Every Man in His Humour – Full Detailed Summary | Act Wise-Narrative
Every Man in His Humour – Full Detailed Narrative Prologue The play begins with a direct address to the audience. The prologue explains Ben Jonson’s goals: this is not a play filled with fantastical absurdities or adventures in far-off lands. Instead, it will be realistic, showing contemporary people of Elizabethan London and their “humours”—exaggerated personality traits stemming from the old theory of the four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile), believed to shape temperament. Jonson promises that through familiar “deeds and language,” audiences will laugh at human follies and recognize their own faults. Act I – Letters, Introductions, Deceptions At his London home, Old Knowell , a scholar, speaks with his witty servant Brainworm and asks him to call his son Edward Knowell . Knowell, once a scholar himself, is glad to see Edward educated, but he disapproves of his fascination with poetry and “lighter arts.” Soon, Master Stephen ,...
