Girls, girls, girls—besides money and murder, that's all that Mac the Knife thinks about in Threepenny Opera. And the fact that most of those girls are, ahem, prostitutes, means that he's only got one thing on his mind when he goes to visit his gal pals. Lust, more than his propensity for stealing and killing, is what causes Mac's downfall. Rather than escaping when he has the chance, he goes to the whorehouse and his lust is just what gets him caught. His indiscriminate, widespread lust reveals the weakness of his character.
Questions About Lust
- Does Mac have any feelings for Polly, Lucy, or Jenny? Or is he just lusting after them?
- Why don't the Peachums want their daughter to marry?
- Why do you think that Mac keeps going back to the prostitutes when he really should get out of town?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Everyone believes that Mac's downfall is lust, but really it's his overconfidence in his illegal relationship with the police.
Nice try, but Mac is debilitated by his baser instincts. Lust is his downfall.