‘The Nemesis of Neglect, 1888’ by John Tenniel

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The Nemesis of Neglect

John Tenniel

1888

Wood engraving by Swain

Punch (29 September 1888): 151.

This ghastly image is one of Tenniel’s most powerful satires, making a clear connection between poverty and crime. It is revealing that he identifies neglect as the cause of criminality, implicitly putting the blame on laissez faire economic policies and the indifference of policymakers. The cost of prosperity for the few, Tenniel insists, is social instability and the threat of subversive violence. [Commentary continues below.]

Image scan and text by Simon Cooke

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Tenniel does not identify Jack the Ripper as his subject, but alludes to the murderer by endowing his ghoul with a knife. For Tenniel, it seems, the killer had already become an emblematic type – the product of his culture as much as his wickedness, the embodiment of negative social forces as much as a depraved individual. This is the demon that symbolized inequality and the class struggle as the poor were left in penury – a ghost that haunted British society throughout the nineteenth century.

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Visualizing Horror: Illustrations of Jack the Ripper and his Victims

Created 29 May 2025