Explain The Four Cruelties Of Nero

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The Four Cruelties 1. The extended moral of these four engravings is that if society allows cruel behaviour amongst young children to go unchecked, then when they become adults they see cruelty as a natural part of everyday life leading to criminal acts against that same society. 2. Nero’s name may have been inspired: a) By the homonymous Roman Emperor Nero who is known for many executions, including that of his mother, and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother. b) Or a Contraction of “No Hero”, somebody that is vicious and evil. 3. The parish officers or overseers of the poor could be blamed for the boys’ behaviour who instead of caring and controlling the boys were only interested in the posts for the social status and their monetary rewards. 4. In the second engraving I…show more content…
Society - people in general living together in organized communities, with laws and traditions controlling the way that they behave towards one another The establishment - the most important and powerful people in a society, who are often thought of as being conservative and wanting to preserve their own power and influence The spiral of brutality – cruel or violent behaviour or actions that continuously become worse 8. The final engraving seeks to portray in a macabre and gruesome way the “reward of cruelty” in the form of Nero’s lifeless body being subjected to public dissection and being denied burial in the hope that it could act as a deterrent to any other would be criminals. A tattoo on the body’s arm identifies Tom Nero as the criminal, the rope around Nero’s neck shows his method of execution as punishment for his criminal act of murder and his face appears contorted in agony portraying pain and suffering caused by asphyxiation from hanging. 9. The 2 skeletons of mutilated bodies in the background seek to portray that other criminals suffered the same after death mutilation as Nero and that what happened to him was not one
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