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Summary of Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera”


Action first

The firm “Friend of a beggar” – the institution of Jonathan Jeremy Pichem. Mr. Picham is concerned that it becomes more difficult to make money in compassion for the unfortunate. People are stale, and the company bears losses. It is necessary to improve the work of equipping the beggars to cause at least a drop of pity in the form of mutilations and rags, pity legends and slogans like “Give Sweeter than Take”. The essence of his activities Picham reveals in the teachings of a beginning beggar. Mrs. Picham reports that their daughter Polly has a new boyfriend. Mr. Peachom with horror recognizes him as a bandit Mackhit named Mackey Knife.

In the slums of Soho. The daughter of the poor king Polly marries the king of the bandits of Mekith. Simple and good-natured guys bandits Jacob Hook, Matthias Coin, Walter Weeping Willow, Robert Pyla and others arrange a wedding setting in an abandoned stable, using stolen utensils, furniture and

food. Mack is pleased with the wedding, although he is sometimes forced to point out to comrades the imperfection of their manners. Young beauty Polly performs the zoo “Pirate Jenny”:

I’m here with my glasses, I’m making beds,

And you do not know who I am.

But when the berth becomes

Sorokapushechny three-masted brig,

Oh, how I laugh at this moment!

And all of you will not feel happy then,

Not all of you will be ready to drink, gentlemen!

There is the most honorable guest – Captain Brown, he’s Panther Brown, the head of the London criminal police, and in the past a fellow soldier of Mekhit. Together they fought in India and in Afghanistan and now remained friends. Working in their own field, they carry out mutually beneficial cooperation. In two voices they perform a soldier’s song:

From Gibraltar to Peshawar

Guns cushions us.

If the new, yellow-lilac,

Black color will get the race,

That of it we will make a cutlet. Tram-there!

Pickema institution. Polly’s song “When I was

an innocent girl” made it clear to the parents that her girlhood is already behind. Peachem complains that without Polly, businesses will decline, as the poor brother adores this girl. The way out is to bring police to Mackith. This is easy to do, because always on Thursdays true to their habits Mackhit can be found in prostitutes. The Picham family is performed by the Zong, which is the First Three-Piece Finale:

A person has a holy right,

After all, the existence of the earth is short of a century.

And the bread to eat and rejoice, right,

Everyone has the right.

But I heard that someone sometimes

Did you exercise your rights? Alas!

To carry them out is happy, of course, everyone,

Yes, the circumstances are not so!

That’s the truth – who could argue –

Evil man, and the world, and God!

The second action

Polly informs Mackhit that he was reported to the police, and Brown is forced to order his arrest. Maekhit instructs the young wife of the gang, and he himself intends to flee.

Polly successfully demonstrates to the bandits their ability to command.

Anticipating the events, Mr. and Mrs. Pichem perform in the Inmedia “Ballad of the Call of the Flesh”:

Titans of thought and giants of the spirit

Before the doom brings slut.

It was Thursday, and out of habit Mack, no matter what, went to Tarnbridge, to prostitutes. With them, he leads an almost family talk about the climate, about the quality of underwear. Old girlfriend Jenny Malina performs with him “Ballade pimp”. Meanwhile, she had already betrayed him to the police, seduced by Pechem’s money. Here are the police agents. The mekhit is gone.

Prison in the Old Bailey. Your life is pleasant, if you are rich. This truth, fair in prison, Mackey learned from childhood. The conditions of his detention are not the worst. The prisoner is visited at once by two beauties. They are Polly and Lucy Brown, the daughter of his friend Captain Brown. Her Machete seduced her a little earlier than she married Polly. They sing the Duo of jealousy. Mackie is forced to give priority to Lucy – she will help him escape. Lucy fulfills his request. Mackhit leaves the prison and goes… to prostitutes.

The second three-pound finale:

You teach us to live honestly and strictly,

Do not steal, lie or sin.

First, let us devour a little,

And then learn to live honestly.

A champion of goodwill and good,

Hanza and a fast with a thick belly,

Once for all, it’s time for you to remember:

First bread, and morality afterwards!

Here, gentlemen, the whole truth without embellishment:

Only criminals feed us.

Action third

Today is the day of the coronation, and Picham prepares his poor staff for thorough work. Prostitutes appear to demand money for betraying Mekhit. Pichu refuses them: Mack is no longer in prison. In the hearts of Jenny Malina throws: “Mackhit is the last gentleman in this world!” He was out of jail, he first came to comfort me, and now he went with the same to Sookie Todry! ” So she betrays her old friend for the second time, now completely disinterested. Appears Panther Brown. He tries to prevent the beggars from the holiday. Beggars sing:

Your head can not live.

Only head lice will feed you!

Peachem demonstrates his power: if he gives the order, then so many beggars will come out on the street that the holiday will be completely ruined. Frightened Brown promises not to touch the poor, moreover, he promises to immediately arrest his friend Mack.

Lucy Brown and Polly Picham are again discussing who Mack belongs to. They talk like secular ladies, then as business rivals, then as girlfriends, A Mack meanwhile is back in prison.

Yes, Mack is in prison, and he must be hanged today. Finally, he is full of death grief. His accomplices must get a thousand pounds in half an hour to save him. Perhaps, they do not want to hurry too much. No, I do not want to. Brown appears, and the last conversation of friends pours out in the last monetary calculation.

Mack ascends the scaffold. He asks everyone for forgiveness:

Perjured criminals, wells,

Vagabonds, capable and kill,

Walkers, parasites, pimps,

I ask all of you to forgive me!

Suddenly Picchem comes to the front of the stage: “The world is arranged so that Mack must be executed, and no friends will help him, but in our farce everything will be much better.” Specially for you, dear audience, we invited a royal messenger who would now announce the mercy of the queen “.

The third three-penny finale. The royal messenger appears: “Mekheit is forgiven in honor of the coronation of the queen, and at the same time he receives the title of hereditary nobleman and must henceforth be called” sir. “In addition, he receives the Marimar castle and ten thousand-pound life annuity.”

Where the danger is great, there is help too. Is it worth lamenting about the injustice that is so cold and lifeless inside you? Do not forget about this and be tolerant of evil.


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Summary of Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera”
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