There might not be visible blood, guts, and gore onstage, but violence is a constant, present theme in The Threepenny Opera. Every character engages in some sort of violence, whether it's economic, verbal, or physical, but the king of them all is Mac the Knife. He's known for leaving little old men and ladies bleeding near the river, burning down houses—your basic dirty deeds. But what's really sick is the structural violence that Brecht is trying to shed light on through the play: this violent guy is in bed with the cops, who know how dastardly he is and yet do nothing about it.
Questions About Violence
- How are Mac's violent actions similar to and different from Jackie's?
- Besides the obvious criminal acts of violence that Mac commits, what other, subtler forms of violence does the play reveal?
- Why is Mac spared the ultimate violence of execution? What is the purpose of the deus ex machina?
Chew on This
The Threepenny Opera shows how violence permeates our everyday life, beyond the horrors of murder or arson.
Mac is a victim of the violent system. As hard as it may be to swallow, his actions are not his own fault.