The Harlot's Progress, Plate 5

Moll has been released from Bridewell Prison and has returned to her apartment in Covent Garden. She is now dying from the effects of syphilis. In the 18th century, treatments for sexually transmitted infections were often inadequate and far from scientific. For example, the shroud-like ‘sweating’ blankets swathing Moll’s body was a common treatment to temporarily ease the painful symptoms.

The servant who tends to Moll turns angrily on two physicians, likely “quacks” who practiced medicine without proper training or qualifications. They quarrel over the efficacy of their respective cures, while ignoring the evident distress of their patient.

Moll’s illegitimate son sits by the open fire, coming dangerously close to burning his extended hand in the roaring flames. Hogarth includes this character as an innocent victim of the Harlot’s “moral progress.” Audiences are left to imagine the young child’s fate and question if he, too, will enter the world of vice and crime.