Oh my goodness. This play had some very absurd moments. With wives meeting wives meeting wives. Despite the crazier moments between Lucy and Polly, John Gay had some interesting commentary on female-male relationships. Women to women relationships were portrayed as mostly good in this play. For example, when Macheath is with all the prostitutes, their discussion among themselves is really nice. Mrs. Coaxer says "if any woman hath more art than another, to be sure, 'tis Jenny" (2631). This is just one of the friendlier things said in the exchange. The same cordial attitude can be found when the men are all together. When Macheath is with his men in Act 2 scene 2 they are very nice to each other. They attribute to each other the highest compliments, honor, courage etc. When Macheath admits that he cannot go out with the men because he is in a spot of trouble, none of the men are angry. When men and women are separate in this play, it brings out the best of all the characters.
Interestingly enough, the ugly side of the characters is only present when the opposite gender is brought in. I think the best example of this is the interaction between Polly and Lucy. Although we don't see Lucy very much before we meet her fighting over Macheath, we do see Polly. When Polly thinks that Macheath is all hers, she is very sweet. It is when she is confronted with the fact that he has another wife that things start to become ugly. Lucy is so possessed with guilt she even tries to poison Polly. Yet all of this revenge and anger dries up as soon as Macheath is out of the picture, dead. Since neither of them will have him, they bond over their sorrow, "let us retire, my dear Lucy, and indulge our sorrows" (2653). In sum, Gay is presenting the idea that the opposite gender causes us to act our worse. That without the other gender, we are actually pretty good people. Interesting.
-Molly Hakso
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