Discuss some of the targets of the satire in 'The Beggars Opera' by John Gay - Essay Example

A number of prominent people of that age are alluded all through the play, and watching them depicted as common criminals hits a chord with viewers in the 18th century that still echoes today. Ballad operas were satiric tuneful plays, which used some of the techniques of opera, but with no recitative (Kidson, 1921). The words of the airs in the song are set to well-known opera arias, broadsheet ballads, folk tunes and church hymns of the time. This paper will discuss some of the targets of the satire in The Beggars Opera by John Gay.

The opera’s satire was on both politics and society. ''Lions, wolves, and vultures don't live together in herds, droves or flocks. Of all animals of prey, man is the only sociable one. Every one of us preys upon his neighbour, and yet we herd together'' (Kidson, 1921). The critics and population of that time regarded Walpole as the subject of many scenes, and his work, Polly, was prohibited by Walpole for this realism. It has two core satiric forces, each of which serves to flatter the other (Kozinn, 1990).

The precise aim of the opera is to present a lampoon of England around 1728 and also to point a finger to the dishonesty of both the Prime Minister's administration, and the system of criminal justice and prosecution, which was so successfully controlled by thief-takers such as Jonathan Wilde. The temporally positioned worry over the immediate social and political environment serves as a way of concretizing and representing the more essential questions of corruption and inequity in themselves, as well as the upshots that crime and poverty have on them “All Professions be-rogue one another” (Kidson, 1921).

This, therefore, is the subject matter of The Beggar's Opera, which spoke so powerfully to Berthold Brecht in prewar Germany and the topic that continues to have significance in these current times (Kozinn, 1990). The work satirised Italian opera that had become well-known in London. “Napoleon wanted to turn Paris into Rome under the Caesars, only with louder music and more marble. And it was done. His architects gave him the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. His nephew Napoleon III wanted to turn Paris into Rome with Versailles piled on top, and it was done.

His architects gave him the Paris Opera, an addition to the Louvre, and miles of new boulevards” (Kozinn, 1990). According to O'Shaughnessy, (1988), Gay wrote the opera more as an anti-opera rather than an opera. Instead of the ordinary themes and grand music of opera, Gay’s work uses recognisable characters that were ordinary people and tunes. A couple of the songs were composed by opera composers like Handel, but just the most admired of these were used in Gay’s work. The listeners could sing along with the melody and identify with Gay’s characters (O'Shaughnessy, 1988).

The tale satirised poverty, politics, as well as injustice, centering on the subject of corruption at all levels of the public. “For once you must try not to shirk the facts: Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts” (Kozinn, 1990). Lavinia Fenton, who was the first Polly Peachum, turned into a success overnight. Her photographs were in huge demand, books published about her and verses were composed to her. After taking part in several funny films, and then her frequent repetitions of The Beggars Opera, she escaped with her wedded lover, Charles Paulet, the 3rd Duke of Bolton