John Gays '' The Beggars Opera'

At the turn of the eighteenth century, London’s society was divided between extreme levels of wealth, and extreme levels of poverty. With the poverty came a substantial increase of crime which was poorly policed as the officials tended to be as corrupt as the accused.
In 1706, the act of receiving stolen goods was made into a capital offence. This act, encouraged criminals to inform on their friends and accomplices. Their reward if a conviction was made? A pardon for their own crimes, and forty pounds. The idea of this act, was to try to destroy the gangs from within.
This is the world in which John Gays’ “The Beggars Opera” was created. A world where every person lived under a different or multiple guises in order to survive. There

Mr. Peachum is a man of reasonable wealth and resource who, through his connections with law enforcement is able to determine who is to be imprisoned, pardoned or executed. He is also the leader or mastermind behind a gang of criminals and acts as a fence; that is he sells stolen property. The act of 1706 regarding stolen goods has made the Peachums a wealthy couple, as he acts as the middle man – receiving the stolen goods, and then selling them on. The gang members, or subordinates rely on Peachum to keep them out of prison. If caught, he can organize a quick release, or Peachum is able to mark them for execution, earning forty pounds reward for the effort. Basically, Peachum decides their fate based on financial reasoning. If they have been good to him, then he will organize their release. If not, the forty pounds for their hanging goes straight into Peachums pockets. Naturally people would feel revulsion towards any man who holds this power, and wields it to suit himself, but we can also see things from a practical business point of view. “A lawyer is an honest employment, so is mine. Like me too he acts in a double capacity, both against rogues and for ‘em; for ‘tis fitting that we should protect and encourage cheats, since we live by them”. (p43). He believes that his own position as no different to that of a lawyer who would defend or prosecute a criminal. As long as there is profit to be made, Peachum will

He has obviously had relations with this woman, and Lucy has discovered that he is married, a claim that Macheath rigorously denies. He believes that by denying the marriage, Lucy may be able to talk her father into releasing him. Even when Polly arrives at the prison to see him Macheath continues the denial, knowing that he may die if the truth was exposed at this stage. This shows the gentleman and loving husband to be quick to lie in order to save his own neck, and again offering another perspective on his character. Even Lucy’s father Lockit (the jailer), a man that would have been the most reviled character in the story, shows business astuteness in reproaching his daughter helping Macheath to escape, without any financial