Gin Lane essay

Gin Lane is one of the strongest didactic engravings by William Hogarth. It is a graphic lecture on the evils of drinking gin which, in his words, produces “idleness, poverty, misery and distress, which drives even to madness and death.” Hogarth makes his point very well by using shocking, horrible scenes.

On the left side of the picture, in front of a pawnshop, a carpenter is trying to sell his … Read the rest