Kendra Mullison - John Brown University

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Mullison 6For Macheath, a fondness for women goes hand-in-hand with a love for money, and his claimthat “a man who loves money might be as well contented with one guinea as I with one woman”is emblematic of his amorous—and exploitative—lifestyle (435). Just like Peachum, Macheath‟sgreed manifests in his objectification of women, and both men treat them as tradablecommodities, pleasures able to be bought or gained through sham marriages. In essence, Gay‟sliberal application of greed as a universal vice levels all individuals of every social stratum, maleand female, rich and poor.Despite an excessive number of character defects, however, Macheath is portrayed withsympathy and feeling. His personality is undeniably dissolute, decadent, and immoral; however,it is his very humanity, manifested in and through his vices, that lends him such interest as acharacter. With Macheath, more than with any other character in The Beggar’s Opera, Gayachieves a fine balance between depravity and nobility. Even his fellow thief, Matt of the Mint,affirms Macheath‟s courage, claiming that “[his fellows had] all been witnesses of it” (434);Macheath himself claims to have been free from “the least marks of avarice or injustice” in thehandling of their affairs (434). Even the irascible Mrs. Peachum, along with all of the women ofMacheath‟s acquaintance, is inclined to find him “cheerful and agreeable” (421), without a rivalin the superficial appearance of gentlemanly behavior. That he is a highwayman is, without adoubt, essential to his character, yet Macheath is not defined by his career any more than Lockitand Peachum are defined by theirs. He is, at the very core, a man—a man who appeals to thehuman sensibility and love of fellowship. One might even say that Macheath is the prototypicalman, embodying every characteristic that society considers fundamental to human nature.According to Yvonne Noble, such an excess of “vigor and good nature does Gay give his rustics,or Londoners, that in [Macheath] the literary measurement becomes reciprocal: it begins to
Mullison 7dignify the characters” (2). Because of Gay distinguishes his characters from the common mobby paying attention to the minutiae of human existence. Because of “his interest in their customsand the small details of their worlds,” the burlesque Opera becomes a “celebration” of a flawedhumanity (2). Macheath doesn‟t fit neatly into any stereotype or class structure, and the richnessand complexity of his personality lends, rather than detracts, from his general appeal. CliffordGeertz writes that he becomes “a cultural figure against a social ground [ . . . ] an expressiveform [ . . . that ] provides a metasocial commentary upon the whole matter of assorting humanbeings into fixed hierarchical ranks” (qtd. in Dugaw 19). Macheath‟s ability to transcend socialboundaries—even those demarcations defined by John Gay himself—challenges the reader‟sdependency on stereotypes to frame and understand his character. Gay intentionally defiesexplanation, and summons his readers to pay closer attention to the conflicts of interest thatcharacterize human behavior throughout all time, and in every station of life.In The Beggar’s Opera, Gay does not shy away from targeting and reevaluating thefunction of individuals from every social class, and his treatment of women is no exception. Hedoes not attempt to restrict women to the classic model of obedient, dutiful, and demuredaughters and wives. Instead, he presents his readers with a new class of woman in theemancipated, self-driven, and self-aware Polly Peachum. It is Polly who provides the exceptionto almost every eighteenth-century standard imposed upon women in her circumstances. In themidst of a culture that objectifies women, Polly stands out as a striking example of the selfactualizedwoman. She marries Macheath against the will of her parents, defies them when theychallenge her choice, faces her husband‟s many former lovers with dignity, and is eventuallyrewarded for her perseverance by the liberation of and her reunification with her rakish-yet-
Page 1 and 2: Mullison 1The Common Folk: The Demo
Page 3 and 4: Mullison 3implicit comparisons betw
Page 5: Mullison 5Gay spares no class; his
Page 9: Mullison 9which Gay seeks to transc

Kendra Mullison - John Brown University

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