In 1751, the English painter William Hogarth created a nightmarish depiction of the London slum of St Giles. The familiar spire of the parish church towered over a scene of human ruin. This is Gin Lane, an imagined thoroughfare where the consumption of gin has deprived the inhabitants of sense, finances – and in some instances life.

At the heart of the image, Hogarth depicted a series of steps on which different characters illustrated the gin drinker’s descent from propriety to death. At the top of the steps, residents deposited their goods with the prosperous pawnbroker, including a carpenter who handed over his saw – a reminder that gin disrupts industry.

Just below on the steps is a drunken mother whose eagerness to take a pinch of snuff causes her baby to slip from her arms to its death below. The drunken mother is the most striking aspect of Hogarth’s image, a focal point that represents how gin detaches the drinker from their closest bonds and duties. Beneath the mother, reclines an emaciated gin drinker whose skeletal features hint at his imminent death. He even lacks the strength to hold his gin glass.

This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books, films and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

Gin Lane was one of two contrasting Hogarth visions of life in England’s capital in which the fortunes of Londoners were shaped by the drinks they consumed. The inhabitants of the other, Beer Street (1751), are artisans enjoying a foaming tankard during their long day of work.

A blacksmith and paviour (person who lays paving) are in the foreground, while a man tasked with........

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