English 434
Dr. Desmet
Spring 1997

1. Sir Epicure Mammon

Sir Epicure Mammon is a counterfeit. Although of the nobility (like Volpone), he is only a knight, the lowest rank of English nobility. While he professes a desire to do charity, such as founding hospitals, he is obviously more attracted to and interested in luxury, in the smell of rose petals and in the taste of unctuous sow's paps. Although of a sanguine humour, Epicure Mammon is also guilty of the sins of sloth and gluttony. Since he uses charity as a cover, EM is a self-deceiver.

2. Dapper

Dapper might be said to be a victim of counterfeiting, yet he may also be transformed by the "alchemy" of his experience, if one can gain insight from being blindfolded and subjected to the smells of a privy! Dapper at least has a noble if naif aim--to see the Fairy Queen--and seems to go through a mock trial or rite of passage as he is blindfolded, dressed in petticoats, and gagged with the gingerbread. His rite of initiation transforms Dapper into a "hermaphrodite," which makes him either a monster or a symbol of perfection. (For this reason, he may be symbolically transformed by Subtle's alchemy. Dapper is the only character with imagination, aspiring not to pleasure or commodities but to a vision that no one has ever seen. In this way he is like Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Honoring the Fairy Queen, Dapper is also the only character who seems to show reverence for authority.

3. Surly

Surly is not quite a counterfeit because he does bad deeds with good intentions. For this reason, he might be said to be transformed by alchemical relations. He has a vice--gambling--and is willing to disguise himself as a Spaniard to marry dame Pliant under false pretenses, but he also tries to warn Dame Pliant and Mammon about the Surly-Face-Doll Common scam.

4. Kestrel

Kestrel is a counterfeit. In the name of bettering his family's fortune through her marriage, he is willing to prostitute his sister. Thus he abuses a sacrament and his sister's calm trust in him. But Kestrel might also be said to work in her best interests, for Dame Pliant is too pliant to take care of herself! Kestrel has a humour (choleric) and a vice (fighting). He is named for a predator bird, a kind of hawk.

5. Subtle

Subtle is the character who is perfected by the alchemy of human relations. The opposite of Surly, he does good deeds with bad intentions. He is not motivated by either lust, gluttony, or envy, as the other deceptive characters are. In fact, he seems motivated primarily by a sense of play and an enjoyment of gamesmanship. On the other hand, he does participate in the prostitution of Doll (it is even suggested that the men draw lots to see who will sleep with her on any given night.) He also accedes to the possible prostitution of Dame Pliant. Subtle is better than the other characters in at least one respect: he really believes in alchemy, and so like Dapper, is looking for something beyond the material world. His attitude toward gold is less materialistic than that of the other characters. Also, he is motivated to acquire gold and goods by real, abject poverty. However, if Subtle does sleep with Doll and to the extent that he is attempting to prostitute her, than his lust would prevent him from achieving the spiritual perfection necessary for successful alchemy.

6. Dame Pliant

As her name suggests, Dame Pliant is characterized by a tendency to change, although there is no assurance that she will be "refined" or "turned into gold" by those changes. In fact, she is simply lucky that she winds up with Lovewit as a husband, since he is rich, is sexually energized by her, and seems interested in marriage. She marries him in his disguise (the Spanish cloak) but does not seem to suffer from receiving a counterfeit husband. Like the raw base metals used in alchemy, Pliant is malleable, and becomes a good wife. Played by a boy actor, she is also a hermaphrodite, the symbol of sexual and of alchemical perfection (in Subtle's long speech about the processes of alchemy).

7. Doll Common

In some ways, Doll is an obvious counterfeiter, since she pretends to be the mad aristocratic mathematician as a way to pick Epicure Mammon's pockets. Yet her name is also honest. Everyone knows that "Doll" is a synonym for "prostitute." So perhaps she is both above and below the need for alchemy. In some ways, Doll does not change precisely because she is happy with who she is, and never has to pretend that she is not a whore.

8. Drugger

Drugger, as an honest businessman, is a genuine rather than a counterfeit person. Because he is legitimate, Drugger should not be in need of alchemy. However, Drugger also shares some characteristics with the counterfeiters, in that he attempts to better himself by acquiring Dame Plaint as a rich wife. His connection with tobacco, a suspect commodity at this time, also links him to the play's shadier characters.

9. Tribulation Worthy

Tribulation Worthy is Epicure Mammon's alter ego. He combines selfishness with a desire to be charitable and to establish charitable institutions. But where EM is gluttonous and lustful, drawn to the sins of the flesh, TW has the more serious sin of avarice, since he seems willing to keep the goods of orphans whose parents were not religious.

10. Ananias

Like Surly in a secular sense, Ananias is violent or choleric in his piety. He is defensive because he is corrupt. Unlike TW, Ananias aware that what he doing is wrong and justifies his counterfeiting. Ananias is like Doll in that because his role-playing represents him as having two opposing natures. Like Doll, he is more open and honest about his vice.

11. Lovewit

Lovewit, although the master of the house and the most respectable person in this play, is also the ultimate counterfeiter because the hierarchy he represents is itself fake. As an indulgent master who enjoys disguise (the Spanish cloak in which he marries Dame Pliant). Like Face as well, Lovewit achieves the goal of every other character in the play by becoming richer rather than better as a result of his role-playing.