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Cruelty in Perfection
1750/1
13 15/16” X 11 11/16” (H X W)
View the full resolution plate here.
The Gothic setting of plate 3, aptly titled "Cruelty in Perfection " reveals one of Hogarth's most shocking designs and one of the most savage depictions of violence in his oeuvre. Tom, turned highwayman, is arrested for the murder of his pregnant female companion, identified in her letter as Ann Gill. She has robbed her employer and run away to meet and, ostensibly, elope with her criminal beau who has killed her to rid himself of the burden of a wife and child. Shesgreen, however, notes that Tom seems "himself revolted at the sight of the pregnant corpse that he has hacked sadistically and then murdered" (79). Tom has indeed not only cut the woman's throat, but has also sliced her arm and even her finger which menacingly points to a tract called "God's Revenge Against Murder " Though his punishment by hanging is forthcoming, Nero's look of disbelief, even horror, at his actions is the closest the series comes to a repentance. This touch of humanity in this figure whose cruelty has known no bounds adds a new dimension to the character. The arresting party and the servant yelling for assistance are too late—Tom’s cruelty has been allowed to proceed unchecked until this point of no return.
Cruelty in Perfection
Shesgreen, Sean. Engravings by Hogarth. (1973)
Tom Nero’s cruel tendencies have led him to murder. Apprehended in a churchyard at 1 A.M. by a group of outraged farmers, Nero is himself revolted at the sight of the pregnant corpse he has hacked sadistically and then murdered. The pistols ad watches suggest that he has become a highwayman. Over the corpse of his mistress stands a tombstone with the skull and crossbones and the words, “Here lieth the Body.” Beside her sits her vanity box (initialed “A G”); her severed hand points to “God’s Revenge against Murder” and the Book of Common Prayer. Next to it, in a pool of blood, lies the booty the girl has stolen. A letter “To Thos Nero at P” contains its own special ironies. “Dr Tommy My Mistress has been the best of Women to me, and my Conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am resolv’d to venture Body & Soul to do as you have me so don’t fail to meet me as you said you would. For I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at presant but I remain yours till Death. Ann Gill.”
A bat and an owl hover eerily over the Gothic scene (79).
Cruelty in Perfection
Paulson, Ronald. Hogarth’s Graphic Works. (1965)
CAPTION:
To lawless Love when once betray'd,
Soon Crime to Crime succeeds:
At length beguii'd to Theft, the Maid
By her Beguiler bleeds.
Yet learn, seducing Man! nor Night,
With all its sable Cloud,
Can screen the guilty Deed from Sight;
Foul Murder cries aloud.
The gaping Wounds, and bloodstain-d Steel
Now shock his trembling Soul:
But Oh! what Pangs his Breast must feel
When Death his Knell shall toll.
The scene is a country churchyard, the clock on the tower shows the hour of one. The box marked “A G” has been opened by Nero to get what valuables it help; ribbons hang out, and to books have fallen out: “GODS Revenge against Murder” and the Book of “Common Prayer.” The envelope of the letter is addressed, “To Thos Nero at P. . . .” The letter reads: “Dr Tommy My Mistress has been the best of Women to me, and my Conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am resolv’d to venture Body & Soul to do as you would have me so don’t fail to meet me as you said you would. For I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at presant but I remain yours till Death. Ann Gill.” She has inscribed, “Here lieth the Body.” She was obviously far gone in pregnancy, and, as the verses under the print suggest, Hogarth has made her wounds resemble mouths crying aloud. Nero has been apprehended with the murder weapon, a knife, as well as a pistol, his highwayman’s coat, and pockets full of stolen watches (213).
Cruelty in Perfection
Trusler, Rev. J. and E.F. Roberts. The Complete Works of William Hogarth. (1800)
An early indulged habit of wanton cruelty strengthens by time, chokes every good disposition, corrupts the mind, and sears the heart. We cannot say the malevolent passions—“Thus far shall ye go, and no further.”
The hero of this print began by torturing a helpless dog; he then beat out the eye of an unoffending horse; and now, under the influence of that malignant, rancorous spirit, which by indulgence is become natural, he commits murder—most foul and aggravated murder!—for this poor deluded girl is pregnant by the wretch who deprives her of life. He tempts her to quit a happy situation, to plunder an indulgent mistress, and meet him with the produce of her robbery. Blinded by affection, she keeps the fatal appointment, and comes loaded with plate. This remorseless villain, having previously determined to destroy her, and by that means cancel his promise of marriage, free himself from an expected incumbrance, and silence one whom compunction might at a future day induce to confess the crime, and lead to his detection, puts her to death!
This atrocious act must have been perpetuated with the most savage barbarity, for the head is nearly severed, and the wrist cut almost through. Her cries are heard by the servants of a neighbouring house, who run to her assistance. ‘Tis too late—the horrid deed is done! the ethereal spirit is forced from its earthly mansion—“Unhousell’d, unappointed, unanel’d!” By the murderer, appalled by conscious guilt, and rendered motionless by terror, cannot fly. He is seized without resistance, and consigned to that punishment which so aggravated a violation of the laws of nature and his country demand.
The glimpses of the moon, the screech-owl and bat hovering in the air, the mangled corse, and, above all, the murderer’s ghastly and guilty countenance, give horror to this awful scene.
By the pistol in his pocket, and watches on the ground, we have reason to infer that his callous wretch has been committing other depredations in the earlier part of the evening. The time is what has been emphatically called the witching hour!—the iron tongue of midnight has told ONE!
The letter found in his pocket gives a history of the transaction; it appears to be dictated by the warmest affection, and written by the woman he has just murdered, previous to her elopement.
“DEAR TOMMY,
My mistress has been the best of women to me, and my conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her; yet I am resolved to venture body and soul to do as you would have me, so do not fail to meet me as you said you would, for I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at present; but I remain yours till death.
ANN GILL.” (134-135).
Cruelty in Perfection
Paulson, Ronald. Popular and Polite Art in the Age of Hogarth. (1979)
Looking back, we have to see the first Stage of Cruelty as defined by the St. Giles Parish officers, and the second by the very decided presence of the bulky lawyers who are in fact responsible for the collapsed horse which Nero is beating (they have crowded in to save a fare). Thus we proceed to the grimly threatening constabulary of Cruelty in Perfection and the surgeon-magistrate of The Reward of Cruelty, those representatives of the law, the forces from above from whom Nero—as is finally made explicit in his “reward”—serves merely as someone who is not (to use Fielding’s phrase) “beyond the reach of . . . capital laws” (8),
Cruelty in Perfection
Uglow, Jenny. Hogarth: A Life and a World. (1997)
But it will not come to Tom, who is next seen in a rural churchyard being apprehended for the murder of Ann Gill, a maidservant whom he has seduced and persuaded to steal her mistress’ plate. A kneeling man holds a plaintive note from Ann arranging the fatal meeting, declaring that although her mistress has been good to her, “and my Conscience flied in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am bound Body and Soul to do as you would have me do.” Her throat gapes, her wrist is almost severed from her hand, and her swollen belly tells of two deaths, not one. Her small box spills out two books, the Book of Common Prayer and “GODS Revenge against Murder” (504).
Cruelty in Perfection
Dobson, Austin. William Hogarth. (1907)
The Four Stages of Cruelty are a set of plates exhibiting the “progress” of one Thomas Nero, who, from torturing dogs and horses, advances by rapid stages to seduction and murder, and completes his career on the dissecting table at Surgeon’s Hall. They have all the downright power of Hogarth’s best manner; but they are unrelieved by humour of any kind, and are consequently painful and even repulsive. “The leading points in these as well as the two preceding prints,” says Hogarth, “were made as obvious as possible, in the hope that their tendency might be seen by men of the lowest rank. Neither minute accuracy of design, nor fine engraving was deemed necessary, as the latter would render them too expensive for the persons to whom they were intended to be useful.” These words should be borne in mind in considering them. . . . The price of the ordinary impressions was a shilling the plate, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to sell them even more cheaply by roughly cutting them on a large scale in wood (105-106).
Cruelty in Perfection
Quennell, Peter. Hogarth’s Progress. (1955)
The lesson taught by the Four Stages of Cruelty is no less deliberately rammed home. Tom Nero, an undeserving Charity Boy, begins by torturing a stray dog, as the driver of a hackney carriage unmercifully thrashes his broken-down horse, murders a servant-girl whom he has previously seduced and persuaded to steal her master’s silver, and at last appears as a disemboweled corpse, exposed to the scientific brutality of the anatomists at Surgeons’ Hall (210).
Cruelty in Perfection: Ann
Tom, turned highwayman, is arrested for the murder of his pregnant female companion, identified in her letter as Ann Gill. She has robbed her employer and run away to meet and, ostensibly, elope with her criminal beau who has killed her to rid himself of the burden of a wife and child. Shesgreen, however, notes that Tom seems "himself revolted at the sight of the pregnant corpse that he has hacked sadistically and then murdered" (79) Tom has indeed not only cut the woman's throat, but has also sliced her arm and even her finger which menacingly points to a tract called "God's Revenge Against Murder"
Cruelty in Perfection: Ann
Uglow
Tom . . . is next seen in a rural churchyard being apprehended for the murder of Ann Gill, a maidservant whom he has seduced and persuaded to steal her mistress’ plate. Her throat gapes, her wrist is almost severed from her hand, and her swollen belly tells of two deaths, not one (504).
Cruelty in Perfection: Ann
Trusler
this poor deluded girl is pregnant by the wretch who deprives her of life. He tempts her to quit a happy situation, to plunder an indulgent mistress, and meet him with the produce of her robbery. Blinded by affection, she keeps the fatal appointment, and comes loaded with plate. This remorseless villain, having previously determined to destroy her, and by that means cancel his promise of marriage, free himself from an expected incumbrance, and silence one whom compunction might at a future day induce to confess the crime, and lead to his detection, puts her to death!
This atrocious act must have been perpetuated with the most savage barbarity, for the head is nearly severed, and the wrist cut almost through (135).
Cruelty in Perfection: Arrest
Tom, turned highwayman, is arrested for the murder of his pregnant female companion, identified in her letter as Ann Gill.
Though his punishment by hanging is forthcoming, Nero's look of disbelief, even horror, at his actions is the closest the series comes to a repentance. This touch of humanity in this figure whose cruelty has known no bounds adds a new dimension to the character.
Cruelty in Perfection: Arrest
Shesgreen
Tom Nero’s cruel tendencies have led him to murder. Apprehended in a churchyard at 1 A.M. by a group of outraged farmers, Nero is himself revolted at the sight of the pregnant corpse he has hacked sadistically and then murdered. The pistols ad watches suggest that he has become a highwayman (79).
Cruelty in Perfection: Arrest
Trusler
The hero of this print began by torturing a helpless dog; he then beat out the eye of an unoffending horse; and now, under the influence of that malignant, rancorous spirit, which by indulgence is become natural, he commits murder—most foul and aggravated murder!—for this poor deluded girl is pregnant by the wretch who deprives her of live. He tempts her to quit a happy situation, to plunder an indulgent mistress, and meet him with the produce of her robbery. Blinded by affection, she keeps the fatal appointment, and comes loaded with plate. This remorseless villain, having previously determined to destroy her, and by that means cancel his promise of marriage, free himself from an expected incumbrance, and silence one whom compunction might at a future day induce to confess the crime, and lead to his detection, puts her to death! (134-135).
By the pistol in his pocket, and watches on the ground, we have reason to infer that his callous wretch has been committing other depredations in the earlier part of the evening (135).
Cruelty in Perfection: Arrest
Quennell
Tom Nero . . .murders a servant-girl whom he has previously seduced and persuaded to steal her master’s silver (210).
Cruelty in Perfection: Letter
Shesgreen
A letter “To Thos Nero at P” contains its own special ironies. “Dr Tommy My Mistress has been the best of Women to me, and my Conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am resolv’d to venture Body & Soul to do as you have me so don’t fail to meet me as you said you would. For I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at presant but I remain yours till Death. Ann Gill” (79).
Cruelty in Perfection: Letter
Paulson, Hogarth's Graphic Works
The envelope of the letter is addressed, “To Thos Nero at P. . . .” The letter reads: “Dr Tommy My Mistress has been the best of Women to me, and my Conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am resolv’d to venture Body & Soul to do as you would have me so don’t fail to meet me as you said you would. For I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at presant but I remain yours till Death. Ann Gill” (213).
Cruelty in Perfection: Letter
Uglow
A kneeling man holds a plaintive note from Ann arranging the fatal meeting, declaring that although her mistress has been good to her, “and my Conscience flied in my face as often as I think of wronging her, yet I am bound Body and Soul to do as you would have me do” (504).
Cruelty in Perfection: Letter
Trusler
The letter found in his pocket gives a history of the transaction; it appears to be dictated by the warmest affection, and written by the woman he has just murdered, previous to her elopement.
“DEAR TOMMY,
My mistress has been the best of women to me, and my conscience flies in my face as often as I think of wronging her; yet I am resolved to venture body and soul to do as you would have me, so do not fail to meet me as you said you would, for I shall bring along with me all the things I can lay my hands on. So no more at present; but I remain yours till death.
ANN GILL” (135).
Cruelty in Perfection: Tombstone
Ann’s corpse is placed near a tombstone reading “Here lieth the Body”; certainly Tom’s capture for this murder is fated as even this inanimate marker reveals his crime.
Cruelty in Perfection: Stolen
Quennell
Tom Nero . . . murders a servant-girl whom he has previously seduced and persuaded to steal her master’s silver (210).
Cruelty in Perfection: Trunk
Ann’s small trunk contains her “Book of Common Prayer” denoting her moral goodness—her recently thievery is out of love as well as a tract called “God’s Revenge Against Murder,” a prophetic look at the consequences that Tom will receive for her murder.
Cruelty in Perfection: Yell
A servant, likely awakened by the sounds of Ann’s screams, calls the arresting officers.