Hogarth is renowned for his narrative paintings and prints that cleverly satirised and highlighted his era's social and moral issues. Hogarth excelled in creating sequential narrative series, skillfully arranging figures and symbolic elements to convey clear stories.

Among his works is a set of twelve engravings illustrating the adventures of Hudibras, a bumbling adventurer from Samuel Butler's mock-heroic poem. Ridiculing the Puritan party's efforts during the Great Civil War of 1640, Butler's poem exposes the hypocrisy of the Presbyterians, Independents, and Zealots seeking leadership. In the scene depicted here, Hudibras demonstrates his determination by overcoming a menacing fiddle player and placing him in the stocks. Above the stocks, the censured fiddle and its case are displayed as a lasting reminder of the musician's misdeeds.