The Threepenny Opera by Bertotlt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg on 10 February 1898, and died in Berlin on 14 August 1956. He grew to
maturity as a playwright in the frenetic years of the twenties and early thirties, with such plays as Man equals
Man, The Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny and The Mother. He left Germany when Hitler came to power in
1933, eventually reaching the United States in 1941, where he remained until 1947. It was during this period of
exile that such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Puntila
were written. Shortly after his return to Europe in 1947 he founded the Berliner Ensemble, and from then until
his death was mainly occupied in producing his own plays.

What is an Opera? : The English word opera is an abbreviation of the Italian phrase opera in musica (“work
in music”). It denotes a theatrical work consisting of a dramatic text, or libretto (“booklet”), that has been set to
music and staged with scenery, costumes, and movement. Aside from solo, ensemble, and choral singers
onstage and a group of instrumentalists playing offstage, the performers of opera since its inception have often
included dancers. A complex, often costly variety of musico-dramatic entertainment, opera has attracted both
supporters and detractors throughout its history and has sometimes been the target of intense criticism.

An opera is composed of four essential elements: the text (‘libretto’) and the music, the singing and the staging.
The libretto is the ‘script’ of an opera. It can be an original creation, sometimes written by famous poets or
novelists, but often is an adaptation of plays, tales or novels. The subjects developed in libretti are various:
forbidden love, infidelity, revenge, craving for power, war, ancient myths or historic events.

All human passions are represented in opera. Love, Tragedy and Death are often at the heart of the plot. The
characters, sometimes torn between their feelings and their duty, are confronted with extraordinary situations
and are carried away by their heightened feelings. Love at first sight, sacrifice, enchantment, courage, suicide or
murder: all extremes can happen. Some characters are punished for their crimes, other find redemption or are
stricken with remorse and sometimes there is a happy ending.

First staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin), The Threepenny Opera was Brecht’s first
and most outstanding success. Based on John Gay’s eighteenth-century Beggar’s Opera, the play is a satire on
the capitalist bourgeois society of the Weimar Republic despite its setting in a mock-Victorian Soho. With Kurt
Weill’s music, which was one of the earliest and most successful attempts to introduce the jazz idiom into the
theatre, it became a popular hit throughout the western world. Filmed three times, it remains one of Brecht’s
best loved and most performed plays.
Characters

MACHEATH, called Mac the Knife

JONATHAN JEREMIAH PEACHUM, proprietor of the Beggar’s Friend Ltd

CELIA PEACHUM, his wife

POLLY PEACHUM, his daughter

BROWN, High Sheriff of London

LUCY, his daughter

LOW-DIVE JENNY

SMITH

THE REVEREND KIMBALL

FILCH

A BALLAD SINGER

THE GANG

Beggars

Whores

Constables

Prologue

The prologue is the "Ballad of Mac the Knife", a song that is harsh and grating to listen to in the German. It is
sung while beggars, prostitues and thieves are all enjoying a fair in Soho. The ballad describes many of the
things that Macheath, known as Mac the Knife, has done. He is compared to a shark with sharp teeth, but
unlike a shark he keeps his weapons hidden. Mac the Knife always wears fancy "white kid gloves" in spite of
the atrocious crimes he has committed. The song indicates that Macheath is to blame for killing many men,
stealing cash boxes, murdering a prostitute, setting a fire in Soho that killed seven children, and raping a young
bride. At the end of the song the whores laugh and a man steps out of their group. As he walks away, Low-Dive
Jenny cries out that that was Mac the Knife.
The introduction of Mac the Knife immediately sets him up in contradictory terms. He is represented as a shark
with bloody fins and hidden teeth, but at the same time he is described in terms of "white kid gloves". These
white gloves, signs of pure hands, serve as a symbol of bourgeois society. Brecht is basically saying that
Macheath covers his crimes by pretending to be bourgeois. Alternatively, this can also be interpreted as
implying that bourgeois society commits the crimes and then pretends that nothing ever happened. Note that
Macheath does not deny his crimes; instead, he acts as if nothing is wrong.

Act one

Scene 1 : Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum has created an establishment called The Beggar’s Friend—it is a shop
where the poor can by clothes and accessories to give them an “appearance that will touch the stoniest of
hearts.” As Peachum opens up shop for the day, he addresses the audience and tells them that his business is a
hard one. The business of “trying to arouse human pity” is difficult because of humanity’s capacity to “make
themselves heartless at will” when exposed so constantly to their fellow man’s hardships.

To hammer home Peachum’s point, a large piece of cardboard is lowered down onto the stage. Upon it is
written the phrase “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Peachum laments that it’s harder and harder for
beggars to think up “stirring sayings” to paint on their signs when there are only “four or five” Biblical phrases
that can really touch the heart. Beggars always have to be coming up with something new to get through to
people.

Someone knocks on the door. Peachum opens it, and a young man called Filch enters. He delivers a sob story
about having been neglected by his drunkard mother and gambler father in childhood, forced to fend for himself
all his life. As his speech goes on, Peachum starts finishing the man’s sentences for him. Peachum asks if Filch
ever gives this speech in public. Filch says that just yesterday, on Highland Street, he had a “nasty little
incident” while reciting it. Peachum chastises Filch for begging in such a spot. He warns Filch that if he’s is
seen there again, he’ll “have to use the saw” on him. Without a license—which is only granted to
“professionals”—Filch will have to watch where he begs.

Peachum points to a large map of London in the corner of the shop and explains that the city is divvied up into
14 districts—without a license from Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum and Company, no one can work the “begging-
trade” in any of them. Filch offers Peachum two shillings in exchange for a license, but Peachum demands one
pound. When Filch protests, Peachum points to another cardboard sign bearing the trite phrase “Give and it
shall be given unto you.”

Filch offers Peachum ten shillings. Peachum demands that plus a percentage of Filch’s weekly earnings. Finch
agrees. Peachum calls for his wife, then urges Filch to get started right away, before the Queen’s coronation. He
pulls back a curtain revealing several shabby outfits designed to induce the “unnatural state of mind in which a
man is actually willing to give money away.” Peachum describes the outfits one by one, then assigns Filch
Outfit C: “Victim of the Industrial Boom. The Pitiable Blind.” When Filch himself displays empathy for the
blind, however, Peachum changes his mind and assigns Filch Outfit D. He hands the clothes over to Filch, who
balks at putting them on as they’re “rather dirty.”
As Filch gives in and changes behind a screen, Peachum works to add stains to another outfit in the lineup. He
asks his wife, who has come downstairs, where their daughter Polly is—and whether she’s with the suitor who
only comes by when Peachum is out. Mrs. Peachum defends the gentleman, whom she refers to as “the
Captain,” and his interest in Polly. Peachum rails against the idea of Polly—who is “nothing but a mass of
sensuality”—marrying. Peachum sees marriage as a “disgusting business.”

Mrs. Peachum insists that the Captain is a perfect gentlemen who always wears immaculate white
gloves. Peachum asks if the man carries a stick with an ivory handle, wears spats, and has a scar. Mrs. Peachum
asks how her husband knows all this, but before he can answer, Filch comes out from behind the screen,
thanking Peachum for the clothes. Peachum tells him to get out on the streets and start begging—the days
before the coronation are lucrative and not to be wasted. As soon as Filch is out the door, Peachum tells his wife
that the man she’s describing is none other than Macheath. They checks Polly's room and discovers that she
never came home the previous night. They just hope that she would be with another suitor.

Mr. and Mrs. Peachum step in front of the stage and sing the song "No They Can't". It is a song about the fact
that children cannot see what is good for them. Instead, the children fall in love and want to have fun. When the
children fall in love and choose fun they eventually end up in "shit".

Scene- 2: In the heart of Soho, Macheath and his gang have taken over a stable. Polly enters in a wedding dress
and complains about the fact that it is stable rather than a fine building. One of Mac's gang, Matthew, tells Mac
that this is the most daring "job" he has ever pulled, referring to the fact that Mac has stolen Polly from her
parents. Polly complains again about the fact that are going to get married in a stable; she is further upset about
the fact that Mac does not own the place.
Mac tells her that she will have everything she needs. A van pulls up outside the stable and the gang enters with
lots of furniture, dishes and carpets. They transform the room and congratulate Polly and Mac on the pending
marriage even while they describe the people they had to kill in order to steal the stuff. Mac insults them all,
calling them cannibals for having killed people in order to get the stuff. Polly bursts into tears over the fact that
people had to die in order to make her wedding pleasant. Mac meanwhile complains that the stuff is junk and
that there are no chairs.

Polly, realizing that the gang has tried to make everything nice, starts to defend them from Mac's insults. They
cut off the legs of harpsichord to turn it into a bench. While the men go to change into more formal wear, Polly
worries what will happen if the Sheriff walks in and arrests them all since all the goods have been stolen. Mac
tells her not to worry. The men return wearing fashionable evening dress, but their movements are not in
keeping with it.

Matthew then congratulates the couple on behalf of the entire gang. He makes a sexual joke at the end and Mac
knocks him to the floor, telling him to watch his language. Matthew gets angry and reveals that Lucy told him
some of the filthy things Mac used to say to her. Mac only stares at him, causing the other men to quickly pull
him away. They give the couple some presents, including a large grandfather clock. After the presents, they sit
down to eat.
Mac yells at them for starting to eat before providing any sort of entertainment. He asks them to sing a song, but
they refuse. One of them inadvertantly mentions Lucy again, causing Polly to ask Mac who Lucy is. The other
men quickly avoid the topic and Mac orders one of them to guard the door. The man soon returns claiming the
cops are there, but it is Reverend Kimball instead.

Mac makes the men sing a song and they do, but it is a song about a couple who get married without knowing
who they are marrying and then the wife sleeps around. The men sing without much enthusiasm and Mac yells
at them when it is over. Polly then comes forward and performs the "Pirate Jenny" song, a song about a wash-
girl who is ignored by society. One day pirates arrive and take over the town. Jenny is placed in command and
she orders the pirates to kill everyone.

Mac calls the song art but is not thrilled with Polly acting in front of the men. The Sheriff arrives, a man
named Tiger Brown, causing the men to hide. Mac greets him like an old friend and introduces all of his men
to Brown. They are frightened, having been to jail before in their lives, and are unsure of whether to trust
Brown. Mac explains that he and Tiger Brown served in India together and have remained good friends ever
since, with Mac giving Brown a kickback on whatever he steals. The two friends sing a "Cannon Song" about
the war and then Tiger Brown says that he must get back to work in order to prepare for the Queen's
Coronation.
The gang has one final surprise for Polly and Mac, a full bed that they have concealed in the room behind a
carpet wall-hanging. The men leave after Mac thanks them and he and Polly start to sentimentalize. However,
instead of being sentimental, their words imply that they are not legally wed, everything was stolen, and their
love may or may not endure.

Scene-3: Polly returns home and is greeted by her very irate parents. Mr. Peachum remarks that after having
paid a fortune to raise her, she threw herself away into the garbage. Polly sings a song in an effort to explain
why she married Macheath. She talks about all her former "nice" suitors whom she turned down when they
proposed marriage. However, when Macheath came along she did not know what to say so she said yes instead
and married him. Peachum sarcastically comments that his daughter is now associating with criminals.
Mrs. Peachum calls for some wine and faints, but Polly happily goes and gets her the bottle. Peachum berates
his daughter before turning back to business after five beggars walk in. He looks over the five men and helps
the first four, but fires the fifth one for eating too much.

Polly meanwhile is rationalizing her decision to marry Macheath. She says she looked over his books and thinks
that after a few successful "ventures" she will be able to retire with him to a country house. Peachum tells her
that she should do what normal people who get married do, namely get divorced. When Polly argues she is in
love, Mrs. Peachum states that Macheath has several other women who can claim to be his wife. She mentions
hanging him, and after Polly leaves Peachum realizes that he can get Macheath hanged plus earn a good bounty
in the process.

Mrs. Peachum says that she can take care of catching Macheath. She explains that he frequents a brothel and
that she can bribe the women there to turn him in when he shows up again. Polly has listened in on the
conversation and re-enters the room to tell her mother not to waste her time. She then explains that Mac
and Tiger Brown are good friends. Peachum decides to take on Macheath and get him hanged. He sends Mrs.
Peachum to the brothel while he and Polly go to see Tiger Brown. The scene ends with all three of them singing
a song about the insecurity of the human condition. It discusses the fact that peoples' rights are not secure and
that people are mostly poor.

Act 2
Scene 4: Polly arrives at the stable where Mac is currently living and tells him that he must leave immediately.
She says that her father threatened Brown and forced him to issue an arrest warrent for Mac. Mac does not
believe her until she produces the list of charges they have against him; it is a very long list with everything
from murder to arson to underage sex. Macheath agrees that he should flee and tells her to take over the
business for him. She tries to be sentimental but he brusquely interrupts her and shows her the account ledgers.
Mac then reads off a list of his men and tells her which ones to promote and which ones to send to jail.

He informs Polly that he is planning on switching into banking soon since it is safer and more reliable. He plans
to turn the entire gang over to Tiger Brown once he does not need them anymore. Polly asks him how he can
look his men in the eye and still plan on hanging them, but they walk in before he can complete his answer. Mac
immediately acts friendly towards them. He tells them to go ahead and work without him during the
Coronation. He lastly puts Polly in charge of the business.
Polly tries to take charge, but Matthew is reluctant to work for a woman. She turns on him and screams that if
he ever says anything against her she will have the other men rip him to shreds. The other men applaud her.
Mac then berates Matthew for drinking too much. He asks Matthew who set the Children's Hospital on fire in
the last week (alluding to the seven dead children mentioned in the prologue). Matthew at first takes credit, but
the other men all credit Macheath with the crime, thereby forcing Matthew to agree with them.
After the gang leaves Polly and Mac remain alone. Polly pleads with Mac to leave immediately and not to look
at any other women while he is away. She is desperate to have him stay with her and laments the short time they
have been together. Polly tells Mac that she had a dream in which she way the moon and it looked like "a worn-
down penny". Mac promises not to forget her and leaves. Polly then comments that he will never return and
sings a song about losing her lover.

Interlude: Mrs. Peachum and Jenny are together. She has convinced Jenny to turn Mac the Knife in to the
police for ten shillings. When Jenny argues that Mac will not show up if he is being hunted by the police, Mrs.
Peachum sings the "Ballad of Sexual Obsession". She describes that some men cannot control their urges and
must go to prostitutes to satisfy themselves.

This interlude is actually quite biographical. Brecht was usually unable to control his own sexual urges, having
several mistresses at one time and also experimenting in bisexuality. The song was not sung in the original
performance because the actress refused to perform it, but it does serve to foreshadow the fact that Mac the
Knife will inevitably go to the whores. It also lends a new symbolism to the nickname Mac the "Knife", which
now receives a sexual meaning, referring to the number of women Mac has had sex with.

Scene 5: A member of Mac's gang named Jake is in a brothel where he is telling the women that Mac the Knife
would not be foolish enough to show up. No sooner has he made this claim than Mac walks in and surprises
them all. Jake asks him why he is not in Highgate, running away, and Mac replies that it is Thursday and he will
not let his problems interfer with his habits.
Jenny takes his palm and starts to read it. She warns him that someone with a name starting with a J will betray
him. Mac laughs and tells her she is wrong, that the letter must instead be a P. Mac then diverts the conversation
to discussing the whore's underwear, during which Jenny slips outside. Mac then starts to tell them all about his
previous history with Jenny. He sings a song about his life with her called the "Ballad of Immoral Earnings".
Mac describes how he used to live with Jenny and pimp her out to other men, but he describes the life
nostalgically.
Jenny has meanwhile gotten Constable Smith and Mrs. Peachum and brought them to arrest Mac. She takes up
the song and sings about how Mac would beat her up all the time. The then alternate verses, again making the
past seem idyllic and nostalgic. Smith walks into the brothel and tries to arrest Macheath; Macheath knocks him
down and jumps out the window. However, Mrs. Peachum is standing right where he lands and she has several
constables with her. Jenny wakes up Jake, who was so engrossed in his reading that he did not even notice the
arrest.
Scene 6: In the Old Bailey, the jail where Mac is being brought, Tiger Brown anxiously hopes that his friend
has not been caught. However, he realizes that Mac is frivolous and will likely be foolish. When Brown hears
sounds at the door he is worried that he will not be able to bear looking at Mac. Mac enters, accompanied by six
constables. Brown tries to apologize to him but Mac's silence causes him even more grief and he leaves. Mac
comments that he is glad he remained silent instead of shouting at Brown, and claims he got the trick from the
Bible.
Smith enters with handcuffs. Mac immediately pulls out his checkbook and asks how much it costs to not wear
any; Smith quotes a price and Mac pays him. Mac then remarks that his biggest worry is that Brown will
discover the he has been playing around with Lucy, Brown's daughter. Smith tells him to deal with the problems
he created. Macheath interrupts the action by singing the "Ballad of Good Living". The song describes how
some people can live with starvation or by doing great deeds, but Mac claims he would rather just live well.
Lucy arrives and yells at Mac. She is furious that he married Polly. Mac pretends that he has only been with
Polly a few times and claims that Polly is the one who made up the story of them being married. Lucy argues
that he should make her an honest woman, implying that she is pregnant by him and that she needs to marry him
to make the baby not be a bastard. Polly arrives at that moment and calls Mac her husband. Lucy becomes even
more enraged and accuses Mac of having two wives. (Note: these "wives" are in name only; only Polly is
legally married to Macheath). Mac tells them to both shut up, but instead they sing the "Jealousy Duet", a song
in which they alternate lines and attack each other verbally.

After the song, Mac tells Lucy that Polly is just trying to come between them. Polly refuses to back down and
argues that she is Mrs. Macheath. Lucy threatens her and Mac pleads with her, but all to no avail. Lucy points
out that she is pregnant by Macheath, but Polly merely tells her that she should not have slept with him.

Mrs. Peachum arrives and drags Polly away. Mac takes advantage of the situation to tell Lucy that she is the
only one he loves. He asks her to help him escape, and she happily gives him his cane and hat through the bars.
After she leaves, Smith returns and tries to get the cane back. He is unsuccessful and Mac manages to escape.
Tiger Brown shows up and rejoices.

Unfortunately for Tiger Brown, Mr. Peachum arrives and sees what has happened. Peachum has come to collect
the reward for turning in Macheath. He is upset when he sees that Mac has escaped. As a result, he turns to
Brown and threatens him. Peachum tells Brown a story about the coronation of Semiramis around 1400 BC. He
says that the police chief in Nineveh committed a crime against the lower classes. As a result, the coronation
was disrupted several times. Semiramis destroyed the police chief by feeding snakes on his flesh. After
Peachum leaves, Brown hastily gets his men together.
Macheath and Jenny come out in front of the curtain and sing the "Second Threepenny Finale". The song argues
that morals and missions are fine, but that food must come first.

Act 3:
Scene 7: Back at Peachum's house the beggars are working frantically to prepare to disrupt the Queen's
coronation ceremony. Peachum announces that over one thousand four hundred men are working for him at this
moment; the men are scattered throughout London.

The whores, led by Jenny, arrive and demand to be paid for turning in Mac the Knife. Mrs. Peachum refuses to
pay them, arguing that since Macheath has escaped she does not have to pay. Jenny, furious about not getting
paid, tells them Macheath is a far better man than they are. She then foolishly tells the Peachums that Macheath
showed up at her room and lay with her. Jenny lastly tells them that he is now sleeping over at Suky Tawdry's
place (Suky is another whore, she is never present in the play). At hearing this news, Peachum immediately
promises to pay the women. He sends Filch to have the police go and arrest Macheath.
Mrs. Peachum sings the last stanza of the "Ballad of Sexual Obsession", indicating that even with the gallows
hanging over him, Macheath still cannot escape from his desire to be with the whores. She brings the whores
coffee and Peachum prepares to send his men to Buckingham Palace. At that moment Filch arrives and informs
them that cops are already there. The beggars hide and Peachum confronts Brown.

Brown has come to arrest Peachum. He arrives with Smith and several other constables. After knocking off
Peachum's hat, Brown starts to get annoyed with the friendly manner in which Peachum greets him. Brown
orders his men to round up the beggars and tells Peachum that in order to prevent him from disrupting the
coronation, he has decided to simply arrest all the beggars. Peachum points out the idiocy of this plan by telling
Brown that there are far more beggars than there are cops. The "Song of the Insufficiency of Human
Endeavour" is sung, a song about the fact that mankind can barely scratch out an existence in spite of his hard
work.
Peachum informs Brown that the plan will never succeed due to the excess numbers of poor people. He asks
Brown what it would look like if several hundred beggars are clubbed down in the streets. Brown realizes that
he is being threatened but that he cannot stop Peachum. He agrees to arrest Macheath and sends Smith to Suky
Tawdrys place. Peachum demands that Mac be hung by six o'clock that night and lastly sends his beggars to the
jail instead of Buckingham Palace.

After Brown leaves, the scene changes and Jenny steps forward to deliver the "Solomon Song". This famous
song claims that Solomon was wise and therefore realized that all his efforts were in vain. The next stanzas are
the following: Cleopatra was lovely and whored herself to death, Caesar was courageous and got murdered,
Brecht was curious and got driven overseas, and Macheath has sexual urges that are about to get him hung. The
song thus rejects wiseness, beauty, courage, curiosity and sex and states in each stanza: "How fortunate the man
with none!"

Scene 8: Polly takes a risk and visits Lucy in her home. She apologizes for the way she acted and comments
that it is obvious that Mac loves Lucy more. Polly then explains that she had only known Macheath for five
days before she married him. Every time Lucy nods in agreement and calls her "Miss Peachum", Polly corrects
her and makes her say "Mrs.Macheath". Polly then comments that Mac felt no regret when her mother made her
leave him. She asks Lucy for advice, but Lucy tells her she should have stuck with her own class of people.
Polly agrees that she should have done everything as if it were a business transaction. However, Lucy does
admit that at least Polly is Macheath's wife on paper, even if not in spirit. She brings Polly some cake and tea
and Polly looks around the apartment. Finally Polly reveals that the reason she came was to find out where
Macheath is staying. Lucy claims she does not know and that she thought Polly would know. Polly bursts out
laughing while Lucy cries when they both realize that Mac has stood them both up.

Lucy then admits to Polly that her pregnancy is all fake. Polly laughs even more and promises to give her Mac
if he is ever found. There is a noise on the stairs and they realize that Mac has been caught again. Mrs. Peachum
enters with widow's clothing and makes Polly change into it for the hanging.

Scene 9: The bells of Westminster start to ring, meaning that Macheath has only an hour before he is hung. He
is brought on stage by Smith. One of the constables remarks that the streets are jam-packed with people (these
are likely the beggars that Peachum ordered to go to the jail). He says that all the people who would have gone
to the coronation are showing up for the hanging instead. Smith orders them to move faster and lock Macheath
into a cell. Brown enters and asks if Mac is in the cell. He leaves without speaking to Mac.
Macheath then tries to bribe Smith by offering him a thousand pounds. Smith slowly refuses, indicating that he
might take the money if Mac has it. Matthew and Jake then arrive and go to visit Mac, who chides them for
taking so long. He asks them to give him all their money but they are unable to access their accounts since it is
five in the morning. Smith interupts and asks what Mac wants for breakfast. Mac order asparagus.
After Matthew and Jake leave to see if they can get the money (which only amounts to four hundred pounds),
Smith returns and asks Macheath if he has the cash. He tells him he only has four hundred; Smith shrugs and
leaves. Polly soon arrives and forces her way in. She greets Macheath affectionately but chooses to talk about
business instead of focusing on his plight. She also tells him that she has no money on her with which to help
him. She breaks down and starts crying until Smith pulls her away.

Smith asks if Mac has the money yet and ushers Polly away when he realizes that Mac is not going to get the
cash. He and Brown then bring Mac his asparagus. While in the cell, Brown agrees to settle up his accounts
with Macheath (recall that Brown gets paid kickbacks for helping Mac committ crimes). When he pulls out his
notebooks, Mac caustically comments, "Oh, so all you came for was to get your money before it's too late."
They discuss the business and Mac tells Brown that he owes him thirty-eight pounds. Mac then quotes his
future epilogue, causing Brown to get upset and leave him.

Smith asks for the money again and finds out that Mac does not have it. The Peachums, Jake and
Matthew, Lucy, the whores, and the parson all arrive and stand next to Macheath's cell. Mr. Peachum
approaches Mac and tells him that all he has left is his scar. Polly walks past in tears. Jake and Matthew inform
Mac that all the other members of the gang are out stealing since it is the coronation day and they can earn a lot.
Mac delivers his last lines; he announces that the small thieves are being swallowed up by the corporations
backed by banks. His last words are to say goodbye to those present and to state, "So be it - I fall." Macheath
then sings a song, the "Ballad in which Macheath begs all men for forgiveness". He asks ambitious men to
forgive him, and includes the whores, the thieves, and the psychopaths in that category. However, he does not
want the police employees to forgive him; in the end he prays that someone should bash in their faces before he
asks them for forgiveness.

Mac is placed on the scaffold and Peachum delivers the last speech. In it, he says that although it would be the
"Christian thing to do" to hang Macheath, they will not hang him since that ending might offend the audience.
Instead, because this is an opera, Peachum indicates that a man on a horse will come to rescue Mac. Sure
enough, Brown soon enters and delivers a message that the Queen has issued a royal reprieve. In addition,
Macheath is made a hereditary knight and given a castle. Mac cheers at the news and Mrs. Peachum remarks
that life would be nicer if such endings always occurred. Peachum then leads the company in a song for the
poorest of the poor, a song that argues that since poor people always face injustice they should not be
persecuted for it. The Westminster bells can be heard ringing the last time in the background.

Themes :

Greed, selfishness and corruption- The Threepenny Opera is full of greedy, corrupt characters—men and
women who lie, steal, cheat, and bribe their way through the world. Yet as Bertolt Brecht introduces these
assorted denizens of the London underworld, he refrains from casting judgement upon their survival tactics,
even when those tactics are unfair or immoral. In The Threepenny Opera, Brecht ultimately argues that a
society built on greed, selfishness, and corruption essentially forces its people to become similarly greedy,
selfish, and corrupt in order to get by.

Throughout the play, Brecht uses a cast of characters who are corrupt in both practices and morals to outline the
different ways in which a capitalist society run by greedy, selfish individuals breeds a new crop of greedy,
selfish individuals from the bottom up. In doing so, Brecht shows how living in a debased and immoral society
forces people to sink to the level of the status quo in order to survive. Peachum’s run-down emporium, The
Beggar’s Friend, is a major example of dishonesty and greed as a means of survival. The establishment is a
place where people seeking to outfit themselves as beggars—whether out of necessity or experimentation—can
buy dirty clothes, cardboard signs, and even false stumps designed to give one the appearance of being an
amputee, all designed to elicit pity from wealthier people. Peachum profits off of other people’s woe and
misfortune as he sells licenses to beg, yet he’s gleeful about his total financial control over the beggars of
London. The cold and calculated Peachum takes a percentage from every beggar he licenses and analyzes which
Bible verses, when scrawled on signs, might induce the most “misery” in passersby and convince them to spare
some change. Peachum is a corrupt, greedy individual through and through. He selfishly thinks of emotion and
empathy only in terms of how they might financially benefit him. Yet Brecht is careful to show how Peachum is
a product of his environment. With poverty and disaffectedness so rampant throughout London, it makes sense
that the only way to survive is to find a way to profit off the suffering of others. Peachum knows the kind of
world he lives in: in Act 3, he declares that as he’s spent many “sleepless nights working out how to extract a
few pence from […] poverty,” he’s realized that the rich are “weaklings and fools.” Peachum has nothing but
contempt for the rich, but also knows that they have nothing but contempt for the likes of him. Therefore, he’s
come up with a way to provide for his family and profit off the status quo—even though he’s had to stoop to a
new level of corruption to do so.

Macheath and his gang represent yet another example of how individuals living in a corrupt society must turn to
corrupt means in order to get by: the gang members steal and kill, commit arson and larceny, and generally
create mayhem. But Brecht often appears to celebrate their gains throughout the opera, showing how Macheath
and his thugs have found a way to gain not only material success, but the fear and thus respect of their
community. In a corrupt society obsessed with a monarchy that cares nothing for the working class, Macheath
and his gang have found a way to profit off of society’s fixation on the upcoming coronation of the queen,
committing crimes while the masses are distracted. Macheath and his gang know that their society is unfair and
unjust—and figure that they might as well make out like bandits while they can. Macheath is a former army
man who has witnessed society’s corruption from the an insider’s perspective: he’s seen how the royal army
recruits good men and sends them to their deaths, how the police turn a blind eye to injustice, and how the rich
ignore the plight of the poor. Thus, he knows that the only way to make something of himself is to become a
major player in the London underworld, amassing a reputation built not on the bourgeoisie’s arbitrary markings
of success, but instead on the hard-won respect and fear of others like him.

Another way Macheath and his gang turn to corruption within an already-corrupt society is by making bargains
with the cops of London, most notably the sheriff Tiger Brown, an old army buddy of Macheath’s, and the
changeable Constable Smith, always eager to accept a bribe. The thugs and the cops form a symbiotic bond: the
cops agree to let Macheath’s gang get away with their crimes as long as the thugs give them a percentage of
their earnings. In return, the cops tip Macheath off when a raid is coming. This relationship is a symptom of a
corrupt society which moralizes without actually pursuing justice, thus creating individuals who know they can
get away with nearly anything if they offer the right price.

As Brecht parades a set of characters of loose moral values and behavior before his audience, he is careful never
to pass judgement upon them. Brecht shows how a society which is corrupt at every level breeds individuals
who have no choice but to resort to greed, subterfuge, and crime just to survive. The Threepenny Opera is a
scathing social critique of societies and governments which skate by on immorality—never stopping to consider
the wider, deeper effects of institutional corruption.

The ravages of capitalism- In The Threepenny Opera, ordinary people from all walks of life make extra cash
by posing as poor beggars. They do so by purchasing the accoutrements of begging (cardboard signs, faux
stumps to give themselves the appearance of being amputees, and oily, shabby clothes) at The Beggar’s Friend,
a shop run by Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum. However, “the poorest of the poor,” those who have actually been
forced into begging, are never seen onstage. As the rich literally profit off of the poor, Brecht uses The
Threepenny Opera to show how capitalism has ravaged society. He ultimately argues that until a better
economic system takes its place, all human life is doomed to be a “vale of tribulation” marked by sorrow,
corruption, and coldness—not just in society, but in the very soul.

Throughout The Threepenny Opera, Brecht supplies many scenes, songs, and lines which further his assertion
that capitalism makes futile and hopeless all human endeavor toward personal or collective progress. Two songs
in particular (taken from Act 3, the height of the play’s commotion) stand out as emblematic of Brecht’s
messaging about the cruelty and banality of capitalism. “The Song of Futility of All Human Endeavor” (sung
somewhat triumphantly by Peachum at the start of the Act 3) is a tune whose message is exactly what the song’s
title suggests. In the song, Peachum warns against making plans for one’s life or even attempting to live “by
one’s own head,” or one’s intellect. Men’s “ideal ambitions / Are one great big cheat,” Peachum asserts. He is
straightforward and unemotional as he delivers his sardonic number. Brecht includes “The Song of Futility of
All Human Endeavor” to show how life under capitalism has warped not only his characters’ morals, but their
outlooks as well. Peachum has found a way to survive in a corrupt capitalist society that lets him live—but this
number suggests that his survival comes at great cost not just to his own sense of self-worth but to his belief in
any kind of happiness, fulfillment, or meaningful success. Brecht’s characters reflect his own disillusionment
with the offerings of life under capitalism—but also with people’s collective inability to pull themselves out of
their despair and find a workable solution that allows for the possibility of a better world, just treatment, or fair
pay for fair work.
Shortly after Peachum delivers his thesis on the “futility of all human endeavor,” Ginny Jenny steps forward to
address the audience and offer her own take on the same subject. In “The Song of Solomon,” Jenny recounts
how famous people throughout history strove for too much, and fell from grace as they did—man is “better off
without,” Jenny resignedly sings. Her song even makes reference to “the inquisitive” Brecht’s own struggles
against capitalism: “His songs—you loved them so,” she sings; “but when too of the asked where from / The
riches of the rich did come / You made him pack his bag and go.” The “consequence[s]” Brecht himself faced
throughout his career as a result of his anti-capitalist beliefs is held up against the cruelties done unto Julius
Caesar, Cleopatra, King Solomon, and indeed the fictional Macheath. Jenny’s song, like Peachum’s, serves as
Brecht’s own commentary on the ways in which capitalism has ravaged not just the organization of society but
the individuals within it. People like Jenny—down and out, shunned from the mainstream, filled with self-
loathing and a sense of insufficiency—believe that man should do “without” rather than strive for anything
within the confines of a society rigged against individuality, progress, and nontraditional success.

The Threepenny Opera is an outright critique of capitalist society. In the mid-1920s, Bertolt Brecht and many of
his contemporaries living in Germany’s Weimar Republic dared to dream of a world organized around
something other than money—and were often vilified for their beliefs. Almost all of Brecht’s work in some way
indicts capitalism—but The Threepenny Opera represents perhaps his most vital, direct assertion that until
society finds a better way to organize itself, all human effort toward real progress or happiness will be futile.

Love and sex- In The Threepenny Opera, the slick, cunning, and magnetic gangster Macheath has recently
married Polly Peachum and thus angered her father, the powerful and corrupt Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum.
Peachum, furious with Macheath for absconding with his daughter, devises a plan to send Macheath to jail once
and for all. Macheath gets word of Peachum’s plan and goes on the run from the law, but because he decides to
pay a series of visits to former mistresses and prostitutes, he misses opportunity after opportunity to get out of
London and hide out in the country. By illustrating Macheath’s insatiable and often ill-advised lust contrasted
against the suffering of his jilted lovers Polly, Lucy, and Ginny Jenny, Brecht argues that love and sex are
destructive forces which render men and women alike incapable of making sound, smart choices—a dangerous
handicap in a world where a person must constantly have their wits about them in order to outmaneuver the
forces of capitalism and corruption.

As The Threepenny Opera unfolds, Brecht incorporates elements of the sex farce or “bedroom farce,” a kind of
light comedy which focuses on multiple iterations of romantic and sexual pairings throughout a bumbling cast
of characters. Macheath’s exploits, albeit humorous for the audience, show how lust and love create diversions
and conflicts which distract men and women alike from the real enemy: corrupt capitalism. Macheath is the
central character around whom other players in the sex farce subplot revolve. In his romantic entanglements
with Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown, Ginny Jenny, and the offscreen presence Suky Tawdry, Macheath finds
himself distracted from his directive to evade a raid by the police drummed up by Mr. Peachum. Instead,
Macheath is repeatedly drawn into whorehouses, reminiscences of past relationships, and spats with present and
former lovers.

In the middle of their nontraditional wedding ceremony in an abandoned stable in the heart of Soho, a London
neighborhood, Macheath and Polly Peachum get news from Macheath’s old army friend Tiger Brown that
Polly’s father, Peachum, wants Macheath hanged for absconding with his only daughter. Macheath attempts to
go on the run but winds up stopping off at a brothel in Wapping, another London neighborhood, to reconnect
with his former lover Ginny Jenny. Jenny once allowed Macheath to work as her pimp, but has (unbeknownst to
the gangster) conspired with Peachum to turn Macheath into the authorities. As Macheath prepares to seek
shelter in the country after his wedding to Polly, he promises that he’ll be true to her and refrain from wasting
his time with “secondhand goods.” However, as Macheath departs, Polly’s mother Mrs. Peachum steps forward
to the front of the stage to serenade the audience with “The Ballad of Sexual Submissiveness”, a song in which
she laments Macheath’s inability to resist the pull of his own lust. Macheath proves himself easily distractible
from his own self-interest: his lust is too much to contain, and there is perhaps a part of him that also finds
sexual gratification in close calls with the law. As Macheath tempts fate by running off to a brothel and
subsequently finds himself jailed, Brecht shows how love and lust distract from survival in a dangerously
corrupt world.

In jail, Macheath finds himself visited by Lucy Brown, Tiger Brown’s daughter, who is revealed to be
Macheath’s first “wife” (though whether their marriage is or ever was legitimate is never revealed). A
distraught Polly arrives and finds out about Macheath’s betrayal but before the women can settle their spat,
Macheath gets broken out of jail and goes on the run again. This time, however, he stops at the house of Suky
Tawdry, yet another former lover and prostitute and is apprehended and brought back to jail once again, this
time to face the gallows. As Macheath seems to face certain death toward the end of the play, the other
characters chide him for stopping off to visit Suky Tawdry rather than seizing his second unlikely chance at
escape. The other characters make a fool out of Macheath for his frivolous choices thereby demonstrating
Brecht’s contempt for the ways in which the pull of “sexual submissiveness” distracts otherwise scrappy,
intelligent people from their own self-interest.

Throughout The Threepenny Opera, Brecht shows how love and lust easily make fools out of men and women
alike. This argument, however, is not the play’s most radical one—the deeper assertion Brecht makes is that in a
society governed by the corruption and greed, lust and love are distractions and indeed liabilities meant to keep
the impoverished working class from focusing on what truly matters: revolution.
Previous Year Questions:

1. The ravages of capitalism as reflected in “The Threepenny Opera”?

The critique of capitalism is the main feature of this play. The play exposes the brutality of the capitalist system.
In a society that revolves around money, the characters use any and all means to succeed with no consideration
for other people. All noble feelings, such as loyalty and love, are overshadowed by greed. Peachum has built a
business out of people's pity. He says “the rich of the earth indeed create misery, but they cannot bear to see it.”
Jenny claims to be loyal to Macheath, but she immediately changes her mind when she is offered money to
betray him. As for Macheath, he embodies the vices of capitalism. He's only after his self-interest, not caring
who he tramples on in the process. In a completely illogical ending, Macheath is not only pardoned but also
rewarded for his crimes. This is Brecht's way of showing us that, in such a system, the rich will only get richer,
no matter what crimes they have committed to gain their profit.

Through the use of the alienation effect, Brecht communicates to the audience that The Threepenny Opera is not
simply a story about Victorian London. At the time that the play was written, it was a critique of capitalism in
Germany in the 1920s.

2. Peachum as an ironic villain in the play?

Peachum is Macheath’s antagonist, the character who opposes the hero and sets the plot in motion. Self-interest
motivates Peachum throughout The Threepenny Opera. His only concern is making a profit with his business.
Throughout the play, Peachum does not change. He never sways from trying to keep what is his. However,
when the queen frees Macheath at the end of the play, Peachum gives up and accepts defeat. This moment of
defeat is the only instance in which Peachum experiences a change within himself.
Peachum is an ironic villain. Traditionally, the villain would pursue evil essentially for the sake of evil. He
would be someone who does horrible things because he is innately bad. This kind of villain actually reinforces
traditional moral positions by making the audience see how awful a person is without them. Peachum, however,
is the play’s strongest advocate of traditional morality. He obeys the law, reads the Bible, and wants his
daughter to respect her parents. Yet he reads the Bible and obeys the law only because he thinks these activities
will aide his business, not because he desires to be a noble citizen. Peachum’s use of traditional morality to
justify his cruelty is a powerful way to emphasize both the arbitrariness of values and hypocrisy of religion.
3. Brechtian dramatic techniques in “The Threepenny Opera”?

The Threepenny Opera is one of the best adaptations of Brecht. It was originally written by John Gay in 1728
titled The Beggar’s Opera. It is a comic farce which counters the Italian opera and also attacks the social and
political climate of England at that time. It demonstrated a new genre, the ‘ballad opera’. The Threepenny
Opera is an early example of his ‘epic theatre’. The main purpose of the play is to sharpen the spectator’s
critical ability with the new theatrical techniques rather than providing the entertainment. Brecht composed The
Threepenny Opera based on his personal experience in Berlin during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) when
the country was struggling to establish a parliamentary democracy in the face of economic devastation, low
morale standards and bitter military defeat.

The Threepenny Opera is not just a translation of John Gay’s play but incorporation of new scenes and sets i.e.,
the London setting is replaced by Soho in the Victorian England. Bertold Brecht’s main dramatic presentation
dwells in transforming Gay’s Macheath, a main protagonist, into his own Mackie Messier, known as Mack the
Knife.

Alienation effect, also called a-effect or distancing effect, is central to the dramatic theory of Bertolt Brecht. It
involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional involvement in the play
through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical performance. The technique of alienating the
audience was through the use of songs which are very compatible to the scenes. The main intention of
incorporating the songs at the beginning, middle or end of the scenes is to bring back the spectator from
suspense. Bertolt Brecht’s songs are thematically connected to the action and the plot as well. Sometimes the
songs are juxtaposed ironically, with cheery upbeat music but with dark lyrics. One of the most famous song
lyrics is “Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?”

Dance is an important element in theatre, even more in case of a ballad opera like The Threepenny Opera in
which dialogues are accompanied by musical pieces and songs. In Brecht’s play, there are some scenes in which
characters dance, for example during the “Cannon Song” sung by Macheath and Brown. They hit with their feet
to the rhythm of music improvising a kind of march and other men join the dance. In the second scene of the
second act, Mack the Knife and Jenny sing the Pimp’s Ballad while they tell their story; the music is that of a
very popular tango and the two characters hint at a tango dance. So, it is important to understand how human
brain reacts to the sight of dancing bodies. Furthermore, the notes on his songs reveal that the music and
singing is supposed to be dissonant, not entertaining, in order to achieve the effect of watching a man
perform the act of singing rather than letting the song become an extension of a character’s emotions.
Such unrealistic and unorthodox choices make the audience more aware of the fact that they are watching
actors on a stage and that reality is not unfolding in front of them; Brecht alienates his audience.
The Threepenny Opera was one of the plays which carried out great dramatic changes into the avant-garde. In
times of war, the concept of the hero and heroism was seen in a different perspective in literature and in drama.
Mainly, the sociopolitical issues are taken into consideration in order to inculcate the social reality in spectator’s
mind. . One of the big changes was the concept of ‘hero’ in plays and literature. Earlier, people thought of war
as noble and honorable and they believed it was a matter of national pride to fight a war for one’s nation.
However, Brecht’s Mackie is unmannerly, cynical, and a toughened criminal. He is a gangster who refers to
himself as a businessman and he always praises efficiency, organization, and even keeps books. Apart from
that, he stated that the only difference between a gangster and a businessman is that the gangster is not a
coward. Although he never enters the legitimate business world, he tells Polly, who is Mackie’s girl-friend, that
in a few weeks he will switch to banking because it is safer and more profitable. Brecht vehemently condemned
the bourgeois’ society of the Weimar Republic and the play stood out as one of the greatest plays even today.

Throughout The Threepenny Opera, Brecht uses irony, the sharp dissimilarity between the real and ideal. Brecht
employs irony by setting up the audiences’ and characters’ expectations, then delivering the opposite. These
reversals force the audience to think about the choices made by characters and about the play’s arguments. One
of the play’s arguments is that the acts of stealing, killing, and betraying others are acceptable in a capitalist
society because these actions are a means of making money. For instance, Jenny’s decision to turn in Macheath
is based solely on the fact that she will be compensated. Another example is Macheath’s aspiration to live a
comfortable middle-class life, but he does so by killing and stealing. Even though he implies that he wants to
get away from his criminal ways, Macheath gives no indication of leaving behind his ways at the end of the
play. Polly is also seen as an innocent girl in love, but she shows another side when she steals and hides
Macheath’s fortune. Peachum defends traditional moral positions like obedience to the law by explaining how
such positions can be used to exploit others. These contradictory positions force the audience to question why
they believe in traditional morality.