One important premise of John Gay’s dramatic work The Beggar’s Opera is that upper and lower social classes are, after all, equal in their logic and actions. Society, however, creates other beliefs. It defines citizens of the upper class as lawful, righteous, and deserving, while the “whores and rogues” that inhabit the lower social spheres are just the opposite. Such a premise is presented to the reader before we even receive dialogue, as Act I opens with the insights of an “old woman clothed in grey.” She sings:
Through all the employments of life
Each neighbour abuses his brother;
Whore and rogue they call husband and wife:
All professions be-rogue one another.
The priest calls the lawyer a cheat,
The lawyer be-knaves the divine;
And the statesman, because he’s so great,
Thinks his trade as honest as mine.
In other words, all men from priest to professional theif equally “abuse” and “be-rogue one another.” And while the tiers of the upper and lower classes are, ultimately, a human creation, the tendency to cheat one another, or, as Peachum explains it, to “act in a double capacity, both against rogues and for ‘em” is human nature and is therefore found in every employment from the lawyer to the highwayman.
Equality of Men and Women
It seems as if Gay has weaved the text with a kind of parallelism that equates the male gender with the upper class and the female with the lower. Just as the lower class “rogues” are hanged for committing crimes similar in nature to that of the ever-innocent lawyer, the women of the play act in the same manner as the men, yet are punished with titles such as “whore” “hussy” and “slut.”
If the actions and occupations of lower class citizens are equal in nature to that of the upper class, yet viewed by society as unlawful or wrong, then is this also representative in the relationship between male and female? Does the play inadvertently suggest that, in the absence of society, men and women are equal in aspects pertaining to sexual aggression or survival?
Gay does illustrate an equality between genders, but differences between male and female are defined only through a patriarchal societal construct. Act II exemplifies a way in which the formalities of the play work to support the notion of gender equality.
Scenes I and II take place at a “tavern near Newgate,” and features all the male “gamesters” “rogues” and “thieves” of the play. In the scenes that follow we then move to a locale where all the lower class “prostitutes” reside. It seems that here, in a strictly formal sense, Gay has aligned the lower class male with the lower class female by allotting them both consecutive scenes.
Referring to the importance of Peachum to the continual success of their industry, Matt of the Mint metaphorically states that, “As a bawd to a whore, I grant you, he is to us of great convenience” (71). Hence, here a comparison is drawn that equates the industry of thievery to that of prostitution.
Although the reader may not necessarily be persuaded that it is Matt of the Mint’s own realization that his line of duty is equivalent to that of a prostitute’s (he gives over his earnings to Peachum just as a prostitute does to her bawd), it seems as though this is Gay’s nonchalant way of saying that the whore and the thief are as analogous in their actions as the thief is to the Statesman.
Human Nature: Both For and Against
The play sets out to illustrate a dynamic of human nature: that regardless of class, the occupation of all men is a kind of hypocritical exchange, or, as Peachum says, “both against rogues and for ‘em” (43). But Gay also demonstrates this dynamic as it pertains to gender, as throughout the play men and women are both “for and against” each other; neither is treated as the lesser in the equation.
For example, in Act II, Scene III, Macheath proclaims that, “the town perhaps hath been as much obliged to me, for recruiting it with free-hearted ladies…” (72). In other words Macheath acts “for” Polly, Lucy, and countless other ladies by falsely proclaiming his love for them. He then proudly acts “against” them, abandoning and driving them into the ruin of prostitution. Equal to this, however, is Mrs. Vixen’s statement that she “has sent two to three dozen… [men] to the plantations,” (through prostitution, she has conned men out of all their money) (77). Here we see not a weakness in the female gender, but an equality of action; a kind of empowerment even.
Gay not only illustrates the idea that, without society’s influence, the upper and lower classes are equal, but that the sexes are as well. Such a perspective is important to feminism and queer theory, and builds upon Gay’s already insightful commentary on human nature.
References:
Gay, John. The Beggar's Opera. Longon: Penguin Books, 1986.
Ana Hartman - Ana Hartman is an adjunct writing instructor and freelance writer living in Philadelphia. She earned her MA in English & Creative Writing ...
