# Sir Epicure Mammon — The Alchemist character guide

> Sir Epicure Mammon in The Alchemist by Ben Jonson.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mammon, Sir Mammon, Epicure

**First appearance:** 0008-act-ii

## Snapshot

A wealthy knight whose appetite for pleasure is matched only by his credulity, he dreams of infinite gold and the sensual paradise the philosopher's stone will buy him.

## Who they are

Mammon arrives at the house convinced he is about to possess the philosopher's stone, and his fantasies of luxury pour out in some of the play's most extravagant poetry. He courts Dol Common with promises of diamonds and empires, mistaking her performance for genuine nobility. His boundless greed makes him the perfect mark and the play's most vivid emblem of appetite divorced from reason.

## Relationships

### [Face](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/face)

_professional_

Face, as a servant, manipulates Mammon into believing he can achieve alchemical transmutation for profit.

### [Subtle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/subtle)

_professional_

Mammon hires Subtle as his alchemist, believing in his fraudulent promises of the philosopher's stone.

### [Dol Common](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/dol_common)

_psychological_

Dol Common is used by Face and Subtle to seduce and distract Mammon as part of their con.

### [Dapper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/dapper)

_professional_

Dapper is a gullible client who pays Mammon and Subtle for a supposed alchemical charm to win at gambling.

### [Abel Drugger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/abel_drugger)

_professional_

Abel Drugger, a naive tobacconist, seeks Mammon's alchemical advice to improve his shop's fortune.

### [Kastril](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/kastril)

_professional_

Kastril, a quarrelsome young man, hires Mammon and Subtle to learn the art of quarreling and to arrange a marriage.

### [Pertinax Surly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/pertinax_surly)

_rivalry_

Surly is a skeptic who openly mocks Mammon's gullibility and tries to expose the alchemical fraud.

### [Ananias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/ananias)

_professional_

Ananias, a Puritan deacon, negotiates with Mammon for alchemical gold to fund his sect's activities.

### [Don Diego](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/don_diego)

_professional_

Don Diego, a Spanish nobleman, seeks Mammon's alchemical services to win a lady's favor.

### [Subtle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/subtle)

_professional_

Mammon hires Subtle as his alchemist, believing in his fraudulent promises of the philosopher's stone.

### [Dol Common](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/dol_common)

_psychological_

Dol Common is used by Face and Subtle to seduce and distract Mammon as part of their con.

### [Face](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/face)

_professional_

Face, as a servant, manipulates Mammon into believing he can achieve alchemical transmutation for profit.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters/sir_epicure_mammon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_alchemist_se/characters