Life — June 8, 1922 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Hoist With His Own Petard" This cartoon depicts a moral lesson about hypocrisy. A Vicar (clergyman) approaches a small boy named Martha, intending to deliver sanctimonious advice about morality and sleep habits—lecturing that respectable people shouldn't nap in church. However, the caption reveals the Vicar himself "scarcely ever goes to sleep in church," undermining his credibility. The title "Hoist With His Own Petard" (meaning caught by one's own trap) emphasizes the irony: the Vicar's attempt to moralize backfires because his own behavior contradicts his message. The surrounding newspaper clippings mock various hypocrisies—hard-headed businessmen lacking moral feeling, investigations into workplace safety, and record industrial production. The satire targets Victorian-era sanctimoniousness and class-based moral posturing.