William Hogarth’s Moral Tales
Suggested Response
Overall activity: To explore William Hogarth’s use of iconography (visual
signs) in his ‘modern moral subjects’ in order to create your own
metaphors for modern life.
Good Girl Gone Bad
Scene 2 from William Hogarth’s A Harlot’s Progress (1732)
“he began a small picture of a common harlot, supposed to
dwell in drewry lane. just riseing about noon out of bed. and at
breakfast. a bunter waiting on her. – this whore’s deshabille
careless and a pretty Countenance & air. – this thought
pleased many. some advised him to make another. to it as a
pair. which he did. then other thoughts encreas’d, & multiplyd
by his fruitfull invention. till he made six. different subjects
which he painted so naturally. the thoughts, & strikeing the
expressions that it drew every body to see them – which he
proposing to Engrave in six plates to print at, one guinea each
sett. he had daily Subscriptions came in, in fifty or a hundred
pounds in a Week – there being no days but persons of
fashion and Artists came to see these pictures.”
George Vertue writing on the conception of The Harlot’s Progress in his
Notebooks, III.
A Classic Story
A Harlot’s Progress is a classic story of
a good girl gone bad.
A country girl named Moll Hackabout
arrives in London on the York Wagon,
only to be greeted by the notorious
brothel keeper, ‘Mother’ Needham.
Detail from Plate 1
Moll starts off as the mistress of a rich
Jewish man. But pretty quickly her life
devolves into “Drury lane” level
prostitution, and Moll becomes adept to
a life of multiple clients and petty theft.
Things get even worse when she is
sent to serve some ‘time’, beating
hemp at Bridewell prison.
At some point she has a child.
Detail from Plate 5
She eventually dies from venereal
disease, aged 23.
“MOLL: A Whore”
Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,
1785
William Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress: Plate 1, 1732. British Museum, London
The Story so far: Plate 1
Thus far we have only been introduced to
Moll once, in plate 1.
She arrives on the York wagon, outside
the Bell Inn in London – packed with what
seems like a helpless line of country
ladies who appear like lost sheep.
Mother Needham carefully inspects the
young Moll, observing her untouched
beauty – a sharp contrast to her own
pock-ridden face.
In the background Colonel Francis
Charteris, a promiscuous aristocrat who
was famously known as the “rape-master
general” , looks on with a seedy grin – his
hands uncomfortably deep in his pockets.
This is the beginning of Moll’s sad fall
from innocence on the harsh streets of
London.
SCENE 2: Theatrical deception
William Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress: Plate 2, 1732. British Museum, London
Scene 2
Fashion
In the second plate of A Harlot’s Progress Moll has
already undergone a transformation into the role of a
fashionable mistress.
She is attended to by a Black servant who is dressed in
fine livery and a feathered turban. An exotic monkey is
dragging her expensive headdress across the floor.
These two visual devices already reflect the
extravagance with which Moll has now become
accustomed.
Scene 2
Folly
Moll and her Jewish keeper are having
breakfast. Unfortunately a little too
early for Moll’s “suitor” to have left her
rooms.
To aid his exit, Moll creates a dramatic
diversion, kicking over the tea table and
mesmerizing her keeper with the click
of her fingers and an exposed breast.
Moll’s keeper is so startled by her
behavior and the hot tea that scalds his
legs, that he fails to notice the suitor
who hurriedly exits past the maid
handing him his shoes.
At least for now, Moll’s indiscretion
goes unnoticed. Or does it?
Loose Women: Popular subjects
Hogarth had a wealth of literary and artistic precedents to draw on for the subject of his
Harlot. This was and continued to be a popular subject, always raising a host of critical
social themes surrounding class, identity, moral values and capitalism.
Attrib. to Lucas van Leyden, [The Old Man
and the Courtesan] 17th century. British
Museum, London
After John Collet, Bachelor’s Fare – or Bread and
Cheese with Kisses, 1777. British Museum, London
Loose Women: Popular subjects
“I, madam, was once kept by a Jew ; and, bating their religion, to women they are a
good sort of people.”
Mrs Slammekin in John Gay’s The beggar’s Opera (1728)
"Thus the Government of our Virtue was broken and I exchang'd the Place of Friend
for that unmusical harsh-sounding Title of Whore."
From Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722)
“She look'd as if she would devour me with her eyes, staring at me from head to
foot, without the least regard to the confusion and blushes her eyeing me so fixedly
put me to, and which were to her, no doubt, the strongest re-commendation and
marks of my being fit for her purpose. After a little time, in which my air, person and
whole figure had undergone a strict examination, which I had, on my part, tried to
render favourable to me, by primming, drawing up my neck, and setting my best
looks, she advanced and spoke to me with the greatest demureness:
"Sweet-heart, do you want a place?”
From John Cleland’s Fanny Hill (c.1749)
A note on the Jewish context
Before 1656 Jewish people were expelled
from England, because of their faith.
During the 18th century, when Hogarth
was commenting on London society,
Jews were often perceived and treated as
second class citizens. In fact before
1753, Jewish people were unable to
become legally British.
Despite this, Jewish people were still able
to mix in English society relatively easily
– especially those who were wealthy.
Some would hide their Jewish identity
completely or convert to Christianity.
Perhaps then Hogarth is also making a
comment on the relationship between
wealth, class and identity in England –
aren’t Moll and her ‘Jew’ both
outsiders? How has money changed
this?
Transformation
From a rose bosom to a bare bosom
The Iconography of Duplicity
Scene 2 of A Harlot’s Progress is a crucial turning point in Moll’s story. The
audience becomes acutely aware that the supposedly innocent Moll from scene 1
has now disappeared. Her new lifestyle as a ‘kept’ mistress has changed her, and
now she begins to engage in the art of deception.
Two Faced?
Moll’s deception of her keeper may
have been duplicitous, but so too is the
new identity which she is now forced to
occupy…An identity which has its own
challenges and needs.
This tally’s with the overall theatrical
quality of Hogarth’s story. This is a
melodrama with villains and victims.
Some of the characters were real
people, but they are simply included in
a story that is a metaphor for social
decline and irresponsibility in Hogarth’s
society.
The Iconography of Duplicity
On the far left-hand side of the print, Hogarth includes a mask sitting on Moll’s
dresser, next to a mirror that appears to be cracked.
This imagery offer an additional way of reading Moll’s calamitous scene.
Cracked mirror: This echoes the general
state of Moll’s situation. What was once
‘clear’ and simple is now broken. The
reflection of this mirror (Moll’s image) will
never be the same…or completely whole.
Mask: Moll is presenting different faces to
different people. Her lifestyle is an ‘act’ of
fashionability, which is being misused.
As the monkey runs (without looking)
towards these two symbols of discord and
pretense, we can only imagine the further
damage that will be caused in the
collision.
A Modern Day Twist?
21st Century setup
If I were to adapt this scene into a 21st century context…
Moll: A struggling actress trying to make it big in Hollywood.
Jewish Keeper: Moll’s agent, who secretly harbors affections for
her and is therefore hideously jealous of any male attention she
receives.
Suitor: Well, still a suitor…perhaps a boyfriend Moll hasn’t told
her agent about.
Maid: Moll’s best friend – there’s always a best friend!
Black servant: An assistant, or perhaps her personal
trainer…who is Latino.
Monkey: A pet Chihuahua that Moll was convinced into buying
by her agent – so she would be more like Paris Hilton. The
chihuahua would be wearing a diamante necklace, and ruining
her (also new) Burka bag.
21st Century setup
And the iconography? (Mask and Mirror)
These would stay exactly
the same!