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Newgate Prison
Penal transportation is a form of punishment in which criminals are shipped away to faraway colonies. It was frequently used in the British Empire between the late 1600s and the mid-1800s, especially for thieves. The most common destinations were North America, the Caribbean, and Australia.
Transportation Quotes in The Beggar’s Opera
The The Beggar’s Opera quotes below are all either spoken by Transportation or refer to Transportation. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 3, Scene 16
Quotes
PLAYER. But, honest Friend, I hope you don’t intend that Macheath shall be really executed.
BEGGAR. Most certainly, Sir.—To make the Piece perfect, I was for doing strict poetical Justice.—Macheath is to be hang’d; and for the other Personages of the Drama, the Audience must have suppos’d they were all either hang’d or transported.
PLAYER. Why then, Friend, this is a down-right deep Tragedy. The Catastrophe is manifestly wrong, for an Opera must end happily.
BEGGAR. Your Objection, Sir, is very just; and is easily remov’d. For you must allow, that in this kind of Drama, ’tis no matter how absurdly things are brought about.—So—you Rabble there—run and cry a Reprieve—let the Prisoner be brought back to his Wives in Triumph.
PLAYER. All this we must do, to comply with the Taste of the Town.
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