Prostitutes Walker

William Hogarth’s series of engravings, “A Harlot’s Progress” (1732), tells the tragic story of Mary “Moll” Hackabout, a young woman arriving in London who is quickly seduced into prostitution. The narrative, unfolding over six plates, serves as a powerful moral commentary on the perils facing vulnerable women in the city. Plate 1 famously shows Moll being inspected by the notorious procuress, Elizabeth “Mother” Needham, while a lecherous old man, often interpreted as Colonel Francis Charteris, a notorious libertine known as a “prostitutes walker,” looks on approvingly.

Moll Hackabout’s Tragic Journey

The series meticulously traces Moll’s rapid descent: from a fresh-faced country girl to the kept mistress of a wealthy merchant (Plate 2), then to a common prostitute sharing lodgings (Plate 3), descending further into poverty, disease, and arrest (Plate 4), her miserable death from syphilis (Plate 5), and finally, the chaotic scene of her wake (Plate 6). Hogarth uses Moll’s story to expose the exploitation, disease, and societal hypocrisy surrounding prostitution.

Symbolism and the Brothel Scene

Plate 3 is particularly significant for understanding the environment Moll inhabits. It depicts a scene in a disorganized brothel or “bagnio.” Moll is shown entertaining clients while her maid steals a watch from one. The room is filled with symbolic details: overturned furniture suggesting chaos, a picture of Jupiter and Io hinting at predatory sexuality, and a monkey rummaging through a wig, symbolizing vanity and base instincts. The figure of Charteris in Plate 1, embodying the predatory “prostitutes walker,” sets the stage for this inevitable decline. Hogarth’s work forces viewers to confront the brutal realities faced by women like Moll, caught in a system facilitated by figures like the procuress and the wealthy “prostitutes walker.”

*TAGS* – Harlot’s Progress analysis, 18th century prostitution London, Hogarth moral symbolism