
Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy
Summary
"Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy" by Ben Jonson is a Jacobean comedy first staged in 1614. Set at London's famous summer fair, the play follows an eclectic mix of characters—from a disguised justice to a hypocritical Puritan, from pickpockets to country simpletons—as they converge on Smithfield's chaotic marketplace. Through schemes, robberies, mistaken identities, and a climactic puppet show, Jonson creates a vivid panorama of early seventeenth-century London life, where social positions crumble and human folly takes center stage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Rights & provenance
Public domain in the USA.
EU distribution not verified
Subjects (6)
- Category: British Literature
- Category: Plays/Films/Dramas
- Category: Humour
- PR
- English drama -- 17th century
- Comedy plays





