Another note on the Beggar's Opera
So today was a day of long awaited reckoning with the publication of the Casey Report - a damning document that described "institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia" in the London Metropolitan Police Force. The papers are awash with stories of serving police officers stalking, raping, masturbating on public transport, gay bashing and still disproportionately stopping and searching young black men above other racial groups. There are five other police forces currently in Special Measures: Greater Manchester, Cleveland, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and Wiltshire. What do we do if we can no longer trust the police. Or even the words that come tumbling from the mouths of our politicians? One can only dream of the day when governments themselves are placed in Special Measures.
The world depicted in John Gay’s 1728 The Beggar’s Opera is easy to dismiss as the product of the writer’s vivid imagination; an attempt to satirise, in a not so subtle manner, the lurid morals and practices of his day, much like Dickens did. However, like the Victorian novelist, the Augustan playwright’s vision was grounded in the reality of the London of his day: a world of crime, poverty, human trafficking and open corruption. Likewise, contemporary Britain can boast to having all four in abundance. Indeed, it’s hard to think of a time in living memory when we have witnessed so many successive governments and national institutions characterised by so much open corruption. Never have we witnessed such poverty in our ‘working poor’, in our schools and in our health and social care systems. Never have we seen such organised crime flourishing unchecked. And, of course, never have we witnessed the scale of human trafficking that we see today, across the Channel, in nail bars or on porn hub.
Corruption at the Top – or draw your own parallels
At the time The Beggar’s Opera premiered in 1728, Robert Walpole, a man whose open corruption was no secret, was the Prime Minister. In fact, he was the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. And, in hindsight, maybe he set the precedent in British politics for 'do as I say, not do as I do.' In 1712, Walpole had been accused of corruption by taking a bribe regarding two agricultural contracts for Scotland. Walpole was pronounced "guilty of a high breach of trust and notorious corruption" (Leadam, 1899). He was charged by the House of Commons, found guilty by the House of Lords and imprisoned in the Tower of London for six months. After release Walpole was re-elected MP for King's Lynn in 1713. However, further scandal ensued with the South Sea Bubble Crisis of 1720.
John Gay based his king of criminals, Peachum, on Walpole. The parallels with contemporary politics would have been obvious to the audience of the day at Lincoln’s Inn Field Theatre. During the South Sea Bubble Crisis, Walpole was accused of protecting the South Sea Company directors from prosecution and of cashing in his own shares for full value before the collapse of the stock. The South Sea Bubble Crisis is a convoluted and yet all too familiar tale of a company set up to create a trading monopoly (mainly slavery) and where the vested interests included the government itself. In 1718 King George I took over the company and the share price became inflated. Then in 1720 Parliament allowed the South Sea Company to take over the national debt (some £32 million). And, as with the banks during the financial crash of 2008, the debts of the company swelled to become larger than the value of the company itself. The world’s first global economic meltdown ensued, although not before main investors and shareholders (including Walpole) offloaded their shares and made huge profits through insider trading.
Ironically, Robert Walpole, saw The Beggar’s Opera and enjoyed it. However, upon learning that he was one of the targets of the piece, he tried to have the play stopped. Two weeks after opening night, an article in The Craftsman, protested that Gay's work was libellous, "wounding Persons in Authority" (Guerinot and Jilg, 1976, p. 88). But it wasn’t just the political satire that was offensive. Writer and critic Samuel Johnson, argued that the work was morally corrupt and encouraged vice and criminal behaviour. In 1776, stage musical historian, John Hawkins, wrote that because of the opera's popularity, "Rapine and violence have been gradually increasing" because, as he argued, the rising generation of young men imitated the character Macheath and were tempted by his "charms of idleness and criminal pleasure." (Quoted by Kidson, 1921, pp.18-19). Despite the mixed critical response, The Beggar's Opera remained hugely popular with audiences. It ran for 62 consecutive performances, making it the longest-running play of the 18th century. Its influence can be seen in later works such as Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera" which developed the link between capitalism and corruption.
In 1729, Gay wrote a sequel, Polly set in the West Indies: Macheath has been sentenced to transportation but escaped to become a pirate. Mrs Trapes has begun business in white-slaving- kidnapping Polly to sell her to a wealthy individual. The political satire, however, was even more obvious than in The Beggar's Opera; Robert Walpole asked the Lord Chamberlain to ban it and it was not performed for another 50 years.
Robert Walpole not only suppressed the works of John Gay but the work of any author that satirised him or his government, for example,. Henry Fielding's play Tom Thumb (1730) where the eponymous hero was seen as a satirical attack on Walpole. Walpole suppressed the performance of the play but, as the government could only control live performance, Fielding retaliated by publishing it in book form; it proved a huge success. Walpole had his revenge though. In 1737 his Licensing Act required all plays to go to a censor before staging, and only those plays passed by the censor were allowed to be performed. This Act remained law until 1968 when Edward Bond’s politically evergreen play Saved demolished stage censorship.
Other institutions besides the government are the object of Gay’s satire in The Beggar's Opera.. The London constabulary, as it was in the 1720s, also comes under attack through the character of Lockit. In Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, the role becomes much more significant with the character of Tiger Brown, the police chief who works hand in glove with Macheath and protects him from the full force of the law. But even in Gay’s version the corruption in the jailers and constabulary is parodied as Macheath and Lockit haggle over a price of handcuffs in the notorious Newgate Prison - a place where prisoners were often starved, tortured, and abandoned in their cells, unless they could afford to pay off the guards.
Income Inequality: - or anything seem familiar?
The Beggar's Opera is a commentary on the vast income inequality that existed in 18th century England. There was a huge divide between rich and poor. At the time, a small wealthy aristocratic class owned most of the land and controlled political power, whilst the vast majority of the population lived on the breadline. The Industrial Revolution was in its infancy, but it still drew thousands of people to the growing cities to live in squalid and overcrowded conditions. There was no welfare, education or healthcare; many people worked long hours in dangerous conditions for very low wages. Child labour was common. Although today we have welfare systems, income inequality is still an issue today, with the richest individuals owning a disproportionate amount of wealth. According to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in 2018, it is likely that less than 10% of the British people, own 90% of the wealth. In September 2021, there are over 2,000 food banks operating in Britain, according to the Trussell Trust - a charity that runs just one network of food banks. The Trust reported that in the 2020-2021 financial year, it distributed a record 2.5 million emergency food parcels to people in crisis - a 33% increase on the previous year. As inflation outstrips pay increments and energy companies make huge profits from bleeding its customers dry, it is a bleak future for those of us not blessed with trust funds. Desperate people will find more and more desperate ways to make money and feed their children.
Sex Trafficking and Gender Inequality - or some things never change
The play reflects the gender inequalities of the time, where women and girls had limited rights and opportunities. In The Beggar’s Opera, the career choices open to the female characters reflect the times: domestic service, criminality but, more often than not, prostitution. In the early 1700s it is estimated that 1 in 5 women in London were working as prostitutes. The oldest profession was celebrated in paintings as well as literature of the time. William Hogarth’s series The Harlots Progress (1731-32) includes references to infamous bawds of the time such as Mother Elizabeth Needham. One engraving in particular portrays a fictitious girl - Moll Hackabout - being befriended by an old bawd as she arrives in London from the country. Like today, it was a common ploy to befriend young girls arriving in the city and entice them into the sex trade.
Mother Needham was famous for procuring Ann Bond as a ‘servant’ for Colonel Charteris. Ann was raped and whipped by Charteris before being thrown out. However, Ann took him to court; the trial was a public sensation. Charteris was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was, however, pardoned by the king. Tragically in 1730 Ann was pilloried for a minor offence and then was so brutally attacked while in the stocks that she died a few days later.
Today it is estimated that 41% of all British prostitutes are migrants or have been trafficked from various states: Central Europe 43%, the Baltic states 10%, Eastern Europe 7%, the Balkans 4%, other EU countries 16%, Latin America 10%, Asia 7%, Africa 2%, North America 1%. Thirty-five different countries of origin were identified by a recent report. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, prostitution contributed £5.3 billion to the UK economy in 2009. (Sex Work in Europe, 2009)
Women in the 1700s were often subjected to sexual harassment and assault, and this problem still persists today. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending March 2021, an estimated 695,000 women (aged 16 to 74) in England and Wales experienced sexual assault in the last year. These figures only capture reported cases and do not reflect the actual number of assaults.
Other Forms of Human Trafficking
Britain had been engaged in the Slave Trade since 1562 when first English slaver, John Hawkins, made the first of three voyages to Sierra Leone, transporting 1,200 people to what is now the Dominican Republic and Haiti. He sold these 1,200 people in exchange for pearls, pelts, ginger and sugar. According the National Archives between 1562 and 1840 when Britain stopped actively engaging in slavery, "11 million enslaved people were transported across the Atlantic from Africa to America and the West Indies, and Britain led this trade from the mid-17th century onwards. Ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow sent out many slaving ships each year, bringing great prosperity to their owners. Many other cities also grew rich on the profits of industries which depended on slave-produced materials such as cotton, sugar and tobacco."
Yet modern day slavery plagues us. In 2020, government statistics indicate that there were 10,613 individuals that we know about that were trafficked; 47% of which were children (Home Office, 2021). That’s nearly 5000 children, that we know about that were trafficked into this country during a year plagued by lockdowns. Human trafficking is a growing problem. Where there is human desperation, there will always be a gang of criminal entrepreneurs. According to the Home Office, in 2018 299 people crossed the Channel in small boats. By 2021 it had increased to 28,526. Last year it rose to 45,755, a 60.4% increase on 2021.
The themes and characters of The Beggar's Opera seem morbidly modern and depressingly familiar. The Guardian described it as "a tale of capitalist greed and social inequality that beats Les Misérables – with which it shares some notable similarities – hands-down." (Barnett, 2014). As someone from a working class background who was the first in my family to go to university, I wonder whether my own children will experience the same social and economic mobility that I did. Like many people, I've watched my rising bills outstrip my income, and I eye brown envelopes on the door mat with a sense of terror.. The concept of democracy becomes increasingly meaningless for me as I wonder which political party is less corrupt and self-serving than the others. And, as a woman on the street at night, who am I most in danger from?
References
Anon, "Sex Work in Europe: A mapping of the prostitution scene in 25 European countries" (PDF). Tampep. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
Anon (n.d.) https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/slavery/. Accessed 11.03.23
Anon (n.d.) 2021 Annual Report on Modern Slavery (Accessible Version). Forward by the Home Secretary. Available online @ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2021-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery/2021-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery-accessible-version#executive-summary. Accessed 11.03.23
Barnett, L. (2014). Musicals We Love. The Beggar's Opera. The Guardian Newspaper. [Online]. 28 April 2014. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/28/musicals-we-love-the-beggars-opera [Accessed 5 March 2023].
Gay, J. (17 November 1726). 'Letter to Jonathan Swift". Communion Arts Journal. [Online] Available online @https//:walleahpress.com.au/communion8-John-Gay.html. [Accessed 4 March 2023]
Goff, M. (2018) An introduction to The Beggar’s Opera. The British Library. [Online] Available online @www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/an-introduction-to-the-beggars-opera [Accessed 28 February 2023]
Guerinot, J. V. and Jilg, R., D. (1976) Maynard Mack. (ed.). "The Beggar's Opera". Contexts 1. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon
Kidson. F., "The Beggar's Opera" in The Musical Times. 1 January 1921. pp. 18–19.
Leadam, I., S., (1899), 'Walpole, Robert (1676-1745)' in Lee, S., (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 59, London: Smith, Elder & Co, pp. 178–207[Accessed 28 February 2023]
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