The Rake's Progress Synopsis
ACT I, Scene 1 - Trulove’s house in the country
Tom Rakewell is in love with Anne Trulove, but her father secretly doubts Tom’s strength of character. His suspicions are confirmed when Tom refuses his offer of steady employment. Tom is content to put his trust in Fortune, wishing only for money. A stranger, who announces himself as Nick Shadow, arrives with the news that an unknown uncle of Tom’s has died and left him a fortune. Tom must go at once to London, and Nick offers himself as Tom’s servant to guide him through the intricacies of city life. The question of his salary can be decided a year and a day hence. Tom shall pay him what his services prove to have been
worth. Tom takes leave of Anne and her father and sets off with Nick to London.
ACT I, Scene 2 - Mother Goose’s brothel
Nick introduces Tom to some of the attractions of the big city, teaching him a new creed: to be guided by instinct rather than the rules and to seek pleasure above all things. Tom is schooled in Nick’s lessons by Mother Goose, but when he struggles to banish his memories of Anne, the older woman decides to take him in hand and leads him off to introduce him to pleasure.
ACT I, Scene 2 - Trulove’s house in the country
Months have passed, but Anne has heard no news of Tom. She senses that Tom needs her and resolves to go in search of him in London.
ACT II, Scene 1 - Tom’s house
Tom is disillusioned by his life. Nick exhorts him to marry Baba the Turk, the bearded lady of St. Giles’ Fair. To be truly free, he must defy the tyranny of appetite and conscience. Baba is therefore the perfect agent for Tom to find his happiness. Tom allows himself to be persuaded by Nick and sets off to woo Baba and win her as his bride.
ACT II, Scene 2 - The street in front of Tom’s house
Anne finds her way to Tom’s house and sees him arrive home escorting a closed sedan chair. He begs her to return home and forget him. Anne reaffirms her love for Tom but leaves him, shamed, when she learns that the impatient occupant of the sedan chair is Baba the Turk, now his wife. Tom leads the veiled Baba to the house as the townspeople crowd around the door, begging for a glimpse of her.
INTERMISSION
ACT II, Scene 3 - Tom’s house
Baba sits at breakfast with Tom, surrounded by the presents given to her by her countless admirers. Tom is bored and infuriates Baba with his indifference. She accuses him of retaining his love for Anne and rages until Tom silences her.
He escapes into sleep—the last refuge of the bored. Nick now prepares to complete Tom’s downfall by adding financial disaster to his moral and domestic ruin. He wheels in a bogus machine for converting stones to bread. Tom tells Nick that he has been dreaming of such a machine, believing that it will cure poverty and bring happiness to the wretched. Thus with good deeds, he may again be worthy of Anne’s love. He leaves to devote all his energies to this noble bread-making cause.
ACT III, Scene 1 - Tom’s house
Tom’s financial bubble has burst, bringing ruin to himself and countless foolish investors. A crowd of inquisitive townsfolk flock to attend the auction of his belongings. Anne arrives to ask news of Tom, but no one can tell her where to find him. Sellem begins to auction the contents of the house. In due course he offers a mysterious object: it is Baba, who springs to the defense of her belongings, unaware of the intervening time since Tom silenced her. Tom and Nick are heard singing from the street, mocking Baba, and Anne returns at the sound of their voices. Baba tells her that Tom still loves her and that her love may still save him. Anne rushes out to find Tom, and Baba decides to go back to her true calling, the stage.
ACT III, Scene 2 - A church graveyard
A year and a day have passed since Nick entered Tom’s service. He now claims his wages, Tom’s soul. An open grave is waiting. He offers Tom a choice of death by poison, steel, rope, or gun and then proposes that they play cards to decide his fate. Nick attempts to cheat, but memories of Anne inspire Tom to win the game. Nick is enraged at being outwitted, and, cheated of Tom’s soul, he takes his final revenge by cursing him with a life of endless insanity.
ACT III, Scene 3 - Bedlam
Tom is confined to Bedlam. He thinks himself to be Adonis, and when Anne comes to visit him, he believes that she is Venus, whom he has long been seeking. He asks her forgiveness for disdaining her love. She comforts him and sings him a lullaby. Her love is unaltered, but realizing that she can no longer help him, she sadly agrees to return home with her father. Tom wakes to find that Venus has gone, and his heart breaks.
EPILOGUE
The performers join in pointing out the moral of the fable: “For idle hands and hearts and minds, the Devil finds a work to do.”