1. “Seldom
have I undertaken the smallest job without giving my friend Brown
here a share of the proceeds. . . . And seldom has the all-powerful
Sheriff . . . organized a raid without previously giving a little
tip-off to me, the friend of his youth.”
This quote by Macheath in Act I scene
II exemplifies the way that self-interest motivates friendship.
In this case, the quote relates to Macheath’s feelings about his
former comrade in arms, Brown. In the wedding scene, the criminal
reveals that he has had a close bond with Brown since they fought
together in India. Repeated mention of their affinity for one another
reveals how Macheath has managed to elude the law. This emphasis
of Macheath’s bond with Brown foreshadows the criminal’s eventual
arrest and Brown’s wrestling over whether to remain loyal to his
boyhood friend or save his own reputation and livelihood. When Peachum
endangers Brown’s career by threatening to unleash a band of beggars
onto the coronation ceremony, Brown betrays Macheath. Brown even
goes so far as to ask Macheath for money when Macheath is moments
from being hanged.
After Brown’s repeated betrayals to Macheath, it is ironic
that he is the one that sets Macheath free at the end of Act III,
scene III. Brown appears as the one in charge when he arrives on
a high horse to reveal that the queen has pardoned Macheath. This
false happy ending displays the faulty nature of friendship in the
modern world, for life is not a play. As Peachum later articulates,
reality rarely contains mounted messengers. Although Brown is relieved
that Macheath is set free, he did not fight to try to save his friend
before the queen’s order, and Brown’s unwillingness to attempt to
rescue Macheath indicates that Macheath’s earlier comment regarding
the depths of their affection is untrue.
Though Macheath and Brown became close friends when they served
in the army, their friendship now is based solely on self-interest.
They only help one another because they will profit from it. Macheath
is not innocent in his friendship with Brown, as he went behind
his back and seduced Brown’s daughter, Lucy. Macheath desires sex,
and he does not care whom he seduces, even if it affects his friendship
with Brown. However, because Brown does not know about Macheath’s
relationship with his daughter, he cannot feel anything but remorse
for arresting his friend. The disloyalty between both Macheath and
Brown implies that friends are only used as a means of getting ahead
in the world.
