STUDY GUIDE / NOTES THE ALCHEMIST BY PAUL COELHO

OVERALL ANALYSIS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Santiago

Santiago represents each and every one of us. We walk along with him on his journey to fulfillment of his Personal Legend and triumph with him when he achieves his goal. He is a good individual who like all humans makes mistakes, but he......

The Gypsy Woman

Although she appears in the story for a relatively short time, she is very important in helping Santiago begin his journey to the pyramids. When he comes to her shop for an interpretation of his dream, he finds a woman who is mysterious, but also.......

The Old King

His name is Melchizedek and he is a Biblical character even as he is a character in this novel. In the Bible, he was said to have been sent by God to give Abraham bread and wine after Abraham’s victory over the four kings who had besieged Sodom and Gomorrah and taken his nephew prisoner. He also is sometimes believed to be the beginning of the family line that led to Jesus, as........

The Crystal Merchant

This man owns a shop in Tangier where Santiago is forced to work to earn enough money to return to Spain. At this point, Santiago has decided he’s foolish to pursue the treasure and wants only to go home. It takes him a year to.......

The Englishman

This character wants more than anything to achieve knowledge of the Master Work of alchemy and is traveling to the oasis to find the alchemist. He has spent ten years of his life studying alchemy, but has been unable to create the Elixir of Life or........

The alchemist

He is the most important of all the people who provide support to Santiago on his journey. With just the right amount of direction and willingness to allow Santiago to find his Personal Legend on his own, the alchemist becomes an even greater servant of God than the Old King. He goes with Santiago on his journey across the desert to the pyramids and teaches......

Fatima

She is the young women with whom Santiago falls in love. She is a desert woman and as such, she is taught how she must wait for the man she loves to return to her on the oasis. If he doesn’t return, she is taught to still have.......

The Camel Driver

Although a simplistic character from a working class background, this man opens up to Santiago about how he had lost his orchards to the flooding of the Nile. From that, he had learned about picking yourself up and beginning your life again even if it........

The Tribal Chieftain

This man has a very small part in the story. His tribe captures the alchemist and Santiago and........

The complete study guide is currently available as a downloadable PDF, RTF, or MS Word DOC file from the PinkMonkey MonkeyNotes download store. The complete study guide contains summaries and notes for all of the chapters; detailed analysis of the themes, plot structure, and characters; important quotations and analysis; detailed analysis of symbolism, motifs, and imagery; a key facts summary; detailed analysis of the use of foreshadowing and irony; a multiple-choice quiz, and suggested book report ideas and essay topics.

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho Free BookNotes Summary

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