Ben Jonson’s The Case is Altered: A Retelling

This is an easy-to-read retelling of Ben Jonson's comedy THE CASE IS ALTERED. Reading this retelling first will make reading and understanding the original play much easier.

An Excerpt:

Juniper said to Onion, “Away, scoundrel! Do thou fear a little elocution? Shall we be confiscate [have our property confiscated] now? Shall we droop now? Shall we be now in helogabalus?”

Heliogabalus was a corrupt Roman emperor.

Possibly, Juniper thought that “Helogabalus” was a location: Helot-opolis, the city of Helots. In ancient Sparta, helots were in an intermediate social class between ordinary slaves and free citizens.

Another Excerpt:

He exited the scene, singing the nonsense syllables, “Tau, dery, dery.”

Or perhaps the syllables meant “Taw-dry, —dry.” Some of Angelo’s thoughts were tawdry indeed.