Son of a Heath

I have had some difficulty understanding the character of Macheath, the dashing gentleman bastard of our play.  Although he is not exactly a hero--what does he do which can be considered "heroic" (besides get the girl(s))--he is a farce of the gallant Rinaldo-type characters depicted in war-shattered romances of Italian opera.  I thought this meant he was simply a crook dressed in noble morals and fond of civil philosophy; yet the farce continues when we view the hero as a lover.

Heroes are meant to profess their eternal love to one other soul and often die for their monogamous affair.  Other women may love him, but the man is always true, as befits any honorable person.  Macheath the virtuous gang leader, however, has made such a pledge multiple times and consents to death in order to escape his less than tragic relationships: "What--four wives more! This is too much.  --Here-- tell the Sheriff's officers I am ready" (81).  Compare this to his otherwise gentlemanly personality and his character seems at odds with itself.  Professor Cervantes offered "living in the moment" as a reason for his multiple matrimony issues, but the "moment" becomes a very confused one when Macheath is stuck in the same room with Lucy and Polly both.  "How happy could I be with either," he sings, "Where t'other dear charmer away.  But while you thus tease me together, To neither a word will I say". . . and then decides to flatter Lucy, as she is the more advantageous partner (53).  He can love deeply in the moment, unless said moment is awkward.

Not until I read the back cover of the Regents Restoration Drama edition did I begin to comprehend.  Macheath is "so devoted to matrimony that he has two or three wives already."  Not only is he a farce on the hero, but a farce upon the lover.  Just like Mr and "Mrs" Peachum, Macheath has a warped understanding of love.  For them, it is a foolish notion which leads only to mistakes.  For Macheath, it is an emotion to be shared freely among numerous lovers.  And what do these women expect but marriage pledges?  He is more than happy to comply. 

Perhaps among the upper class, love seems like a wasted thing; a luxury and a vice.  For the Peachums, it is a costly luxury which their daughter cannot yet afford.  For Macheath, a vice which lands him in prison just as easily as robbery, although with quicker results.  Polly (the idealistic maybe-wife) and Lucy (the jilted mistress) may love in earnest, but it certainly doesn't work out for them.  Love, like avarice, is held up for deeper consideration.

Breaking The Wall

The Beggar's Opera ends with a direct message from the playwright to the audience, essentially breaking the fourth wall. The comical message to the audience is simply that, although logically and morally this play should have a sad ending, because of the rules of opera, it must end happily. Thus the consequences of the characters' actions are rendered moot and all is resolved well. This is notable for several reasons.

1. It breaks the fourth wall, which is incredibly unconventional and forward-thinking.

2. It is yet another bizarre twist on story and style. The Beggar's Opera is already notable for flipping expectations on their heads by casting beggars and thieves as protagonists in an opera, but here we literally have the minds behind the play addressing the fact that they are inverting expectation—thereby letting the audience in on the joke.

3. Realistically, in this case, the audience would be the joke themselves. Since the primary characters of the play are stand-ins for upper-class citizens rather than lower-class, Macheath's exoneration only further reinforces the idea that the rich get off scott-free while the lower class does not. In this manner, John Gay is shoving the upper class's hypocrisy in their own faces while simultaneously getting them to laugh at it.