Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Beggar’s Opera, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Moral Corruption and Hypocrisy
Gender, Love, and Marriage
Class, Capitalism, and Inequality
Opera, High Art, and Performance
Summary
Analysis
Mrs. Peachum meets Peachum and Polly. She sings that Polly is stupid and ungrateful for “fling[ing] herself away” to Macheath (Air 7). She reveals that Polly has already married Macheath. Furious, Peachum says Macheath is using Polly for money. He comments that he and Mrs. Peachum have only lived well because they never married. Mrs. Peachum warns that Macheath will squander Polly’s money “gaming, drinking and whoring,” and she asks why Polly had to marry a common thief. Peachum notes that Macheath is still a military captain—which hopefully means that he’ll either get rich or die fast.
Peachum and Mrs. Peachum appear to view all relationships—including their own—exclusively through the lens of money and power. It simply doesn’t occur to them that people might want to be together for the sake of love. This once again shows how fixated on money (and, really, corruption) they are. At the same time, they certainly may be right about Macheath’s honor and intentions—after all, he’s one of their thieves, so he’s likely to share their questionable values. Peachum’s comment about Macheath’s military service is ironic in two different ways. First, it suggests that the government and its armed forces are just as corrupt as the criminals it punishes. And second, it is totally wrong: Macheath doesn’t actually belong to the military.
Themes
Literary Devices
Peachum pinches Polly and asks if she is really Macheath’s “bound Wife,” or just planning to live with him. Mrs. Peachum cries that Polly has cheated and betrayed her parents, and Peachum says that he’ll know the marriage is real if Macheath stops coming over. Polly sings that love is stronger than reason: she feels like her heart was frozen like ice, but the fire of Macheath’s love melted it, so she decided to marry him (Air 8). Peachum and Mrs. Peachum lament that Macheath will take all their money, but Polly insists that she married for love. Mrs. Peachum desperately rages at Polly, then faints. Peachum sends Polly to bring her mother a cordial.
Peachum and Mrs. Peachum’s anger reflects the way that women were literally considered property in the 18th century. By marrying, Polly effectively transfers herself—and everything she has—from her father’s ownership to Macheath’s. This means that, once her parents die, Macheath will be able to take control of her inheritance. Because of this grim reality, her song about love falls on deaf ears. Of course, this song is also a reference to Italian opera, which usually involved dramatic plots about love, deception, and betrayal. In a way, The Beggar’s Opera can be seen as a satire about what happens when an archetype from the fantasy world of Italian opera (Polly) lands in the gritty reality of John Gay’s London (and gets taken advantage of by Macheath).
Themes
After coming to, Mrs. Peachum sings that Polly “might have toy’d and kist” with men, because “by keeping Men off, you keep them on.” Polly sings back that Macheath “teaz’d” and “pleas’d” her, and that her mother must have done the same thing (Air 9). Peachum tells Mrs. Peachum that women have always married against their parents’ wishes. He blames “the Frailty of Woman,” and Mrs. Peachum agrees—but she still thinks Polly chose the wrong man. Peachum tells Mrs. Peachum to calm down: he has a plan to “make the best of” Polly’s decision.
The Peachums continue to defend what 18th-century Londoners would have viewed as an upside-down moral compass: they encourage Polly to date several men with no strings attached, or even have sex for money, but never to commit herself to one man and settle down. Like most of the jokes in the play, this is a combination of comedy and social criticism: Gay wanted his audiences to laugh at the characters’ twisted sense of morality but also see how their economic conditions led them there. After all, the Peachums are right to worry that marriage will destroy Polly’s independence.
Themes
Mrs. Peachum tells Polly that she forgives her, and Polly joyously sings that she feels like a ship that has arrived safely to port (Air 10). Peachum comments that his customers (people looking for their stolen possessions) have arrived, and he sends Polly to update them on their watch and sword.
It's unclear whether Mrs. Peachum truly forgives Polly or is just pretending to, because she trusts Peachum to fix the situation with his secret plan. (Or perhaps she has some other motive altogether.) After all, by juxtaposing this conversation with “customers” coming to buy back stolen goods, the opera reminds its audience that all of the characters are deceiving one another all the time.
Themes
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