The Threepenny Opera

Content warning: This section of the guide discusses sexual content. 

The outfits with which Peacham supplies the beggars he employs symbolize both his personal exploitation of the lower classes and the broader ways in which capitalist society (mis)treats the poor. The people who come to Peachum are already impoverished, yet the reality of their poverty is not enough; to capitalize off it, he must exaggerate it, often by outfitting them in ways that make them appear to have disabilities they do not have. Those who do not comply with Peachum’s ideas about what destitution looks like cannot beg at all, as doing so requires a “license.”

The outfits thus trivialize the actual suffering of the lower classes and render them a spectacle for the voyeuristic interest of the more fortunate. Moreover, they imply the various ways in which capitalist society polices the very poverty it relies on, demanding that the lower classes conform to certain norms to be deemed worthy of even the most paltry financial relief.

The coronation of Queen Victoria in Act III symbolizes the intersection of state power, wealth, and social hierarchy. The event, which should represent order and national pride, instead emphasizes the inequalities of society. While the upper class celebrates royal grandeur, the poor remain entrenched in suffering, struggling to survive under an economic system that favors the privileged.