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
Lockit and Peachum lead Macheath into Newgate, where Polly and Lucy are waiting. Lockit tells Macheath that he’s going straight to trial, so he won’t be able to escape again. Peachum tells Polly and Lucy to go away, but both call out for Macheath. They sing together, each begging Macheath to look over and prove his love for them (Air 52). Macheath says there’s no point, since he will be put to death soon. But Peachum proposes that Macheath choose between Polly and Lucy, so that they can avoid a lawsuit over his estate later on. Macheath sings that nobody could choose between two wives, as whatever comforts one of them would hurt the other (Air 53).
When Macheath arrives at Newgate, all of the characters’ differing biases and priorities start to clash. Polly and Lucy obsessively try to prove their love, somehow still unaware that Macheath couldn’t care less about either of them. Meanwhile, Lockit looks forward to Macheath’s execution and Peachum wonders about what will happen to his property (but not his life). This scene, in which Polly and Lucy ask Macheath to choose between them, is also a reference to a well-known scene from John Dryden’s play about Antony and Cleopatra, All for Love, which was wildly popular in the early 1700s.
Themes
Polly sings to Peachum, begging him to save Macheath out of pity for her (Air 54). Lucy sings to Lockit, asking him to shut down the trial so that she can be with Macheath (Air 55). But Lockit insists that he won’t tolerate more “Whimpering or Whining.” He sings that he, Peachum, and men like them have to give up their fellow criminals to survive, and that even they might go to the gallows one day too (Air 56). Peachum tells Polly that her husband is going to die and maybe she should find another.
Despite all their rivalry and disagreements, Polly and Lucy take on parallel roles, begging their fathers to put profit aside in the name of love. (Unsurprisingly, both men refuse.) This parallel arrangement also highlights the way in which Peachum and Lockit serve as character foils for one another. Even though they work on opposite sides of the law, they are equally cruel and corrupt. Through this parallel, Gay argues that England’s political and legal system was just as completely morally rotten as its criminal underworld.
Themes
Lockit announces that it’s time for Macheath to go to the gallows. Macheath sings that he is ready to die, which will pay his debt to society and finally end the dispute between his wives (Air 57).
When he points out how his death will be good for the world, Macheath appears to have a moment of moral clarity. But unsurprisingly, the subsequent scenes will show that this doesn’t last. Indeed, his comment demonstrates that he understands what is morally right—he just doesn’t care.
Themes
Literary Devices
