Literature & Language Essay: Capitalism as a Driving Force of Corruption and Brutality in Brecht's Threepenny Opera

Your Name
Instructor Name
Course Number
Date
Capitalism as a Driving Force of Corruption and Brutality in Brecht's Threepenny Opera
Introduction
A capitalist system drives people to do anything, including murder, theft, and prostitution, to make money. It is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled privately for profit. The system's central characteristics include recognizing private property ownership, competition, voluntary exchange, wage labor, accumulation of capital, and a price system. While the design remains central to modern development and civilization, it seldom limits the extent to which individuals, corporates, and government officials can defile humanity in pursuit of wealth. Brecht's play, Threepenny Opera, is an ideal depiction of how capitalism is a driving force of corruption and brutality as means through which people strive to accumulate wealth and climb the social ladder.
Competitiveness in a Capitalist System
Peachum is an example of a ruthless entrepreneur who will do anything to make money. He runs an enterprise called 'Friends of the Beggar' in which he has perfected the art of creating fake beggars to draw money from the middle and upper classes. He controls London's streets and ensures that every beggar gets a license before they can occupy a spot on the roads he controls. In a capitalist system, the essence is to make money out of ideas as part of the system's voluntary exchange and wage labor traits. Therefore, he has perfected the art of selling pity, in which he exploits the most vulnerable in society. As Filch explains in the first scene, "my mother was a drunkard, my father a gambler…without the loving hand of a mother to guide me, I sank deeper into the morass…so now you see me completely destitute." Filch's words highlight the desperate state in which most people are living. Peachum capitalizes on this by offering Filch a 'professional begging license' and ensures he gets the most significant chunk (70%) of what Filch will collect. This kind of extortion is no different from what corporates do to employees, where they do most of the work. Still, the company keeps most of the income leading to an unfair competition where company owners (or shareholders) increasingly become richer (for doing less). At the same time, the actual workers take home just a little for survival. Practically, Peachum steals from the public while presenting himself as an astute businessman who knows his Bible.
In scene 3 of act 2, Macheath retorts, "What does a man live by? By resolutely ill-treating, beating, cheating, and eating some other bloke". The words are a highlight how brutal competition is in a capitalist system. Macheath is a ruthless gang leader whose gang steals, rapes, and kills for profit, a majority of which he keeps. He essentially uses brute force to win the competition over other struggling business people trying to climb the social ladder. "Men live exclusively by mortal sin," he adds. His words are an embodiment of the phrase 'survival for the fittest in which only the strong ones in society get to survive without a thought about the suffering of others. His plans to steal from the people he owes to start a banking business i...