Ben Jonson

Born in 1572, Ben Jonson is to the theatre of James I, what Shakespeare was previously, to the Elizabethan theatre. Besides he is only eight years his junior. Having studied at Westminster School, he is a cultivated man, very influenced by the classic authors that he well knows and from whom he draws inspiration throughout his career as a dramatist. Vying with Shakespeare, he thus writes historical tragedies that he fills with pertinent, precise details on old customs. However, if his superiority in this domain differentiates him distinctly from his predecessor, it largely works against him, because it slows the action and delays the emotion. On the other hand, in his comedies, Ben Jonson is brilliant. He portrays contemporary manners with the same thoroughness that he applied to classic texts, but in this domain his sense of detail is well served by a strong satirical mind.
The first comedy that he produces in 1598, Every Man in his Humour, establishes a reputation which is confirmed with a second play in the same register: Every Man out of his humour.
In these two comedies, Jonson develops the theory of the “ humours ” of the traditional medicine still in force that has served to determine the physical and moral character of people. These
“ comedies of humour ” as they are subsequently named, have abundant details on the manners of the day and are accurate portrayals of life in the capital at the beginning of the 17th century. Later his style evolves toward comedies that he wishes to be more substantial and Volpone in 1605 marks a real turning point in his career. Very innovative and no longer drawing on the topics of the old repertory, with this play Jonson, served by an amiable oratory and cleverly structured intrigue, launches a frantic attack on cupidity, avarice and Machiavellianism.
With The Alchemist, he portrays the exploitation of fools, and for the first time criticises the Puritans, later returning to this theme with greater virulence in Bartholomew Fair, his last great comedy. Throughout his comic and satirical repertory, Jonson portrays stereotypes, each subject to their own individual “ humour ”, which become the standards of the English theatre, imitated until the 18th century. Indeed, these caricatures, full of wit, are at the origin of English humour . On the whole, the comedies of Jonson express as much his disgust for the manners of his contemporaries as his jubilation in mocking their vices and shortcomings. Although quick-tempered and sometimes obstinate, few dramatists have been as much appreciated in their time. The comedies of manners of the Restoration are the direct inheritors of his dramatic work.