III. The The Tavern
Essay 1: Superficiality as Sickness
By Nathan Chiappone '24
To what do we have to anticipate after we have accomplished it all? This is the question about which the West will anguish as it approaches stagnation. Stagnation follows a period of grand, sometimes unprecedented, success. With generations compounded that have contributed to the accomplishments of the West, a subconscious, irrational expectation of what ought to be in terms of growth festers; thus, leaving us with goals that far exceed our capabilities. Due to this inevitable disappointment, the West seeks to hide behind its past achievements as a justification for not meeting the expectations of its industry, economy, and people. As the laypeople begin to realize the inevitable, there is a sort of hysteria that ensues, a dread for never being able to truly encapsulate what progress was at its peak – a nostalgia, a sickness. The reactions to such a revelation vary widely from binge-drinking to utter nihilism, all of which can be seen in William Hogarth’s series of prints A Rake’s Progress. A satirical take on British high-society post-Restoration, A Rake’s Progress gives the viewer an inkling as to what was valued in the British Empire after the House of Stuart had triumphed the puritan movement that had been so prominent in the century prior. Plate 3, The Tavern Scene, depicts a perfect storm of binge-drinking, rampant chaos, and superficiality at its core, representing pleasure as the lifeblood of existence.
On the left-hand side of the print, you can see two women stealing a man’s watch. Theft being depicted suggests a society of lower trust with a hint of organized crime. Along with the evident orgy that is happening, there are many underlying power struggles to consider here. The man visited this tavern presumably to engage in transactional sex and drinking; however, the presence of the theft in the print suggests not only binge-drinking as decadence, but as a means to deceive as well. There are many frames lining the ceiling, presumably that had portraits in them, that are destroyed with few surviving, implying a progression of destruction and values. As seen with the destruction of the frames instead of some other removal procedure, they are blatantly rejecting the past, not just neutral to it or rationalizing it, evoking a sense of nihilism and apathy. If you take a closer look at the two frames with remaining portraits, you will see that the two men are Nero and Pontac. These are deeply related not only to what the society rejects, but also to what they hold dear. Nero is known as the emperor to watch Rome burn and was also the most decadent emperor. Pontac refers to a man named Arnaud de Pontac that hosted many parties that were known for their wines, cheeses, and likely orgies as well[1]. These two men being representative of the values of society is evident of a decadent period, of stagnation and decay. Near the top of the print, you can see a woman holding a lit candle up to a map of the world. This is also reminiscent of Nero as he was the emperor to watch Rome burn, almost as a reunion of the past and present West – Pontac and Nero. Some of the women in the print noticeably have black spots on their faces as well. As orgies were quite popular during this decadent period, so were sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Because of these STDs, these women would get sores and to hide them, they would apply a sort of makeup called beauty marks[2]. There is an irony in this that feels somewhat constricting. The harlots depicted, due to their profession, are exposed to STDs, and then apply makeup that is a popular fad at the time in order to appear more attractive for future clients; however, under the ‘beauty spots’ you will only find disease – superficiality at its rawest.
So, how does a society fall into these types of values as the norm? Well, as mentioned above, the cornerstone of stagnation is the grand success that is followed by irrational expectations for industry. Nietzsche described these wide-spanning sentiment that followed as a sickness[3]. I find this particularly provocative as decadence is depicted in The Tavern Scene specifically as sickness, as something that is just not functioning correctly. Despite the women having multiple spots on their faces, being evident of disease, the men continue to have sex with them; therefore, sex (pleasure) is preferable to their own self-preservation. The binge-drinking is also a sickness, as they are having sex in quite a filthy environment seemingly for a long time judging by the amount of glass in the frame. Nietzsche’s idea of sickness in stagnation was something not quite identifiable[4]. Popular connotations with sickness are correlated with physical ailments, as if you could pinpoint the problem region. The stagnant sickness is apathy, confusion, delusion, and deception. Due to the ultimate redundancy of stagnation, new developments are diminished to daily news, nothing revolutionary. As a layperson, or any person depending on the lens through which you research, you absolutely do not see every change about which you learn. In stagnation, you are lucky to see any real transformation to values and daily life, nothing revolutionary to the layperson.
The stagnant society is the superficial society. When the values of the past generations are taught and not learned through forces beyond control, it is false wisdom, a mere façade. Sometimes this superficiality could take more physical forms, such as appearing as a brothel while actually executing a robbery, while other times it could take more symbolic forms, like revering Nero’s portrait. The most wretched part of the stagnant society is the longing for what was, the progress, the motivation, but instead you are left staring at the dusty trophies of your predecessors with no competition in sight, yet you are expected to win or at least fight like hell trying. So now I ask again: to what do we have to anticipate after we have accomplished it all?
Works Cited
https://c17thlondontokens.com/tag/william-hogarth/
‘The Tavern Scene, Plate 3 from A Rake’s Progress’. Princeton University. The Trustees of Princeton University. https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/37582
Scott, Jacqueline “Nietzsche and decadence: The revaluation of morality.” https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1023/A:1010021821358.pdf