William Hogarth: Marriage A-la-Mode Analysis

William Hogarth: The Pioneer of Sequential Art

William Hogarth was a highly influential British painter and a self-made artist. He is most famous for his sequential art—a series of paintings designed to tell complex moral stories.

Marriage A-la-Mode: A Social Critique

His most significant work is Marriage A-la-Mode. Hogarth uses this series to critique society through a didactic lens.

The First Painting: The Contract

In this scene, characters are arranged as if on a stage, divided by an imaginary line into two distinct groups:

• The Right Group: Features the Duke, whose ducal crown appears repeatedly. He displays his genealogical tree to prove his lineage to the Conqueror. He suffers from gout and is named Lord Squanderfield (to squander is to dilapidate money). He sits opposite a merchant, representing the collision of the middle class and the aristocracy.
• The Left Group: Features the merchant's daughter and her future husband. They look in opposite directions, showing no affection. Their parents negotiate the matrimony—a quid pro quo arrangement of title for money. The girl listens to a man named Silvertongue whispering to her.

A servant presents an unpaid bill to the Duke, highlighting his financial difficulties caused by the construction of a new palace visible through the window.

The Second Painting: Shortly After the Marriage

This scene depicts the couple's life after marriage:

• The husband is drinking and spending his nights away from home.
• A small dog pulls a piece of lace from his pocket.
• The young wife sits at the table, exhausted from playing cards and listening to music; it is clear they did not spend the night together.
• A man on the left, a puritan, appears scandalized by their lifestyle.

The Third Painting: The Visit to the Quack

The young husband visits a quack (a charlatan selling illegal, dubious medical remedies):

• The husband holds three black pills—abortives that have proven ineffective—and a walking stick.
• The young girl is pregnant with the Duke's child.
• A prostitute with spots on her face is present.
• The quack, formerly a barber, is depicted as a dubious figure.