No More Learning

II. THE SATIRICAL DRAMA


It was from Aristophanes[52] that Jonson learned to combine with
such boldness the palpable with the visionary, the material with the
abstract. He surpassed even his master in the power of rendering the
combination a convincing one, and his method was always the same. Fond
as he was of occasional flights of fancy, his mind was fundamentally
satirical, so that the process of welding the apparently discordant
elements was always one of rationalizing the fanciful rather than
of investing the actual with a far-away and poetic atmosphere. Thus
even his purely supernatural scenes present little incongruity. Satan
and Iniquity discuss strong waters and tobacco, Whitechapel and
Billingsgate, with the utmost familiarity; even hell's 'most exquisite
tortures' are adapted in part from the homely proverbs of the people.
In the use of his sources three tendencies are especially noticeable:
the motivation of borrowed incidents; the adjusting of action on a
moral basis: the reworking of his own favorite themes and incidents.

[52] See Herford, p. 318.


1. _General Treatment of the Plot_

For the main plot we have no direct source. It represents, however,
Jonson's typical method. It has been pointed out[53] that the
characteristic Jonsonian comedy always consists of two groups, the
intriguers and the victims. In _The Devil is an Ass_ the most purely
comic motive of the play is furnished by a reversal of the usual
relation subsisting between these two groups. Here the devil, who was
wont to be looked upon as arch-intriguer, is constantly 'fooled off
and beaten', and thus takes his position as the comic butt.
Pug, in a
sense, represents a satirical trend. Through him Jonson satirizes the
outgrown supernaturalism which still clung to the skirts of Jacobean
realism, and at the same time paints in lively colors the vice of a
society against which hell itself is powerless to contend. It is only,
however, in a general way, where the devil stands for a principle, that
Pug may be considered as in any degree satirical. In the particular
incident he is always a purely comic figure, and furnishes the mirth
which results from a sense of the incongruity between anticipation and
accomplishment.

Fitzdottrel, on the other hand, is mainly satirical. Through him Jonson
passes censure upon the city gallant, the attendant at the theatre, the
victim of the prevalent superstitions, and even the pretended demoniac.
His dupery, as in the case of his bargain with Wittipol, excites
indignation rather than mirth, and his final discomfiture affords us
almost a sense of poetic justice. This character stands in the position
of chief victim.

In an intermediate position are Merecraft and Everill. They succeed in
swindling Fitzdottrel and Lady Tailbush, but are in turn played upon by
the chief intriguer, Wittipol, with his friend Manly. Jonson's moral
purpose is here plainly visible, especially in contrast to Plautus,
with whom the youthful intriguer is also the stock figure. The motive
of the young man's trickery in the Latin comedy is usually unworthy and
selfish. That of Wittipol, on the other hand, is wholly disinterested,
since he is represented as having already philosophically accepted the
rejection of his advances at the hands of Mrs. Fitzdottrel.

In construction the play suffers from overabundance of material.
Instead of a single main line of action, which is given clear
precedence, there is rather a succession of elaborated episodes,
carefully connected and motivated, but not properly subordinated.