Previous
Polly Peachum
Polly’s mother and Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum’s wife. Mrs. Peachum is one of the shallower characters in the play—as an archetypical (or stereotypical) vision of a nagging wife and concerned mother, she mostly exists in relation to her husband and daughter. Mrs. Peachum is rather dull, and believes that her daughter’s most recent suitor is a fine upstanding gentleman—never mind that the man she knows only as “the Captain” bears a strong resemblance to the notorious gangster Macheath. Once Mrs. Peachum discovers who her daughter is really seeing—and, later, learns that they have eloped—she becomes concerned for her daughter’s well-being, and joins her husband in his plot to have Macheath jailed once and for all. Mrs. Peachum is concerned about her daughter’s budding sexuality—this arc ties in with the play’s theme of love and sex, which dissects the ways in which romance and infatuation distract men and women from their personal self-interests and larger societal duties and obligations.
Mrs. Peachum Quotes in The Threepenny Opera
The The Threepenny Opera quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Peachum or refer to Mrs. Peachum. 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:
).
Act 1, Scene 1
Quotes
MRS. PEACHUM: You’ve got a nice opinion of your daughter!
PEACHUM: The worst! The very worst! She is nothing but a mass of sensuality.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 3
Quotes
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 1
Quotes
MRS. PEACHUM: Let me tell you this, Jenny: if all London were after him, Macheath is not the man to give up his old habits.
Now here’s a man who fights old Satan’s battle:
The butcher, he! All other men, mere cattle!
He is a shark with all the world to swim in!
What gets him down? What gets ‘em all down? Women.
He may not want to, but he’ll acquiesce
For such is sexual submissiveness.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 3
Quotes
ALL: Combat injustice but in moderation:
Such things will freeze to death if left alone.
Remember: this whole vale of tribulation
Is black as pitch and cold as any stone.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Threepenny Opera LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mrs. Peachum Quotes in The Threepenny Opera
The The Threepenny Opera quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Peachum or refer to Mrs. Peachum. 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:
).
Act 1, Scene 1
Quotes
MRS. PEACHUM: You’ve got a nice opinion of your daughter!
PEACHUM: The worst! The very worst! She is nothing but a mass of sensuality.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 3
Quotes
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 1
Quotes
MRS. PEACHUM: Let me tell you this, Jenny: if all London were after him, Macheath is not the man to give up his old habits.
Now here’s a man who fights old Satan’s battle:
The butcher, he! All other men, mere cattle!
He is a shark with all the world to swim in!
What gets him down? What gets ‘em all down? Women.
He may not want to, but he’ll acquiesce
For such is sexual submissiveness.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 3
Quotes
ALL: Combat injustice but in moderation:
Such things will freeze to death if left alone.
Remember: this whole vale of tribulation
Is black as pitch and cold as any stone.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
