Captain Macheath

Captain Macheath is a fictional British criminal, who appears both in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and roughly 200 years later in Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera although his personality in the later work is markedly different in certain respects, particularly regarding his attitude toward the use of violence. [ [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmacktheknife.html Straight Dope Staff Report: What's the story behind "Mack the Knife"? ] ]

Origins

Macheath made his first appearance in John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" as a chivalrous highwayman. He then appeared as a pirate in John Gay's sequel.

He was likely inspired in part by Jack Shepard who, like Macheath, escaped from prison and enjoyed the affections of a prostitute, and dispised violence. His nemesis Peachum who, in John Gay's original work keeps an account book of unproductive thieves (something that Macheath himself does in Bertolt Brecht's work). Both characters can be understood as satires of Robert Wapole.

In Threepenny Opera

References

ee also

* "Mack the Knife"