The Beggar’s Opera is characterized by a satirical tone that casts a critical, knowing eye upon both the rich and the poor of 18th-century London. A key element of Gay’s satire is the inversion of conventional morality. After Polly has admitted her marriage to Macheath to her parents, for example, Mrs. Peachum responds in a satirical speech that reflects the cynical but amusing tone of the play more broadly.
I knew she was always a proud Slut; and now the Wench hath play’d the Fool and married, because forsooth she would do like the Gentry. Can you support the Expence of a Husband, Hussy, in gaming, drinking and whoring? have you Money enough to carry on the daily Quarrels of Man and Wife about who shall squander most? There are not many Husbands and Wives, who can bear the Charges of plaguing one another in a handsome way. If you must be married, could you introduce no-body into our Family but a Highwayman? Why, thou foolish Jade, thou wilt be as ill-us’d, and as much neglected, as if thou hadst married a Lord!
Rather than being pleased by her daughter’s marriage, the contemptuous Mrs. Peachum suggests that marriage is nothing but a meaningless, fashionable trend among the gentry. Her argument that Polly cannot afford the “Expence of a Husband” cynically assumes as a matter of course that all men gamble, drink, and commit adultery. Her conclusion—that marrying a criminal such as Macheath is almost as bad as marrying a “Lord” or a member of the aristocracy—extends her critique from London’s criminals to its upper classes. This speech, then, exemplifies Gay’s satirical tone in The Beggar’s Opera, which targets all classes of London society.
