Assignment 102: Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no.102 Literature of the Neo Classical Periods. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic  Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'.

Information:

• Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 
• Roll No. : 18
• Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
• Semester : 1st
• Paper No. :  102
• Paper Code : 22393
• Paper Name : Literature of the Neo-Classical Periods 
• Topic : Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'
• Submitted to : Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU                        
• E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Thematic study of 'The Rape of the Lock'

Alexander Pope :

Alexander Pope was born on May 21, 1688 to a wealthy Catholic linen merchant family.

The poet and translator Alexander Pope was born in London in 1688. He was mostly educated at Catholic schools, until 1700 when the family was forced by anti-Catholic sentiment to settle in Berkshire, outside London, and the young Pope resumed his education privately.

Pope is also remembered as the first full-time professional English writer, having supported himself largely on subscription fees for his popular translations of Homer and his edition of the works of William Shakespeare. Although a major cultural figure of the 18th century, Pope fell out of favour in the Romantic era as the Neoclassical appetite for form was replaced by a vogue for sincerity and authenticity. He was mostly self-taught, his education supplemented by study with private tutors or priests. Pope was bright, precocious, and determined and, by his teens, was writing accomplished verse. He soon became friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, editors of the Spectator, who published his essays and poems, and the appearance of The Rape of the Lock made him famous in wider circles.

He suffered from poor health, including Pott’s disease, which severely stunted his growth and shortened his life.

 

'The Rape of the Lock' :

The Rape of the Lock (1712, 1714), a mock-epic poem telling the story of a society woman who has a lock of hair stolen by a suitor. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is a poem of five cantos, written in rhyming couplets.

"The Rape of the Lock" was first published anonymously in 1712 before it was reworked and republished in 1714 by Alexander Pope. It is a mock-epic or mock-heroic poem.

The title of the poem tells exactly what happens in the poem: Belinda, one of the main characters, has one of her locks of hair stolen by the Baron. In the context of the story, the word "rape" draws its definition from the Latin root of the word, "radio," which means "to snatch" or "to seize." In the 18th century, however, "rape" could still mean sexual assault, which Pope was aware of and used to exaggerate the event in order to ridicule the people involved. Alexander Pope The Rape of the Lock, in particular, satirizes both the obsession with physical appearance and trivial matters by the people of 18th century England.

Satire :

Poetic satire might very properly be regarded as didactic poetry, for the object it has in view is the reformation of men and manners, and to this end the satirist takes the liberty of boldly censuring vice and vicious characters.

"The true end of satire is the amendment of vice by correction," says Dryden. And most people agree that satire is a "criticism of life, an exposure of human weaknesses, follies, absurdities and shortcomings." The satirist uses humour, wit, mockery, ridicule, innuendo and irony to achieve his goal, i.e., his moral end. His moral purpose gives him the standard or ideal with which he ridicules the deviations of society.

The Rape of the Lock is a satire on the aristocratic strata of the 18th-century society. In the very opening lines, the poet laughs at "little" men engaging in tasks so "bold", and at gentle ladies who are capable of such "mighty rage’’.

"In Tasks so bold can Little Men engage,

And in soft Bosoms dwell such mighty Rage?"

The contrast between "tasks so bold" and "little men" and another between "soft bosoms" and "mighty rage" is very wittily constructed and cuts clown to size these vain people of Pope's time.

Pope's Personal and Impersonal Satires. Satire predominates in the works of the Pope. Even a cursory glance at his poetry reveals that the major part of it consists of satire or is satiric in spirit. The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, Moral Essays, Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated are the best of his satires.

The Pope wrote many satires against individuals, which were deadly and sharp and they are marked by bitterness and malice.

"The Rape of the Lock" As An Impersonal Satire. The satire in The Rape of the Lock is directed not against any individual, but against the follies and vanities in general of fashionable men and women. Pope started writing this poem with the object of reconciling two quarrelling families but as the poem progressed, the poet forgot his original intention, and satirised female follies and vanities. Belinda is not Arabella Fermor; she is the type of the fashionable ladies of the time, and in her, the follies and frivolities of the whole sex are satirized.

Even the concept of friendship has been attacked. Friends are hollow and fickle. Belinda's friend Thalestris is as shallow as the age in which she lives. As soon as the reputation of Belinda is gone, she doesn't like to be called her friend, because it will be a disgrace to be known as her friend henceforth.

Thus, the poem is a delicate, playful, humorous, original, witty satire on the upper-class society of the eighteenth century. Though genial and gentle, it is at times deadly. It does not condemn like Swift; it exposes the follies with a light ridicule.

"The Rape of The Lock" as a Satire upon Feminine Frivolity. The poem is, in fact, a satire upon feminine frivolity. It continues the strain of mockery against hoops and patches and their wearers, which supplied Addison and his colleagues with the materials of so many Spectators. Even in Addison there is something which rather jars upon us. His persiflage is full of humour and kindness but underlying it there is a tone of superiority to women which is sometimes offensive; it is taken for granted that woman is a fool, or at least should be flattered if any man condescends to talk sense to her. With the Pope, this tone becomes harsher, and the merciless satirist begins to show himself. In truth, the Pope can be inevitably pungent but he can never be simply playful. Addison was too condescending with his pretty pupils; but under Pope's courtesy there lurks contempt, and his smile has a disagreeable likeness to a sneer. If Addison's manner sometimes suggests the brilliant wit, Pope's contempt has a keener edge from his resentment against fine ladies blinded to his genius by his personal deformity.

Religion :

This is not to say in any way that the Bible was monolithic. Pope's England, on the contrary, was one of religious contradictions and surprisingly diverse complexity, though not of course to the degree we associate diversity with today. The Bible, to some extent, came to absorb and encompass these tensions, to provide a point of reference across the ideological spectrum. And yet, the Bible was also uniquely Protestant.

The rallying cry of sola scriptura is an explicit rejection of Catholic dogma. By elevating the Bible's authoritative role. Protestant theology comes to view itself, in the words of Nicholas Boyle, "as the negation of Roman Catholicism."

British kingdom that was also now acting as dean over the church, theological matters took on a decidedly political character. Anglican divines during the period took to articulating a distinctive Protestantism that stressed sobriety in matters religious, anchoring their understanding of the world in the literature of the scriptures.

Temporary Nature of Beauty :

Beauty’s short-lived nature reinforces Pope’s critical project in The Rape of the Lock. His poem attempts to discourage society from placing excessive value on external appearances, especially since such things grow fainter over time. Clarissa’s lecture in particular questions the value that society places on appearances. She notes that men worship female beauty without assessing moral character. Pope demonstrates that this is essentially a house without foundation: because “frail beauty must decay,” women must have other qualities to sustain them. Though Clarissa is complicit in the general merriment and pettiness that Pope censuresin the poem, her expressed ethics with regard to appearances serve his social critique. 

If society cannot enjoy the beauty of others then they lose part of the impact that art and experience can provide. Fashion and makeup are physical forms of self expression that many fail to appreciate as unique characteristics of an individual because of societal beliefs. Pope goes to show that since all humans are born physically unique, in stigmatizing that uniqueness to fit societal beliefs, one would degrade important personality traits. Especially regarding Pope’s physical ailments, in negating one’s beauty, one would degrade the foundation of most of their views and morals.

Upper Class :

The idleness and ignorance of the upper classes is integral to Pope’s analysis of contemporary society in The Rape of the Lock. His satire focuses largely on the bad habit of the upper classes and gentry, who he depicts as interested only in trivial matters, such as flirting, gossip, and card games. In reality an excuse for flirting and gambling, the card game represents the young aristocrats’ only opportunity to gain heroic recognition. This is not, of course, true heroism, but rather a skill that serves no purpose in the outside world. Chief among the upper classes’ other pastimes is gossip, but Pope limits their conversation to the insular world of the aristocratic lifestyle. They care most about “who gave the ball, or paid the visit last,” the irrelevant structures of upper-class socializing.

 

Role of Gender :

He portrays Belinda, the poem’s protagonist, alternately as an epic hero preparing for battle. The poem thus describes Belinda in specifically male terms: heroism, battle, anger. Other women in the poem similarly demonstrate masculine characteristics. Thalestris displays her prowess on the battlefield while Clarissa provides a weapon to Baron. By contrast, the men act with feminine delicacy, fainting during the battle.

Sexuality :

Pope frequently focuses on female sexuality and the place of women in society throughout the corpus of his poetry, and it was a popular topic in the early eighteenth century.

The rules of eighteenth-century society dictate that a woman attract a suitable husband while preserving her chastity and virtuous reputation. Pope renders this double-standard dramatically in his depiction of Belinda’s hair, which attracts male admirers, and its petticoat counterpart, which acts as a barrier to protect her virginity. 

A woman who compromised her virtue either by deed or reputation usually lost her place in respectable society. Pope examines the loss of

reputation in the poem’s sexual allegory, example, the “rape” of the lock. By figuring the severing of Belinda’ hair as a sexual violation, Pope delves into implications of sexual transgression. After the Baron steals her curl, Belinda exiles herself from the party, retiring to a bedchamber to mourn her loss. Pope thus dramatizes the retreat from society that a sexually-compromised woman would eventually experience.

like longing for supremacy, Belinda demonstrates male anxieties about female power, especially as it might be used to entrap men.

Conclusion :

The poem is a reflection of this artificial and hollow life, painted with a humorous and delicate satire. It paints the idle life of the pleasure-seeking young men and women. It introduces us to a world of frivolity and fashion, which was busy with its pleasures. These pleasures were petty and frivolous - dressing, flirting, card playing, driving in Hyde Park, visiting theatres, writing love-letters, and so on and so forth. Their whole day's program seems to be nothing but a waste.

Pope thus constructs a poem that mocks the extravagant affectations of eighteenth - century society and of epic heroes and heroines . Pope satirises Belinda's emotionality and obsession with her appearance , but makes it clear that the characters of epic poetry share these same qualities . He also discloses anxieties about gender roles and the questionable masculinity of epic heroes . Ultimately , Pope achieves a satiric portrayal of the trivial and superficial concerns of men and women , whether in ancient or contemporary times .

[Words 1963, Image 02]

Work cited :

Hernandez, Alex Eric. “Commodity and Religion in Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 48, no. 3, 2008, pp. 569–84. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40071349. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022. 

Valeria. The Rape of the Lock Research Paper by Valeria Pereira. 31 July 2020, https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/valeriappereiraquintero24/2020/07/31/the-rape-of-the-lock-research-paper-by-valeria-pereira/.