Sarah Malcolm 1733

This is William Hogarth's print, "Sarah Malcolm," made using etching and engraving techniques. The print depicts Sarah Malcolm, a young woman executed in 1733 for robbery and murder, capturing her likeness from life while she was in prison. Hogarth, deeply invested in the social issues of his time, uses Sarah's image to explore themes of gender, class, and criminality. As a woman from the lower classes, Sarah's fate was sealed by a society that offered her few opportunities and judged her harshly. This image evokes the emotional weight of Sarah’s predicament. Is she a victim of circumstance? Or a cold-blooded criminal? Her intense gaze seems to dare us to decide. Prints like this one helped shape public opinion and served as a form of social commentary, reflecting the complex and often contradictory attitudes towards crime and punishment in 18th-century England. In the end, this print does more than record the face of a criminal; it holds a mirror up to the society that condemned her.