{"product_id":"volpone-and-the-alchemist-dover-thrift-editions-plays-0486436306","title":"Volpone and The Alchemist (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0486436306\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ben Jonson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuch-studied and frequently performed, these comedies by the great Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson satirize the greed, mendacity, gullibility, and pretension of seventeenth-century London society. Both plays abound in colorful characters, ingenious plotting, biting wit, and sharp insight into human nature.In Volpone (1605), a crafty rich man attempts to augment his wealth by feigning a mortal illness. His wealthy neighbors, spying the opportunity for an inheritance, vie with each other in courting the dying mans favor. The Alchemist (1610) comprises a likewise avaricious cast, headed by a butler and prostitute who join forces with a swindler claiming to possess the philosopher's stone. The trio hosts a parade of eager victims whose hypocrisy and greed place them on a moral footing similar to that of the tricksters. Both plays offer sparkling examples of their author's novel approach to satire and his distinctive blend of savagery, humor, moralism, and a powerful sense of the absurd.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mia Karts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51935239242016,"sku":"NEW0486436306","price":18.35,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/miakarts.com\/products\/volpone-and-the-alchemist-dover-thrift-editions-plays-0486436306","provider":"Miakarts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}