482 Gay, John
an unspoken code of conduct when he attempts to
marry and abandon his criminal lifestyle. Now that
Macheath has considered marriage, he has become
a terrible criminal whom his fellow thieves do not
tolerate. By isolating Macheath via a proposed mar-
riage with Polly, Gay cleverly establishes Macheath
for his audience as an example of one whose faults lie
not in willingly breaking the law, but in consorting
with young women in the hopes of marrying them.
Macheath emerges as a lone individual looking into
a society that rejects his marital views but not his
criminal lifestyle. Gay’s view, however, is consistently
tempered with satire, as Macheath exclaims, “What
a fool is a fond wench!” (3.3.71); and Polly may be
thought of as “foolish” for pursuing Macheath, who
is certainly not an exemplary suitor, but this is Gay’s
satirical point.
As punishment for his “crime” of consorting
with Polly and hindering Peachum’s criminal efforts,
Macheath is soon imprisoned at Newgate during a
scene that isolates him as an exemplary criminal of
the heart. As Lockit chains Macheath, the guard
takes notice of Macheath’s crimes, and then marvels
as the prisoner blames his misfortune on women.
But Gay’s construction of the jail scene distinguishes
Macheath from a society of criminals who seek
to punish him for crimes against marriage instead
of crimes against humanity. Macheath is guilty of
stealing, gambling, beating and robbing travelers,
and cheating at cards and dice, but these offenses
are seldom mentioned as faults of Macheath. The
focus appears to be on marriage, especially when
Lucy visits Macheath to scold him, then accepts his
promise because she wants to be made an “honest”
woman. The audience, however, cannot help but
remember that Macheath’s crimes against society go
unpunished, which for Gay’s satire seems to be the
real crime.
For the duration of the play, Macheath remains
in jail, subject to harsh verbal reproaches from Polly
and Lucy (two of his six wives) for his deceitful mar-
ital practices, but at the end of the play, Macheath
faces execution for a crime against society: “having
broke prison.” The execution does not happen, how-
ever, due to the interference by the Player and Beg-
gar, long thought by scholars to represent the voice
of English society and John Gay the playwright,
respectively. Once the Beggar orders the guards to
release Macheath, the Player concedes that “All this
must we do, to comply with the taste of the town”
(3.16.15). And thus Macheath escapes punish-
ment for his crimes against society, but not for his
crimes against marriage, for he is forced to live with
his six wives. The play’s conclusion suggests that
Macheath’s most terrible crimes involve marriage,
not society, yet the subtle change to force an “opera
to end happily” implies that Gay was not laughing
at Macheath’s womanizing, but at those who allow
criminals such as Macheath to escape justice for
crimes against society.
James N. Ortego IIJuStice in The Beggar’s Opera
The Beggar’s Opera begins with an aria that imposes
a moral judgment on the play to follow, yet from
beginning to end, none of the main characters
serves justice for their crimes. The Peachum gang
regularly escapes punishment from the laws they
break (although Macheath is incarcerated for a
short time), but with good reason: to satirize the
ineffectualness of 18th-century law enforcement
and the penetration of crime throughout Eng-
lish society. Gay’s satire suggests not only that
18th-century laws were widely broken and sel-
dom enforced, but also that the criminal element
included persons from all social classes, any of
whom might easily escape the law simply by bribing
officials. Justice in The Beggar’s Opera is essentially
nonexistent, and this is part of the play’s thematic
concern with crime and justice.
Soon after the play’s introductory aria, Peachum
and Filch discuss the forthcoming trial of Black
Moll, a common thief, who sardonically does not
suffer for her crimes but instead receives a pardon
via Peachum’s friendship with the prison officials at
Newgate. After Peachum instructs Filch to hasten
to Newgate to “let my friends know what I intend,”
Filch responds that “ ‘tis a pleasure to be the mes-
senger of comfort to friends in affliction” (l. 2). This
early dialogue between Peachum and Filch estab-
lishes Peachum as a manipulator who easily evades
the law and justice. Black Moll is by all accounts a
drain upon society; her crimes cost the citizens their
money and peace of mind, yet she, like every other