What is The Four Stages of Cruelty?
Q: What is The Four Stages of Cruelty?
A: The Four Stages of Cruelty is a series of four printed engravings published by the English artist William Hogarth in 1751. Each print follows the life of Tom Nero, a fictional character.
Q: What does the First stage of Cruelty show?
A: The First stage of Cruelty shows Nero as a child hurting a dog.
Q: What does the Second stage of cruelty depict?
A: The Second stage of cruelty depicts Nero, now an adult, beating his horse.
Q: What happens in Cruelty in perfection?
A: In Cruelty in perfection, Nero becomes a robber and murders his pregnant lover.
Q: What is depicted in The reward of cruelty?
A: In The reward of cruelty, Nero's body is taken from the gallows after his execution and cut up into pieces by surgeons. This refers to an act passed in 1752 which changed the law to require executed murderers' bodies to be used for anatomy classes before being buried.
Q: Why did William Hogarth create these prints? A: William Hogarth created these prints to make people understand his message about the acts of cruelty he saw on the streets of London and for moral learning purposes. He printed them on cheap paper so that they would be accessible to poor people as well.
