The Beggar's Opera

John Gay

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486408880
• eBook ISBN: 9780486153650
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

The great lords and powerful public officials of early 18th century England are represented as highwaymen and thieves in this deliciously satirical ballad opera. In addition to its burlesque of the contemporary vogue for Italian operatic styles, John Gay's 1728 masterpiece ridicules a broad spectrum of political figures and social conventions — marriage, lawyers, trade, and even Walpole, the prime minister. Depicting crime and vice at every level of society, The Beggar's Opera offers a witty and powerful indictment of greed, hypocrisy, and corruption in all social classes. When Peachum, a receiver of stolen goods, discovers that a notorious highwayman has eloped with his daughter, the wily old villain turns informer and collects the reward money as his prospective son-in-law is hauled off to prison. Events take an increasingly absurd turn as the dashing outlaw romances the jailer's daughter and effects an escape, only to return to the shadow of the gallows for a farcical climax that parodies the sentimental tragedy of the day.
The Beggar's Opera is in the satirical tradition of Swift and Pope. Its enduring relevance was recognized two centuries later by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, who used it as the basis for their landmark musical, The Threepenny Opera. This attractive, inexpensive edition of an influential comic gem will be applauded by theater lovers, students of literature and history, and other readers.

ACT III

Scene I

NEWGATE.

LOCKIT, LUCY.

LOCK. To be sure, wench, you must have been aiding and abetting to help him to this escape.

LUCY. Sir, here hath been Peachum and his daughter Polly, and to be sure they know the ways of Newgate as well as if they had been born and bred in the place all their lives. Why must all your suspicion light upon me?

LOCK. Lucy, Lucy, I will have none of these shuffling answers.

LUCY. Well then — if I know anything of him, I wish I may be burnt!

LOCK. Keep your temper, Lucy, or I shall pronounce you guilty.

LUCY. Keep yours, Sir. I do wish I may be burnt, I do. And what can I say more to convince you?

LOCK. Did he tip handsomely? How much did he come down with? Come, hussy, don’t cheat your father; and I shall not be angry with you. Perhaps, you have made a better bargain with him than I could have done. How much, my good girl?

LUCY. You know, Sir, I am fond of him, and would have given money to have kept him with me.

LOCK. Ah, Lucy! thy education might have put thee more upon thy guard; for a girl in the bar of an ale-house is always besieged.

LUCY. Dear Sir, mention not my education — for ’twas to that I owe my ruin.

AIR XLI — If love’s a sweet passion, etc.

When young at the bar you first taught me to score,
And bid me be free of my lips, and no more;
I was kiss’d by the parson, the squire, and the sot.
When the guest was departed, the kiss was forgot.
But his kiss was so sweet, and so closely he prest,
That I languish’d and pined till I granted the rest.

If you can forgive me, Sir, I will make a fair confession, for to be sure he hath been a most barbarous villain to me.

LOCK. And so you have let him escape, hussy — Have you?

LUCY. When a woman loves, a kind look, a tender word can persuade her to anything, and I could ask no other bribe.

LOCK. Thou wilt always be a vulgar slut, Lucy. If you would not be looked upon as a fool, you should never do anything but upon the foot of interest. Those that act otherwise are their own bubbles.

LUCY. But love, Sir, is a misfortune that may happen to the most discreet woman, and in love we are all fools alike. Notwithstanding all he swore, I am now fully convinced that Polly Peachum is actually his wife. Did I let him escape (fool that I was!) to go to her? Polly will wheedle herself into his money, and then Peachum will hang him, and cheat us both.

LOCK. So I am to be ruined, because, forsooth, you must be in love! — a very pretty excuse!

LUCY. I could murder that impudent happy strumpet — I gave him his life, and that creature enjoys the sweets of it. Ungrateful Macheath!

AIR XLII — South-sea Ballad.

My love is all madness and folly,

Alone I lie,

Toss, tumble, and cry,

What a happy creature is Polly!

Was e’er such a wretch as I!

With rage I redden like scarlet,

That my dear inconstant varlet,

Stark blind to my charms,

Is lost in the arms

Of that jilt, that inveigling harlot!

Stark blind to my charms,

Is lost in the arms

Of that jilt, that inveigling harlot!

This, this my resentment alarms.

LOCK. And so, after all this mischief, I must stay here to be entertained with your caterwauling, mistress Puss! Out of my sight, wanton strumpet! You shall fast and mortify yourself into reason, with now and then a little handsome discipline to bring you to your senses. Go.

Scene II

LOCKIT.

Peachum then intends to outwit me in this affair; but I’ll be even with him. The dog is leaky in his liquor, so I’ll ply him that way, get the secret from him, and turn this affair to my own advantage. Lions, wolves, and vultures don’t live together in herds, droves or flocks. Of all animals of prey, man is the only sociable one. Every one of us preys upon his neighbor, and yet we herd together. Peachum is my companion, my friend. According to the custom of the world, indeed, he may quote thousands of precedents for cheating me. And shall not I make use of the privilege of friendship to make him a return?

AIR XLIII — Packington’s Pound.

Thus gamesters united in friendship are found,
Though they know that their industry all is a cheat;
They flock to their prey at the dice-box’s sound,
And join to promote one another’s deceit.

But if by mishap

They fail of a chap,

To keep in their hands, they each other entrap.
Like pikes, lank with hunger, who miss of their ends,
They bite their companions, and prey on their friends.

Now, Peachum, you and I, like honest tradesmen, are to have a fair trial which of us two can over-reach the other. Lucy. [Enter LUCY.] Are there any of Peachum’s people now in the house?

LUCY. Filch, Sir, is drinking a quartern of strong waters in the next room with Black Moll.

LOCK. Bid him come to me.

Scene III

LOCKIT, FILCH.

LOCK. Why, boy, thou lookest as if thou wert half starved; like a shotten herring.

FILCH. One had need have the constitution of a horse to go through the business — Since the favorite child-getter was disabled by a mishap, I have picked up a little money by helping the ladies to a pregnancy against their being called down to sentence. But if a man cannot get an honest livelihood any easier way, I am sure, ’tis what I can’t undertake for another session.

LOCK. Truly, if that great man should tip off, ’twould be an irreparable loss. The vigor and prowess of a knight-errant never saved half the ladies in distress that he hath done. But, boy, canst thou tell me where thy master is to be found?

FILCH. At his lock, Sir, at the Crooked Billet.

LOCK. Very well. I have nothing more with you. [Exit FILCH.] I’ll go to him there, for I have many important affairs to settle with him; and in the way of those transactions, I’ll artfully get into his secret. So that Macheath shall not remain a day longer out of my clutches.

Scene IV

A GAMING-HOUSE.

MACHEATH in a fine tarnished coat, BEN BUDGE, MATT OF THE MINT.

MACH. I am sorry, gentlemen, the road was so barren of money. When my friends are in difficulties, I am always glad that my fortune can be serviceable to them. [Gives them money.] You see, gentlemen, I am not a mere court friend, who professes everything and will do nothing.

AIR XLIV — Lillibullero.

The modes of the court so common are grown,

That a true friend can hardly be met;

Friendship for interest is but a loan,

Which they let out for what they can get.

’Tis true, you find

Some friends so kind,

Who will give you good counsel themselves to defend.

In sorrowful ditty,

They promise, they pity,

But shift you, for money, from friend to friend.

Bu...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Note
• Dramatis Personæ
• INTRODUCTION - BEGGAR, PLAYER.
• ACT I
• ACT II
• ACT III
• DOVER • THRIFT • EDITIONS - PLAYS