Convention and Contravention in Ben Jonson’s Three Comedies

Convention and Contravention in Ben Jonson’s Three Comedies: Volpone, The
Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair is a book about Jonson’s convention of comedy that
is a disguise for the realities of life. The book aims to show the importance of the
truths that are generally away from the human eye in Jonson’s time through scrutiny
of Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. Selected plays are in a dialogue
with Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Measure for Measure, and Twelfth Night, and
close analysis of the texts of the plays offers the reader a detailed study of the upside
down world of the comedic, carnivalesque period that enables characters free
themselves of their responsibilities. The plays end in harmony, taking all scattered
parts of the disarray of the carnival time back to its normal. Madness, lack of morality,
deceitfulness, confusion, misunderstandings, and disguise are common elements in
all the plays discussed in the book. Ben Jonson takes the opportunity and presents a
critical viewpoint about the Elizabethan and Jacobean laxity and leniency, making the
carnivalesque spirit central to his criticism. This book intends to immerse into ways in
which characters create chaos within themselves in the selected plays. Shakespeare’s
selected plays are supplementary texts that richly add layers, branches, and offices to
the reading of Jonson’s society rather than just enriching the comedic impact of the
performances.