... to bring to the attention of the audience that the morals of the rich and famous during the Eighteenth Century were no better than those of the common criminal (Richards & Quick, 1971, pp23-25; Donaldson, 1970, p165). In fact, as Lewis (1976, p51) and Noble (1975 p7) suggest, the proposition seems to be that the behavior of the ruling elite could ... the majority of the characters we meet all tend to be criminals of the unpleasant, selfish and greedy variety (Lewis, 1976, pp48-49; Noble, 1975, pp7-8). As Donaldson (pp165-166) notes, Gay does imbue some of his characters with a taint of ...

• Word Count: 1769
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate