The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny by Bertolt Brecht

Money is the root of all evil. Or so Bertolt Brecht seems to be telling us in his play, The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny in which he illustrates that a city cannot be based solely on the pursuit of monetary gain and earthly pleasures. The city of Mahagonny was founded by Trinity Moses, Lady Bird Begbick and Fatty the Bookie on the basis that money can buy happiness and that by offering all the pleasures of the flesh in one place, they would be able to capitalize on selling happiness. Their sole interest in the endeavor was to take advantage of those people who had worked hard to save money and persuade them to spend it in their “city of nets.” In the city of Mahagonny, anything and everything is permitted as long as someone will pay for it. The city is a pleasure utopia that encourages sex, eating, drinking, and fighting for the sole purpose of making money.