The Beggar’s Opera 483criminal in the play, escapes punishment. The world
of the Peachums and the Black Molls is corrupt and
unjust, but their corruption permeates all of society.
Peachum’s ability to free Black Moll derives from his
symbiotic relationship with the guards at Newgate,
for as long as criminals such as Peachum and his
gang control the prison officials, society will not see
justice served. The Beggar’s Opera satirizes the inef-
fectiveness of justice, which is a thematic concern
that seems ironic when spectators remember that a
criminal during Gay’s time could face hanging for
more than 500 offenses.
Not even the threat of hanging can deter Pea-
chum’s gang, who in act 2 discuss their various mis-
deeds, but in a manner that satirizes 18th-century
English society and its inability to dole out justice to
the criminal element. Beginning with the rhetorical
question, “Why are the laws levelled at us?” Crook-
fingered Jack and his companions satirically validate
their crimes by comparing themselves to the nobil-
ity, who, according to the gang, are no better than
common criminals. After reaffirming that each gang
member would die for his friends and keep their
secrets safe, Matt of the Mint says, “Show me a gang
of courtiers that can say as much,” a response that
suggests that the nobility of Gay’s England does not
have the same “decency” as the common criminal.
Gay implies through Matt of the Mint’s sarcasm
that class is the only distinction among thieves;
while theft was certainly forbidden by 18th-century
laws, the play’s thematic concern with justice sug-
gests that only the poor suffer from the laws, yet
the play punishes no one. When Jemmy Twitcher
wonders, “Are we more dishonest than the rest of
mankind?” spectators must silently answer “no” and
muse about a society that attempts to punish its
lower-class criminals but ignores similar offenses
among the nobility.
While the play features characters who consis-
tently worry about escaping the law, no one except
Macheath suffers any punishment that may be
considered “just,” and that for only a short period of
time. Once Peachum realizes that Macheath’s mar-
riage threatens the Peachum gang, Peachum frames
Macheath and has him imprisoned, but Polly man-
ages to help Macheath escape from prison in much
the same manner that her father helps Black Moll
escape the law. Ironically, Peachum has trained his
daughter too well, for she thwarts his attempts to
ruin Macheath and “aid[s] him in his escape,” yet
neither Polly, Peachum, nor Macheath suffer justice
for their crimes.
Before Macheath is led away to be hung, the
Beggar and the Player interrupt and free Macheath
“to comply with the taste of the town.” This final
allusion to an inadequate justice system marks for
Gay a concluding commentary that demonstrates
that not only do criminals mock the courts and their
officials, but such instances also are commonplace
among all members of society. The upper, middle,
and lower classes all suffer the pangs of injustice, and
in the end, only the audience is laughing.
James N. Ortego IIlove in The Beggar’s Opera
The Beggar’s Opera owes its resounding success in
part to the play’s thematic concerns with love and
marriage. Polly, the oft-simplistic daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Peachum, finds herself at the center of a
love triangle involving herself, Macheath, and Lucy,
a prostitute. Additional problems arise for the young
lovers when Polly’s parents decidedly forbid her to
marry Macheath. Polly’s conflict stems from her
filial duty to her parents and her love for Macheath,
but her arguments that dismiss “honor or money”
in favor of “love for him” fall on the deaf ears of her
father, Peachum. Polly wants simply to become like
the “gentle town ladies” she admires, but her mar-
riage would cause her parents great financial loss.
Early 18th-century women who married became
literally the property of their husbands, which is
what the Peachums fear might happen to Polly. Her
entreaties to her parents (often expressed in song)
for a union with Macheath frequently elicit from
her father threats of violence and misery, which in
turn prompt Polly to pursue Macheath in secret.
Polly and Macheath determine that—for his own
safety—“we must part” until she can devise some
way to convince Peachum that marriage would best
suit her interests. The two lovers then part with a
kiss and a song as the play’s focus then shifts to the
criminal lifestyle of the Peachums.
Macheath, upon his departure from Polly, visits a
group of his fellow criminals to discuss the hazards