The Beggar’s Opera

by

John Gay

Account Book Symbol Analysis

Account Book Symbol Icon

Peachum’s account book represents the way modern economies corrupt people by making them care more about money than morality or other people. Peachum carries his account book with him everywhere and meticulously records every purchase, sale, and bounty in it. He is obsessed with profit, which he demonstrates to the play’s audience by constantly going over his accounts. In fact, the audience even learns about Peachum’s nefarious occupation by watching him flip through his account book in the opening scene. He reads off each thief’s name and decides who gets to live and die, based on how much profit they bring in. Notably, the audience never even sees the people who die—instead, they see what each execution means to Peachum: another £40 on another line in his book. Between stolen goods and executions, Peachum’s accounts are a tabulation of other people’s suffering, and his life goal is to make the numbers go as high as possible.

Of course, John Gay also uses Peachum’s profit obsession to criticize English society as a whole. While 18th century England was not yet capitalist in the modern sense—the Industrial Revolution hadn’t even happened yet—it was already growing rich, mainly by plundering its overseas colonies. (This is how wealthy Londoners got all the gold, jewels, and fine silk that Peachum and Macheath steal.) In turn, Gay suggests, this newfound wealth was changing English society by encouraging everyone to become thieves and scoundrels. Put differently, once people get a taste of wealth, they often become willing to harm and exploit other people in order to get more of it. And once whole societies start to base themselves on the logic of the market, it’s not long before exploitation, violence, and immorality become the cost of doing business.

Account Book Quotes in The Beggar’s Opera

The The Beggar’s Opera quotes below all refer to the symbol of Account Book. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Moral Corruption and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
).
Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Robin of Bagshot, alias Gorgon, alias Bluff Bob, alias Carbuncle, alias Bob Booty.

Related Characters: Peachum (speaker), Robin of Bagshot (“Bob Booty”)
Related Symbols: Account Book
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
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Account Book Symbol Timeline in The Beggar’s Opera

The timeline below shows where the symbol Account Book appears in The Beggar’s Opera. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
Moral Corruption and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Class, Capitalism, and Inequality Theme Icon
Opera, High Art, and Performance Theme Icon
Sitting at home with his account book , the thief-catcher and crime kingpin Peachum sings an aria (or air) about how everyone... (full context)
Act 1, Scene 2
Moral Corruption and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Class, Capitalism, and Inequality Theme Icon
...off. Tom Gagg is sentenced to execution; Peachum curses Tom and adds £40 to his account book —his reward for turning Tom in. (full context)
Act 2, Scene 10
Moral Corruption and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
...Lockit agree to split the bounty for capturing Macheath. As they go through last year’s account book , Peachum complains that the government isn’t paying him his bounties on time. He even... (full context)
Act 3, Scene 5
Class, Capitalism, and Inequality Theme Icon
Peachum and Lockit sit at Peachum’s warehouse, going through their accounts of stolen goods from King George II’s coronation. There are brocades and pocketbooks, watches and... (full context)