I enjoyed reading the Beggar's Opera because it was entertaining and humorous, but it also showed true gritty street life. With the two works we've read I have noticed a common theme of the "sweet" girls always falling for the asshole guys. I can't for the life of me understand why Polly would want to be with Macheath when she knows he is with other woman. I also didn't understand why Hellena wanted to be with Willmore in the Rover. These guys are obviously not good people and they treat women like sex objects and property. The women therefor look stupid when they chase these men all the while knowing how terrible the men really are. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't one good man in the 18'th century. All the men we have seen in the readings so far are poor excuses for boyfriends/husbands. I find it ridiculous that the women are actually fighting over these stupid men. Lucy even goes so far as to try to kill Polly all because she wants to marry Macheath. I guess love can drive people to do crazy things.
I found the relationship between Polly and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Peachum to be quite strange and quite unlike a general parent child relationship. Mr. Peachum viewed Polly as a financial asset to the family and discouraged her from marrying because she could make more money single. One of my favorite motherly Mrs. Peachum quotes was, "Can you support the expense of a husband, hussy, in gaming, drinking, and whoring?" Instead of telling her daughter not to marry this man because is likes to drink, gamble, and have sex with whores, Mrs. Peachum simply asks if her daughter can financially support this kind of behavior. I found it absurd that women were expected to not only tolerate this behavior from their husbands but actually support it. It once again made me say, why does Polly actually want to marry this horrible man?
I did not particularly enjoy all the songs in the play. I know it's an opera but I felt like a lot of the songs had nothing to do with the context of the scene. Other than that I enjoyed reading this work even though it made we question the sanity of 18'th century women.
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Sheila, I find it hard to disagree with your assessment of Polly and Hellena's judgement regarding men. But you're right: "love can drive people to do crazy things." It can also drive people to believe that they can "change" the person they love into someone "different" or "better." And it seems that, for some reason, throughout history many women AND men have found others of the opposite sex who seem to be somewhat "dangerous" more alluring and "sexy" than those who simply and humbly live their lives and "play by the rules." I think that, for Hellena and Polly, Willimore and MacHeath are like Marlon Brando and James Dean were to millions of young people in the 1950s---irresistible rebels who, in the eyes of Hellena and Polly, are really "good guys once you get to know and understand them." MacHeath even has a bit of that "vulnerability" that many young women seem to adore when it is mixed with rebelliousness and a personality that likes to live dangerously. In fact, he is quite a pathetic figure when he is tricked into his arrest by his "tragic flaw": his philandering nature!
ReplyDeleteWhat is weird for me, is that even to this day people are considered someones property. If you pay attention to some of the songs out there, maybe some of the old ones, take for instance the song "where my girls at" by 702, I think, the say in the song, "See, he's my property." So even now people are considered someone elses property married or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that Gay is satirizing such views on romance and marraige, not endorsing them!
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