Abstract
The unparalleled success of The Beggar's Opera created a certain discrepancy; while the work was highly critical of the social and political elite, the actress who created the role of Polly Peachum, Lavinia Fenton, was routinely associated with a string of aristocrats. This article examines the resulting struggle over Fenton's presumed emotional and political attachments. By analyzing female celebrity through the prism of class, I argue that this struggle had placed the actress, and her relations with aristocratic men, as a central emblem of the contemporary revaluation of social status.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 215-232 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Eighteenth-Century Studies |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2024 |
Keywords
- Beggar's Opera
- Lavinia Fenton
- actresses
- aristocracy
- celebrity
- class
- gender
- nobility
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- General Arts and Humanities