The beggur's Opera : phenomenal yet controversial success : reconsidered

Abstract EN

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera is a satiric play which has enjoyed a phenomenal success since its first appearance on the stage of Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1728.

This phenomenal success raised different sorts of controversies over its political satire, social satire, and operatic parodies.

Such controversies range from the most enthusiastic and supportive to the most detracting and degrading ones; subsequently, the play suffered several misinterpretations for neither the advocates nor the detractors gave it its fair dues, and in turn the real factors behind its success and popularity are neither misrepresented, overlooked, or worse distorted.

This study takes the burden of throwing those constantly raised controversies back into debate, unraveling first the motivations behind the pro and con views, then examining the validity of what has been said about the play by pundits and commentators.

In its attempt to repudiate most of those biased views, this study, in the last part, highlights the points of attraction which enhanced its way for popularity and success, and granted Gay's mock-opera a remarkable place among the everlasting masterpieces.

We strongly believe what gives the play its eternal place among the best is the artistic strategy followed by the playwright in which he blended the high and low and then succeeded to domesticate high art in the cell of Newgate