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Tiger Brown
A prostitute at a brothel in Wapping and a former lover of Macheath’s. Ginny Jenny seems to look back on her past with Macheath with a mixture of longing and revulsion—she was forced to let him pimp her out and often suffered brutal treatment at his hands when things got rough, but claims to have truly loved him and the bizarre life they shared for a time. Still, Jenny has no qualms about conspiring with Peachum to turn Macheath over to the authorities—like everyone else in the play, Jenny is a product of the society in which she lives, and will do whatever it takes to get by in a corrupt, capitalistic world. Jenny expresses herself primarily through song—in “The Song of Solomon,” she laments the ways in which men and women throughout history have tried to transcend their lots in life only to fail and suffer. In some productions, the Act 1 number “Pirate Jenny,” traditionally sung by Polly, is instead given to Jenny herself, providing even more insight into her quietly unhappy, vengeful, yet against all odds hopeful personalty.
Ginny Jenny Quotes in The Threepenny Opera
The The Threepenny Opera quotes below are all either spoken by Ginny Jenny or refer to Ginny Jenny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes
MRS. PEACHUM: Let me tell you this, Jenny: if all London were after him, Macheath is not the man to give up his old habits.
Now here’s a man who fights old Satan’s battle:
The butcher, he! All other men, mere cattle!
He is a shark with all the world to swim in!
What gets him down? What gets ‘em all down? Women.
He may not want to, but he’ll acquiesce
For such is sexual submissiveness.
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Act 3, Scene 1 Quotes
GINNY JENNY: You know the inquisitive Bertolt Brecht
His songs — you loved them so.
But when too oft he asked where from
The riches of the rich did come
You made him pack his bag and go.
Oh how inquisitive was Brecht!
But long before the day was out
The consequence was clear, alas!
Inquisitiveness had brought him to this pass:
A man is better off without.
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Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes
ALL: Combat injustice but in moderation:
Such things will freeze to death if left alone.
Remember: this whole vale of tribulation
Is black as pitch and cold as any stone.
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Get the entire The Threepenny Opera LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Ginny Jenny Character Timeline in The Threepenny Opera
The timeline below shows where the character Ginny Jenny appears in The Threepenny Opera. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...the ballad, a man slips from the crowd and walks away. A prostitute named Ginny Jenny exclaims that Macheath himself has just walked past, escaping once again.
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Act 2, Scene 1
In a brief interlude, Mrs. Peachum and Ginny Jenny step toward the front of the stage. Mrs. Peachum urges Jenny to report any sighting...
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Act 2, Scene 2
...He hangs his coat on the door and tosses his charge-sheet to the ground. Ginny Jenny picks it up and begins reading all the charges against Macheath and his gang. Alarmed,...
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The other prostitutes gather around and ask Jenny what she sees. She declares that she sees darkness and “a little bit of love,”...
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When Macheath finishes flirting, he notices Jenny’s absence and asks where she’s gone. He begins reminiscing about his past relationship with Jenny...
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Jenny begins singing—her recollection of things is very different. She recalls Macheath beating her when she...
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Act 2, Scene 3
Macheath and Ginny Jenny step out in front of the curtain and sing the “Second Threepenny-Finale.” Macheath sings a...
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Act 3, Scene 1
Ginny Jenny and several prostitutes enter, demanding their fee for helping in Macheath’s arrest. Mrs. Peachum refuses...
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...Macheath, asks what he can do when the man is nowhere to be found. Ginny Jenny steps forward and states that Macheath is with Suky Tawdry on Oxford Street. Brown orders...
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As the curtain drops, Ginny Jenny appears in front of it playing a stringed instrument called a hurdy-gurdy. She sings “The...
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Act 3, Scene 3
...and Jacob say they are, and Macheath seems satisfied. Mrs. Peachum, Tiger Brown, and Ginny Jenny all approach the cell, too, lamenting that Macheath has to die.
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