Awakened bashfulness

This painting is Holmen Hunt's most famous "moralizing" painting. A fallen woman who suddenly realized that she was sinning, and, forgetting about her lover, frees herself from his embrace, as if having heard some call through an open window. The heroes are completely modern people, there is no medieval stylization here. However, in this picture there are symbols: the open window symbolizes the light that suddenly burst into the life of this woman (note that her friend does not even look in that direction, this light does not shine for him); a dropped glove on the floor is her fate, because most likely she will be played and thrown; and the bird that is trying to fly away from the cat is itself, trying to fly away from sin.