The Beggar’s Opera · Character

Jenny Diver

One of the town women in Macheath's wide circle of lovers, Jenny Diver moves through the opera's underworld as both a rival and a lure.

supporting

Also known as Jenny

First appearance: act i

As a supporting figure in The Beggar’s Opera, Jenny Diver is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

See Jenny Diver in act i Book page

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Jenny belongs to the chorus of 'Women of the Town' whose names — Coaxer, Trull, Vixen, Doxy — announce their trade, and she numbers among the many lovers Macheath keeps in addition to his wife Polly. Her presence sharpens the play's central irony: the highwayman who lives by fraud is himself entangled by women whose affections, like his own profession, are paid for. She matters to the middle arc as one of the threads that can be pulled to expose or betray Macheath when the Peachums and Lockits close in.

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The fuller portrait of Jenny Diver sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Jenny Diver in act i