The Devil Is an Ass
E399538
The Devil Is an Ass is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that mocks human folly and London society through the misadventures of an incompetent devil sent to Earth.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Devil Is an Ass canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3940558 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Devil Is an Ass Context triple: [Ben Jonson, notableWork, The Devil Is an Ass]
-
A.
The Devil Finds Work
The Devil Finds Work is a 1976 book-length essay by James Baldwin that blends memoir, film criticism, and social commentary to examine race, representation, and American cinema.
-
B.
Touch the Devil
Touch the Devil is a Cold War-era thriller novel by Jack Higgins featuring espionage, terrorism, and high-stakes covert operations.
-
C.
Shout at the Devil
Shout at the Devil is an adventure novel by Wilbur Smith set in German East Africa during World War I, blending high-stakes action with historical drama.
-
D.
Drink with the Devil
Drink with the Devil is a thriller novel by Jack Higgins that follows covert operatives entangled in a deadly plot involving stolen IRA funds and international intrigue.
-
E.
Who The Devil Made It
"Who The Devil Made It" is a book by filmmaker and critic Peter Bogdanovich that collects in-depth interviews with classic Hollywood directors, exploring their careers and the art of filmmaking.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Devil Is an Ass Target entity description: The Devil Is an Ass is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that mocks human folly and London society through the misadventures of an incompetent devil sent to Earth.
-
A.
The Devil Finds Work
The Devil Finds Work is a 1976 book-length essay by James Baldwin that blends memoir, film criticism, and social commentary to examine race, representation, and American cinema.
-
B.
Touch the Devil
Touch the Devil is a Cold War-era thriller novel by Jack Higgins featuring espionage, terrorism, and high-stakes covert operations.
-
C.
Shout at the Devil
Shout at the Devil is an adventure novel by Wilbur Smith set in German East Africa during World War I, blending high-stakes action with historical drama.
-
D.
Drink with the Devil
Drink with the Devil is a thriller novel by Jack Higgins that follows covert operatives entangled in a deadly plot involving stolen IRA funds and international intrigue.
-
E.
Who The Devil Made It
"Who The Devil Made It" is a book by filmmaker and critic Peter Bogdanovich that collects in-depth interviews with classic Hollywood directors, exploring their careers and the art of filmmaking.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
play
ⓘ
satirical comedy ⓘ stage work ⓘ |
| author | Ben Jonson ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | England ⓘ |
| dramaticForm |
city comedy
ⓘ
comedy of humours ⓘ |
| dramaticStyle | realistic depiction of London life ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter |
Fitzdottrel
ⓘ
Lady Tailbush ⓘ Merecraft ⓘ Pug ⓘ Satan ⓘ Wittipol ⓘ |
| firstPerformanceDate | 1616 ⓘ |
| genre |
comedy
ⓘ
satire ⓘ |
| hasAntagonist | human schemers in London ⓘ |
| hasHumourType | satirical humour ⓘ |
| hasMoral | human vice can exceed diabolical temptation ⓘ |
| hasProtagonist | Pug ⓘ |
| hasTitleCharacter |
the Devil
ⓘ
surface form:
the devil Pug
|
| intendedPerformanceVenue | London stage ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | English Renaissance drama ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod |
Stuart period
ⓘ
surface form:
Jacobean era
|
| medium | theatre ⓘ |
| narrativeDevice | supernatural visitation to Earth ⓘ |
| partOf | Ben Jonson canon ⓘ |
| plotSummary | An incompetent junior devil named Pug is sent to London to tempt humans but finds that human corruption surpasses infernal schemes. ⓘ |
| setting |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| structure | five-act play ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
moral corruption in urban life
ⓘ
social satire of Jacobean London ⓘ |
| targetOfSatire |
London citizens
ⓘ
marital infidelity and jealousy ⓘ projectors and schemers ⓘ social climbers ⓘ |
| theme |
deception and gullibility
ⓘ
satire of London society ⓘ satire of human folly ⓘ |
| timePeriodOfSetting | contemporary Jacobean London ⓘ |
| usesMotif |
contracts and bargains
ⓘ
disguise and impersonation ⓘ |
| workPeriod | early 17th century ⓘ |
| writer | Ben Jonson ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Devil Is an Ass Description of subject: The Devil Is an Ass is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that mocks human folly and London society through the misadventures of an incompetent devil sent to Earth.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.