At various points in Act II of Beggar's Opera, we see criminals discussing with each other the nature of their trade and defending its legitimacy. Identify one of these moments and discuss the nature of the satire that is in play.
Deadline: Wednesday (10/28), start of class.
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Macheath defends the nature of his trade--women--on page 2737. "I must have women. There is nothing unbends the mind like them. Money is not so strong a cordial for the time." Macheath defends his love for the female sex by saying that it relaxes him, and that money could not calm him the way that women do. He says in the song above that women raise his spirits like no other thing in his life, and that it is his necessary joy that he must have.
In the beginning of Act II Jemmy asks, "Why are the laws leveled at us? Are we more dishonest than the rest of mankind?" He concludes by saying "What we win, gentlemen, is our own by the law of arms, and the right of conquest" (2735). Jemmy believes that all things earned at the expense of others constitute robbery. Thus the rich, who necessarily exploit (or steal) the labor of the poor, are thieves in their own right. Matt echoes this sentiment by calling the rich and powerful "the robbers of mankind" (2735). Of course Jemmy and his gang are on the wrong side of the law because they oppose the rich, the artificers of those laws. The satire here condemns the British aristocracy and the imperialism that supports it, suggesting that if the rich colonialists have the right to profit from the "conquest" of the defenseless, highwaymen should possess that same right. To put it simply, if the rich can steal from the poor, the poor should be able to steal from the rich. The fact that this is rarely the case is, perhaps, an all too familiar irony of history.
In Act 2 Scene 1, one of the robbers, Matt, defends the innocence of his kind as only securing that which is something otherwise unattainable and also adds greatness to life. He says," A covetous fellow, like a jackdaw, steals what he was never made to enjoy, for the sake of hiding it (Longman 2735)." While the pickpockets are "covetous" they are only covetous of the things they were born to stay away from in their state of poverty and are stealing their desirable objects to hide them away. They see stealing as a way of defying the system in a self righteous intelligent way and are justified by their smartness in coveting such objects as others, like the wealthy people, don't care to.
In Scene 2 the conversation between Matt and Macheath paint a picture that depicts their gang, despite being a group of robbers and thieves, as any normal gathering of individuals who are formed with moral upbringing.
Moments in the conversation where Macheath asks of his "honor and truth to the gang" or him showing "the least marks of avarice and injustice" all point towards an odd conversation between criminals (2735). It's anticipated that since they are criminals their language and behaviors should seem less refined yet they continually use modifiers such as gentlemen, Sir, or other terms classifying them running a "business."
All of this vocabulary and terminology paint an image of the criminals being a much more legitimate and respectable group -- highlighting satire on moral dilemmas in the best way possible.
Macheath speaks to the group of robbers about the necessity to keep the irksome Mr. Peachum around. "Business can not go without him. He is a man who knows the world, and is a necessary agent to us" (Longman 2736).
Even though the language resembles a gentry manner, the robber Matt the Mint compares the need for Mr. Peachum "as a bawd [pimp] to a whore". Juxtaposing well mannerism with the occupation of ill repute.
The satire of the play resembles the conduct of the thievery. The good manners one displays in discussing or executing murder, robbery, and murder are as rudamentary to daily life as a highier class profession. Embodying the notion of another day, another dollar.
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