Give her another Glass, Sir! my Mama drinks double the Quantity whenever she is out of Order. This, you see, fetches her
Mrs. Peachum uses alcohol as a coping mechanism.
6 Matching Annotations
- Jun 2022
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These are the Schools that have bred so many brave Men. I thought, Boy, by this time, thou hadst lost Fear as well as Shame. Poor Lad!
She thinks he should act more "manly" then he does , even though he is just a child. She is putting pressure on him to conform to societies view of what a man should be: someone without fear or shame.
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He hath as fine a Hand at picking a Pocket as a Woman, and is as nimble-finger’d as a Juggler
These similes allude to the fact that he steals, obviously but it also a comment on women. We can see the way Mrs. Peachum feels about most women as "pick-pockets" perhaps only after men for money and good life. Quite the commentary of the thoughts of women of certain ranking in this time period.
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Frailty of an over-scrupulous Conscience
She thinks she may have spoken out of turn as she mentions how frail a overly cautious conscience can be. She is more concerned about these human beings dying regardless of if they're at fault. We see her humanity here.
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I hate a lazy Rogue, by whom one can get nothing ’till he is hang’d.
He believes liars and cheats are worth more dead. He is accustomed to thinking little of human life.
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We are not sorry for him—we learn that, not to be sorry for the dead. But for ourselves? This terror is always so fresh, so unexampled.
This is quite a bold statement, especially for an opening paragraph. It makes the reader stop and think, potentially reflecting on their own life. It also allows us to connect with the narrator as they think about the terror they may have experienced in their own lives.
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