cozen” (349)—an admission that would make Mammon look foolish in public. Just a good a judge of character as his servant Face, Lovewit correctly bets on Mammon’s self-regard. Dapper and Drugger are in some ways better off: Both lose quite a bit of their wealth, but neither is aware of being a mark, leaving their egos intact. Finally, the Anabaptists, who assume that although the stone is lost, they can still acquire the orphans’ goods, lose little but their veneer of moral uprightness: Their greed and credulity expose their hidden vices. Conversely, Lovewit rewards Face with a cut of the stolen goods, while Subtle and Dol get away. The play thus ends by warning the audience to be wary of getting tricked, rather than condemning its trio of charlatans.