| The play opens with Peachum, who converts goods
stolen by pickpockets and prostitutes |
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| of the underworld into "clean" merchandise able
to be sold back at a profit to the robbed |
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| public of the "upper world." Through his
wife he discovers that his daughter, Polly, is |
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| secretly married to a "business" connection,
the infamous ladies man and highway robber, |
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| Macheath. Both parents tell Polly to be
sensible and betray her husband for the reward |
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| before he betrays them. She instead reveals
to Macheath her parents' plan. After they |
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| pledge their undying love to each other, Macheath
escapes, vowing to return. |
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| Act II starts with a tavern scene in which Macheath
warns his gang about Peachum, but |
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| also counsels them against revenge, since Peachum
is the only way for them to get |
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| upperworld money for their underworld activities.
Though all the gang members pledge |
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| undying loyalty to him, Macheath is betrayed
by one of his favorite prostitutes, Jenny |
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| Diver, and sent to Newgate prison. There,
Lucy Lockit, the jailer's daughter and also |
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| one of Macheath's lady friends, confronts him
with her pregnancy and his marriage to |
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| Polly. To get out of her father's prison,
Macheath claims his marriage is a rumor. |
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| Later, with the two women facing each other and
himself, Macheath, through a mixture |
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| of well-time lies and sheer bluff, is able to
hold off Polly's assertions of marriage as well |
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| as to convince Lucy of his undying love for her,
and thus manage his second escape. |
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| In Act III Peachum and Lockit, two "business"
competitors, decide to work together to |
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| capture Macheath and get the reward. Lucy's
attempt to poison her rival, Polly, is |
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| interrupted by the appearance of Macheath, guarded
by Peachum and Lockit. After both |
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| women fail to gain Macheath's freedom from their
fathers, they pledge to die with him. |
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| When four more women arrive with their children
and claim Macheath as the father, he |
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| suddenly sees death as the most desirable means
of escape. At this moment, the Beggar |
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| of The Beggar's Opera tells his companion,
the Player, that he would have Macheath |
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| executed to ensure "poetic justice." The
Player reminds him that he is only a beggar |
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| and that the "taste of the town" demands a happy
ending. Reprieved and surrounded by |
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| women, Macheath declares Polly his "true" bride,
and all agree in song "the wretch of |
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| today may be happy tomorrow." |
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| John Gay parallels high and low life so that
it is hard to tell whether "the fine gentlemen |
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| imitate the gentlemen of the road, or the gentlemen
of the road imitate the fine |
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| gentlemen." Political practices of 18th
century England are echoed in Peachum's and |
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| Lockit's business dealings and their business
practices are no more honest than those of |
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| the highwaymen and the prostitutes. The
habits of the fine ladies are strangely similar |
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| to those of Macheath's women of the town who
imitate the fine ladies. And the love |
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| triangle of Macheath, Polly, and Lucy belongs
as much to high life as to low life. Gay's |
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| blend of satire and song in this England ballad
opera memorably begins a tradition of |
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| musical entertainments. |