The “China House” Metaphors in Ben Jonson’s Comedy Epicene, or The Silent Woman

Abstract

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Britain’s strong desire for luxury goods such as Chinese porcelain triggered an active participation in the early global trade. Ben Jonson was one of the English Renaissance playwrights who highly mentioned China and Chinese porcelain in his works. In his London comedy Epicene, or The Silent Woman, the “China House” where Chinese porcelain is displayed and sold, has taken on multiple metaphorical connotations, and become essential to understand the urban life of London in the Jacobean era. With a focus on “China House” as three metaphors, such as the booming commercial trade, a famous fashion center as well as the social Vanity Fair, this paper aims to reveal Jonson’s ambivalent attitudes towards London’s commercialism in the context of the early global trade.