Corsets vs Facts: Women, Puritanism, and Survival in Harlots

The first season of Harlots offers a vivid portrayal of women navigating life within the rigid moral framework of 18th-century England. What makes the season particularly compelling is its religious backdrop. The influence of Puritan values on law, family and sexuality shapes nearly every conflict in the series. The show’s treatment of faith and punishment drew my attention because it reveals how religion structured everyday life and justified the treatment of women whose survival depended on sex work.

In Harlots, ideas of virtue and sin shape daily life for women whose survival depends on sex work. Set in 18th-century London, the series shows how Puritan values collide with economic desperation, especially in the lives of Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton) and her daughter Lucy Wells (Eloise Smyth). They run a brothel on Greek Street in Soho, close to the Covent Garden pleasure district, an area known for its theatres, taverns and prostitution. This setting places them at the heart of a city that condemns immorality while quietly relying on it.

When Margaret is fined £100 by the courts, the punishment is designed to be impossible to meet. The fine threatens the family’s home and business on Greek Street in Soho and leaves Margaret facing a decision she has long resisted. Lucy’s virginity is suddenly presented as a financial solution because it is treated as a rare and valuable commodity. Margaret struggles deeply with this idea. She repeatedly states that she wanted to “put Lucy out” later in life, once she was older and better protected. Her hesitation reflects both maternal care and the knowledge of what such a sale means in practice. Lucy’s loss of virginity becomes an economic exchange tied to rent, food and safety. In this sense, her experience reflects a broader historical truth. Poorer women in London had limited employment options, and prostitution often offered more stability than domestic service or factory labour. Survival depended on adapting to the conditions imposed by class and gender.

Lucy’s story also reveals how exploitation reproduces itself. Margaret once endured sexual abuse and poverty, and her rise as a bawd depends on placing other women into the same market. Lucy inherits this world through necessity rather than ambition. The cycle continues because there is no clear exit. Each generation learns how to survive within the same system that harmed the last. Prostitution becomes both a refuge from hunger and a mechanism of control.

Religion intensifies this control through the character of Florence Scanwell (Liv Tyler), a wealthy and influential evangelical reformer. Florence’s mission to cleanse London of vice gives moral authority to the punishment of sex workers. Her sermons and charitable projects frame prostitution as spiritual corruption rather than social consequence. Yet her focus remains almost entirely on women. Male clients are rarely condemned with the same energy. Florence’s version of faith values repentance only when it involves submission and obedience. Through her, the show portrays Puritanism as a public performance of righteousness that reinforces existing hierarchies. While the series dramatises these tensions, many of its themes reflect real historical conditions. Prostitution was widespread in Georgian London, and moral reform movements were deeply tied to religious belief. Looking at the show through the lens of historical accuracy reveals how its portrayal of survival, punishment and female labour is grounded in the realities of the period rather than pure fiction.

The oppression faced by sex workers in Harlots follows this religious logic. Brothels are raided, women are beaten, and public shaming is routine. Law officers accept bribes while claiming to uphold morality. Respectable society benefits from prostitution while insisting it must be erased. These contradictions reveal a culture that profits from women’s labour while denying them dignity. Faith becomes another instrument of discipline, one that justifies violence and surveillance under the language of salvation.

Lucy’s sacrifice on Greek Street, therefore, carries a wider meaning. Her body becomes currency in a moral economy that condemns her for using it. The show connects Puritan belief with social control and links both to financial survival.

Harlots exposes how morality in 18th-century London was shaped by money, power and fear. Lucy’s choice is not an individual failing but a response to a world that offers few alternatives. Survival demands participation in a system that defines her as sinful, ensuring the cycle continues.