Polly Peachum and the Aristocrats: Celebrity, Class, and Gender in the Early Eighteenth Century

Uri Erman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)215-232
Number of pages18
JournalEighteenth-Century Studies
Volume57
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 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

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