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
Peachum arrives at Newgate to take Polly home. He insults her and tells her that she deserves to be hanged for dishonoring the family. Polly begs Peachum to let her stay with Macheath. Peachum responds that women are doubly foolish: they get involved with unscrupulous men, then make a point of telling everyone about what they have done. He drags her away while she sings about the beauty and power of her “Sacred Love” for Macheath (Air 39).
Peachum’s tirade is ugly and misogynistic, but in one important way, it’s also correct. Namely, in a society as corrupt as 18th-century London, it is dangerous for young women like Polly to place so much trust in charming criminals like Macheath. At best, Polly’s dreams of true love are unattainable; at worst, they will lead her to ruin. Of course, this dynamic illustrates how immorality and corruption spread across society: when everyone else is corrupt, people like Polly have to adjust their expectations and behavior, too.
Themes
