The Awakening Conscience is a painting by William Holman Hunt. It was painted in 1853 with oils on a canvas. The picture portrays a woman with a awakened expression on her face and a man she is getting off of. William Hunt had a relationship similar to the one depicted, but it only happened after the painting was painted. The painting is full of details that each have a purpose in describing the relationship between the couple. Holman Hunt seemed to be familiar with the relationship he depicted in the painting, whether through life experiences or the normality of those relationships. The relationship portrayed seemed to be normal and influential in the painting and other forms of literature such as Pygmalion.
The Awakening Conscience is composed of beautiful, elaborate details. The most protruding detail of the painting is the woman have a stood from the man. She is in what was considered undergarments of the time without a ring on her left ring finger, the wedding ring finger. She is not married to the man, but is in an unholy setting with him. She is dressed in white which is supposed to be the color of purity, in this sense, however, she is wearing the color uncaringly. Her hair is unruly and left down her back. She wears an enlightened expression on her face, a look as if she has just been happily awakened with an idea. The attention is then drawn to the back of the woman where a beautiful mirror hangs to reflect the back of the woman and a vibrate nature scene that she looks upon. The man underneath the woman is completely oblivious to the woman’s self-revelation. He sits happy, with one hand playing the piano. The room is hectic with multiple different patterns on the carpet and walls. The floor has items scattered all over the floor: sheet music, her glove, yarn, and most importantly a cat with a dead mouse. The cat with the dead mouse could symbolize multiple things such as he relationship with the man, where he has entrapped her. Her glove being off of her hand means she has been undressed in a hurry and she may have had a married encounter when she was not married to the man. More than likely, the woman is his lover.
The relationship between the man and the woman is a confusing, but normal one for the time. It was thought of as unholy to be with a man outside of marriage. However, most woman were either poor and needed the help of a man to give her wealth or were unhappy in their marriage and wanted someone else to give them happiness.
The relationship portrayed in the painting is similar to that of the painter and a woman who he took care of. William Holman Hunt shared relations with a woman named Annie Miller, whom he originally casted as a model for The Awakening Conscience. He saw her full potential and beauty and planned to raise her up in society to be his wife. Hunt wanted to leave London by himself, but could not bring Miller along with him because they were not married. Instead, he left her in London as he paid for her to live with strict restrictions for her not to model for any other artist. She refused to listen and she modelled for Rossetti’s Dante’s Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice and let him sketch her. As well, she sat for George Price Boyce and had dinners with both Rossetti and Boyce while Hunt was away. Hunt discovered these encounters upon his return to London and was distraught about it. Annie and her father tried to blackmail Hunt by making him continuously pay for her living while she courted other men. Eventually, Annie married a wealthy man who soon died, leaving Annie a widow. Hunt abandoned his want to marry Annie Miller and cut off her funds. As revenge, she arduously modelled for Rosetti, which became a problem when his wife found out. She began to hate Annie. After her separation from Hunt, she seemed to be more independent and her later portraits seem to give her a stronger appeal.
The relationship seems to be a normal one, so normal in fact there is a play written after it. This play is called Pygmalion. Pygmalion is a play Two old gentlemen meet in the rain one night at Covent Garden. Professor Higgins is a scientist of phonetics, and Colonel Pickering is a linguist of Indian dialects. The first bets the other that he can, with his knowledge of phonetics, convince high London society that, in a matter of months, he will be able to transform the cockney speaking Covent Garden flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a woman as poised and well-spoken as a duchess. The next morning, the girl appears at his laboratory on Wimpole Street to ask for speech lessons, offering to pay a shilling, so that she may speak properly enough to work in a flower shop. Higgins makes merciless fun of her, but is seduced by the idea of working his magic on her. Pickering goads him on by agreeing to cover the costs of the experiment if Higgins can pass Eliza off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. The challenge is taken, and Higgins starts by having his housekeeper bathe Eliza and give her new clothes. Then Eliza’s father Alfred Doolittle comes to demand the return of his daughter, though his real intention is to hit Higgins up for some money. The professor, amused by Doolittle’s unusual rhetoric, gives him five pounds. On his way out, the dustman fails to recognize the now clean, pretty flower girl as his daughter. For a number of months, Higgins trains Eliza to speak properly. Two trials for Eliza follow. The first occurs at Higgins’ mother’s home, where Eliza is introduced to the Eynsford Hills, a trio of mother, daughter, and son. The son Freddy is very attracted to her, and further taken with what he thinks is her affected “small talk” when she slips into cockney. Mrs. Higgins worries that the experiment will lead to problems once it is ended, but Higgins and Pickering are too absorbed in their game to take heed. A second trial, which takes place some months later at an ambassador’s party (and which is not actually staged), is a resounding success. The wager is definitely won, but Higgins and Pickering are now bored with the project, which causes Eliza to be hurt. She throws Higgins’ slippers at him in a rage because she does not know what is to become of her, thereby bewildering him. He suggests she marry somebody. She returns him the hired jewelry, and he accuses her of ingratitude. The following morning, Higgins rushes to his mother, in a panic because Eliza has run away. On his tail is Eliza’s father, now unhappily rich from the trust of a deceased millionaire who took to heart Higgins’ recommendation that Doolittle was England’s “most original moralist.” Mrs. Higgins, who has been hiding Eliza upstairs all along, chides the two of them for playing with the girl’s affections. When she enters, Eliza thanks Pickering for always treating her like a lady, but threatens Higgins that she will go work with his rival phonetician, Nepommuck. The outraged Higgins cannot help but start to admire her. As Eliza leaves for her father’s wedding, Higgins shouts out a few errands for her to run, assuming that she will return to him at Wimpole Street. Eliza, who has a lovelorn sweetheart in Freddy, and the wherewithal to pass as a duchess, never makes it clear whether she will or not.