Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Beggar's Opera: A Unique Masterpiece

The Beggars Opera is a very refreshing read since it is so different from the rest of the plays assigned to us this semester. Thanks to the footnotes and some research I have learned that this play satirizes higher class citizens as well as the Italian Opera. However, it is very interesting to note the difference between the rich and poor because this unfair treatment is still evident today. In this play, the people like Macheath who were thrown into jail, and could pay to live some what comfortable within their jail-cell could do so at a certain price:


Lockit: Look, ye, Captain, we know what is fittest for our prisoners. When a gentleman uses me with civility, I always do the best I can do to please him. – Hand them down, I say. – We have them of all prices, from one guinea to ten, and ‘tis fitting every gentleman should please him-self"


Because Macheath can afford the ten guinea, he is awarded the best and most comfortable chains that “sit as easy as a glove, and the nicest man in England might not be ashamed to wear them” (825). By poking fun of the unfair treatment between social classes in his play, Gay attacks the judicial system in a very effective way. It does not matter if some of the examples of punishment are extreme when compared to modern day judicial punishments; The Beggar's Opera is just enjoyable to read, or watch in performance, now as it ever was because the basic point of the play is a facet of human behavior that will always be with us, and it is summed up beautifully by the beggar at final lines of the play: But think of this Maxim, and put off your Sorrow, The Wretch of To-day, may be happy To-morrow. (846)

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