English Literature

John Gays balled opera, The Beggars Opera, was first written in the year 1728 and is divided into three acts. In the play, there are various taboos that have been exposed. Majority are still not acceptable in many communities all over the world up to date.

The book The Beggars opera is dangerous in diverse ways. One of the most significant is the exposure of the negative side of the government and has criticized its actions that have led to the oppression of the common citizens. There are various taboo things in the play. The fact that Polly was married to Macheath led to her parents making a plot to kill him for his wealth. Murder is one of the taboos depicted in this excerpt. Polly however manages to hide him. For example, there is no community that puts up with thieves or murderers. Therefore, this is viewed as a taboo and is not acceptable in the society.  These acts are therefore viewed as an abomination.

It was a taboo for the women who stole from Machaeth when he went to a pub after realizing that his life was in danger. Some of the taboos reviewed in this excerpt are therefore human-related in that they occur between two or more people. Another more significant taboo as depicted in the story is the fact that Macheath made love to many women when he went to a pub yet he had a wife, Polly. Afterwards, many of them claimed that they were pregnant with his babies. One of Machaeths concubines, Lucy, also committed a taboo when she tried poisoning Polly. This was a taboo since it was an attempted murder. Machaeth also committed a taboo when he denied the fact that Polly was his wife before Lucy (Gay, 1). This was a taboo since a husband was not allowed to deny his legal wife.
In conclusion, Polly has been portrayed in the story as a woman who was able to go over all these taboos and emerge as a victor. This is due to the fact that she was able to save Machaeth from being killed by her parents as well as escaping the poison trap that was set for her by Lucy.