The Rape of the Lock

Society:
Question #1
 What aspects of 18th century are satirized by pope in rape of the
lock
 18th century fashionable society?
 The Rape of the Lock as a satire and pope as satire?
 Pope criticize world around him?
 Explain quotation ‘What dire offense_-----------From trivial things
 Trivial subject / doesn’t imply wit
 corruption of courtly life?

The Rape of the Lock is Mock Heroic Epic, written by Alexander Pope in
18th century. Alexander Pope satirized the 18th century aristocratic society
of England in his poem Rape of the Lock. Pope used Irony, Mockery and
satire to ridicule and mock the norms, follies, vanities and social issues of
the fashionable class of men and women in general. So, this is a social satire
because it is not a satire against any specific Individual but whole society of
18th century England. So, the main protagonist of this poem, Belinda,
portrays the fashionable women of 18th century England and their pattern
of life while Baron, is a perfect picture of aristocratic gentlemen of that
time.

What’s up with Title?

As we know that the title of the poem directly gives us insight of the poem
that the seizing, by force (‘rape’ coming from the Latin rapere, to seize),
of a lock of hair from a young lady named Belinda by her suitor, the
dastardly Baron.
Historical reference for cutting Lock:

It was not uncommon at that time for men to take a lock of hair from
woman. A primitive belif maintains that owning a lock of hair from
another’s head gives one power over that individual. Historically, giving a
lock of one’s hair to someone has been considered a sign of love and
devotion, especially before a separation.

Sometimes they would resort to the prank of stealing the lock of hair as a
sort of amusement and a way of showing affection usually with no negative
consequences.

Trivialities of Society:

But this poem is about cutting/ Raping of the lock of Belinda which took its
reference from a real life incident where Lord peter cut the lock of hair of
Arabella Fermor and this caused a long term tension between both
families. By making a huge deal out of such a trivial thing, Pope is mocking
his society. He believes that many of the England’s faults comes from the
fact that British society is too concerned with frivolities, trivialities and is
very self-absorbed as the biggest problem these people have is that a lock
of hair is stolen from a girl so Pope uses satire to show the triviality and
follies of his own society in this poem.

Pope mentioned at many places in his poem the follies of females and how
women used to admire their beauty more than anything in 18th century
England.

Society’s less interest in important things:

In the starting of the poem Pope mentioned the time when Belinda opened
her eyes and in that way he satirized the lack of importance of time in
fashionable social class. Sleepless lovers are not awake yet but the dogs are.
At 12 they are waking up. Three times the alarm bell has been rung. So there is
a fluent bang of the clock and it’s ringing again and again but Belinda is not
ready to wake up.

Pope mentioned:
“Now Lap-dogs give themselves the rousing Shake,
And sleepless Lovers, just at Twelve, awake:”

Interest in Trivial objects:

Pope then, continue to mock the vanities of women and their interest in the
trivial objects of life. As, Pope showed us how women had great interest in
decorated Chariots and also in Game of Ombre. Even, Pope mentioned that
those vanities of women do not die with their death as he says:

“Think not, when Woman's transient Breath is fled,

That all her Vanities at once are dead."

Importance to appearance:

Pope made it clear that how women of that time were interested keenly in
their looks and in those love letters which they received from their admirers.
As, Belinda opened her eyes after long sleep she started reading those Billet
doux she received and in reading those letters she even forgot about her
dream in which she was warned that something bad in going to happen to her.
But she got that much indulged in those letters that she forgot about her
dream which shows us that how people were much interested in their looks
and admiring that they forget about important things. It has also been
mentioned that how women spend a lot of time in decorating themselves and
in doing makeup. So, Pope ridicules the excessive attention and interest of
women in their embellishment and satirizes it by mentioning those makeup
items as the arms of Belinda.

In describing Belinda’s dressing table as:

“Here Files of Pins extend their shining Rows,

Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux.”

Society interest toward religion:

Pope satirizes how Belinda has Bibles in the midst of her beauty items. As Holy
books usually have a separate place so such kind of attitude and behavior
toward religion is satirize by Pope here and shows the fact that how
fashionable society doesn’t care much about religion and religious duties. It
has also been mentioned at another place where Belinda is wearing a sparkling
cross as an ornament and it has no religious significance.

Pretending Chastity:

Pope also satirizes the nature of fashionable class women pretending purity
and chastity. It has been showed when Arial find out that Belinda was not keen
interested in preserving her virtue and that’s why she got punished.

Pope also satirize the aristocratic men of his time. They are all idle, find
interest in trivial things, in flirting with women and impressing them.

At another place, when sir plume, member of an aristocratic family was

requested by his beloved to persuade Lord Peter to surrender the lock of
Belinda he utters some words which show ridicule:

“With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face,

He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case,
And thus broke out — "My Lord, why, what the devil?
"Z — ds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be civil!
Plague on't!'t is past a jest — nay prithee, pox!
Give her the hair" — he spoke, and rapp'd his box.”

Court System:

There is another example that mentions the unthinking folly of the smart set
by little speech of Lord Plume. Pope satirized the system of justice. At four in
the afternoon, judges hurriedly sign the sentence so that they could have their
dinner in time. This is their sense of responsibility and showings these judges
Pope satirizes the system of justice of his time. He says about them:-

“Mean while, declining from the Noon of day,

The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
 The hungry Judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jury-men may dine;”

Husband s and wives:

Pope also satirizes the husbands and wives of those days. Husbands always
suspect their wives. Wives are also not virtues at all. They love their lapdogs
more than their husbands. As it is mentioned:

"Not louder shirks to pitying Heaven are cast

When husbands or when lap dogs breathe their last"

Concept of Friendship:

Moreover, the concept of Friendship is also satirized that how friends are
Hollow and fickle. It has been shown when Belinda’s reputation is spoiled;
Thalestris doesn’t want to be known as her friend anymore.

Importance of wealth:

People at that time look for wealthy rich men for their daughters and there is
such a person who was fascinated by a lady and yet that lady rejects him. It’s a big
blow to the masculine ego. So it also aggravated the conflict between both the
families.

As, Pope mentioned:

O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,

Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?

Materialistic nature of society:

The description of coffee drinking is pope’s miniaturized version of Epic feast. As,
Pope mentioned:

 For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd,

The berries crackle, and the mill turns round.
On shining altars of Japan they raise
The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze.
From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the smoking tide.
Lacquered furniture, such as screens, tables, chests begin arriving in England from
japan in 17th century and was very fashionable in pope’s time. Coffee is poured
from silver coffee pots into porcelain cup. These are luxury items may brought to
England from the east. This shows us how the fashionable society at that time
was interested in materialistic objects so they could show off their wealth.

Court Corruption:

Pope directly parodies portions of his own translations of Homer, to

draw a close comparison between the intensity of battle and the
triviality of court culture. For instance, the line, “Where wigs with
wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive, / Beaux banish beaux,
and coaches coaches drive,” echoes Pope’s own translation of
the Iliad, 4.508–9: “Now Shield with Shield, with Helmet Helmet
clos’d, / To Armour Armour, Lance to Lance oppos’d.” This parallel
highlights just how unimportant these courtly activities are, as Pope
draws a direct comparison between the noble activities of Homeric
men and the vain activities performed by his own characters.
Instead of fighting to the death with weapons (“Shield”; “Helmet”;
“Armour”; “Lance”), the men at court merely compete to be the
favourites of various ladies, as “Beaux banish beaux.” And instead
of fighting with swords, these men compete to see who has the
most decorative “sword-knot,” a ribbon or tassel attached to the hilt
of a sword. For these men, as the “sword-knots” symbolize, looking
good is more important than actually having any skill in combat.