One of the things that stand out the most while reading Henry Fielding’s Jonathan Wild, is how differently it is formatted from other works from the same period. Granted, The Beggar’s Opera is a play and thus formatted accordingly. But Moll Flanders, while obviously a novel, based on its length, narrative style, etc., was not at all formattedContinue reading “The Novel Form”
Tag Archives: The Beggar’s Opera
“A wife’s like a guinea in gold”: The Commodification of Women in “The Beggar’s Opera”
In The Beggar’s Opera, we find the inversions of many societal norms for comedic effect. As is true of all satires, these purposeful reversals of positions and definitions, while at one moment the cause for hilarity, also serve to expose the dark truths behind institutions and ideas society accepts as natural. One of the institutionsContinue reading ““A wife’s like a guinea in gold”: The Commodification of Women in “The Beggar’s Opera””