Thread: Comparison and Contrast between ‘The Rape of the Lock’ and Paradise Lost

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
07-08-2010
Maqsood Hasni is offline
Registered User
Join Date
March 2006
Posts
12
Comparison and Contrast between 'The Rape of the Lock' and Paradise Lost
Comparison and Contrast
between 'The Rape of the Lock'
and
Paradise Lost
Book I, IX

Prof. Niamat Ali

Department of English
Govt. Islamia College, Kasur
Pakistan

Once epics enjoyed a high status in the realm of literature. Poets wrote them with extraordinary
skill and people read them with penetrating attention. A common man could afford long hours to
read or listen to the epic sung or narrated. With the passage of time, political ideas underwent a
sea change, social trends were also transformed with the revolutionary changes, people's
bent towards literature also turned over a new leaf and epic was replaced by other genre of
literature like novel, short-story. The present climate is not suitable for the old tree of epic to
flourish, rather it is dwindling with the fastness of the wheel of society. In the following passages
an effort is made to present the comparison and contrast between two famous epics in the English
The Rape of the Lock and 'Paradise Lost' (Book I, IX).
The Paradise Lost by John Milton is a traditional epic whereas the Rape of the Lock is a mock.
epic.
An epic is a narrative poem in which the poet describes a series of adventures made by the
dignified hero. Language is sublime and often Goodness gets victory over Evil. Discussing the
vast scope of Paradise Lost, F.E. Hutchinson says: "It ranges over all time and space and even
Beyond them both it depicts heaven and earth and chaos, the imagined utterances of the supernatural.
beings, events before the emergence of man upon earth, the history of man from the creation and
by prophecy, to the end of time, and his eternal destiny.” Dr. Johnson remarks: “Milton
considered creation in its whole extent, and his descriptions are therefore learned.
The mock epic can be defined as a poetic form written in the epic structure and its subject is
ridiculously trivial. It mainly aims at satirizing socially vulnerable points. The writer makes every
possible effort to make it charming so that those who are laughed at may not be annoyed. Pope
himself says about this genre of literature: "It is using a vast force to lift a feather." The rape of
the lock is a mock-epic in the best sense of the term. Hazlitt has called the poem 'The perfection'
of the mock-epic.
In the beginning of an epic, the poet makes an invocation to the Muse or the Holy Spirit to help
him write something praiseworthy and everlasting. He, with all his ability and store of thoughts
and vocabulary, cannot do so without that supernatural assistance. Following this tradition, and
keeping his religion in his mind, Milton entreats the Holy Spirit:
O spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me what in me is dark illumine,
What is low raise and support.
The poet also tells the purpose of his adventure:
I may assert eternal providence
And justify the ways of God to man.
Alexander Pope in his mock-epic The Rape of the Lock has followed the tradition of the
commencement and also the purpose:
Say what strange motive, Goddess; could compel
A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?
I sing this verse to Caryll, Muse is due
This even Belinda may deign to view
The purpose of the poem is expressed thus:
Slight is the subject but not so the praise
If she inspires and he approves my lays.
An epic is specified with a great task; the hero and other main characters are involved in some
Herculean problem. Long journeys, fatal fights, blood-curdling harassment, wars, etc., work like
pillars to maintain the high canopy of the epic’s tent. In Paradise Lost, there is a grand battle
between the limitless forces of God and those of Satan. Such a great war has never been fought in
the history of man. The great thunder that followed the rebel angels to hell makes the reader
stunned. Then in book IX, there is the expulsion of man from heaven. The greatest tragic event in
the history of man.
In his first speech, Satan remarks about his battle:
(i) And risk in the glorious venture,
Joined with me once, now misery half joined
His utmost power with adverse power opposed.
In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, and shook his throne.
The construction of a grand pandemonium is no doubt a great task:
………and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltum, yielded light
As from the sky.
The great tragedy of man occurs in book IX when Eve eats the forbidden fruit.
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Reaching for the fruit, she plucked it and ate.
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost.
Wearing the glasses of magnification, when we cast a glance at ‘The Rape of the Lock’, we are
suddenly stunned to find the ‘great task’ of cutting the lock of hair unfairly of a fair damsel:
The meeting point the sacred hair dissever
From fair head, for ever, and for ever;
The war of sexes is presented in a beautiful way:
All sides in parties and begin the attack;
Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack;
Death spreads everywhere:
One died in metaphor, and one in song.
Trivial actions like this are happening:
She smiled to see the valiant hero slain,
But, at her smile, the Beau revived again.
Great characters are a requirement for great action. In Paradise Lost, Satan’s character has been
portrayed by Milton in a splendid way. His stature is suggested thus:
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lay floating many a rod;
His shield and spear are brought before us like this
........ His ponderous shield,
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon,
His spear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast
Of some great Admiral, were but a wand.
He has a great sympathy for his followers and is grieved to see them in that perdition. He
encourages them like a brave leader and puts before them the plan of their life:
Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable
Doing or suffering.
To do any good will never be our task.
Adam and Eve have the perfection of humanity; Adam’s strength of body and mind, and Eve’s
charms have been beautifully described by the poet. Thus the epic can boast of grand characters.
While in The Rape of Lock very timid characters have been created. The Baron is the mockery of
bravery. The fop makes an adventure to get a lock of hair of a girl. Before coming to the Hyde
Park, he bows before gods to heavenly powers to make bless him with the prize of the lock.
The scene is enough to make one laugh at a young man like the Baron.
Then prostrate falls and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain and long possess the prize:
Belinda behaves just like a delicate doll whose aim is only to attract others.
This nymph, to the destruction of mankind
Nourished two locks, which gracefully hung behind
The two characters are suitable for a mock-epic.
Sir Plume also behaves in a ridiculous way:
When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa down,
Cloe stepped in, and killed him with a frown;
Clarissa and Thalestris are also coquettes. Almost all of society has fallen into vices. Here the game
of chess has been presented as a war in the battlefield. Thus the action in a mock-epic is trivial as
is required.
A very prominent traditional quality of an epic is the proper use of machinery. In the Paradise
Lost, very grand machinery has been employed. There are mighty angels like Gabriel, and fallen
engels like Satan, Beelzbub; they are further explained as gods of various regions where they
established their temples and large populations of human beings followed their evil teachings.
Moloch, Chemos, Baalim and Ashtareth, Astarte, Thammuz, Dagon, Osiris, Isis, Orus, Belial, etc.
make up the machinery of the epic. The major part is played by Satan himself. Almost all fallen
angels engage in constructing the great Pandemonium. Then Satan’s adventure to enter paradise,
the revolutions around the earth and then penetrating to a serpent makes the piece very attractive.
Similarly, machinery has been employed in 'The Rape of the Lock'. There is Ariel, the head of
all the spirits. Then there are four types of the spirits: salamanders, nymphs, gnomes, sylphs.
These spirits play an active part in the overall action of the mock-epic. There is also Spleen that
has a mood of her own and who spreads coquetry and melancholy in the world. Thus machinery in
Both the epics work like the soul in the body.
Riaz Hassan says:
A living poem should have a body, a soul, and a mind. The body would be its form, the soul its
inspiration, and the mind its message.
By using machinery, both the poets have fulfilled the qualities of a living poem.

A brighter wash to curl their waving hairs

Assist their blushes and inspire their airs.
To fifty chosen sylphs of special note,
We trust the important charge, the petticoat;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of shock.
Episodes are an essential part of an epic. An epic is just like the oak tree that spreads its branches.
in every direction. Episodes increase the dimensions of a piece and the volume of the writing is
also multiplied. Tradition is also satisfied. Milton has used a number of episodes in Paradise Lost
Book I. The description of angelic gods is merely the addition of episodes, then the construction of
the Assembly Hall etc. Are the episodes that make the main plot more attractive. Book IX has
allusions to mythological characters like Dryad, Delia, Pomona, Vertumnus, Ceres, Neptune, Juno
that work like short episodes. Similarly in The Rape of the Lock, episodes have been given proper
room and position. The first dream of Belinda, the game of chess, the adventure of the Umbriel all
work like episodes. If these episodes are deleted from the main plot, the epics would look like logs
not trees in the shade of which thoughts and passions can get some rest, peace and pleasure.
Especially if episodes are removed from the Rape of the Lock, it would lose most of its charm.
But the abundance of episodes can also mar the charm of a masterpiece. Style adopted by the poet
is the most important thing in an epic. The whole edifice of the epic is supported, embellished and
dignified by the style of the writer. In this regard both Milton and Pope succeed in proving their
skill. The first one adopted the Grand Style that became famous in English literature. And the
The second one adopted the method of mockery that was suitable for his piece.
The overall language is dignified and effort has been made to sustain the level of the language.
For the grand style, Milton used epic similes:
Thick as autumn leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where the Etruscan shades
High over-arched embower; or scattered sedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed
Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast……………….
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower
William Henry Hudson remarks:
But often the influences which most profoundly affect literature are not literary; they are
influences which belong, not to book but scholarship, general life, politics, society.
We find that Milton fulfills all the demands.
Milton’s style is replete with extreme terseness that not only pleases but also casts a spell on the
reader:
To do anything good will never be our task,
But ever to do ill is our sole delight.
There is also verbal music in his words:
She is fair, divinely fair, fit for the love of gods.
For further variety in his style, Milton uses inverted constructions:
Creator wise, danger tasted, intended wing depressed, fair colours mixed, etc.
The style of The Rape of the Lock is also sublime but according to the need. The poet employs a
great force to lift up a feather. Try has been made to extend similes to make them epic like:
Bright like the sun, her eyes strike the gazers.
And, like the sun, she shines on all alike.
Exaggeration is also a part of style, note the exaggeration of the line:
Belinda smiled, and all the world was happy,
And at the same time it reminds us that we are reading a mock-epic.
In epics, references to mythology are made:
Whether the nymph shall break Diana’s law,
Or some frail China jar receive a flaw:
Mythological characters like Pallas, Mars, Latona, and Hermes are mentioned in the rape of the
lock.
In an epic, the poet has his intermissions where he shows his presence. In Paradise Lost, we find:
So spoke the patriarch of mankind but Eve
Persisted; yet submissive though last, replied:
Similarly in The Rape of the Lock, we find Pope saying:
O thoughtless mortals; ever blind to fate,
Too soon dejected, and too soon elate.
In an epic there are speeches of characters. We find in Paradise Lost the speeches of Satan and
Beelzebub in book 1, then in book IX, there are speeches of Adam, Eve and Satan. The same
method has been used by Alexander Pope in the Rape of the Lock. Belinda, Clarissa, Thalestris,
the Baron, Ariel, all have their speeches. These speeches increase interest in the piece and also
help us understand the inner feelings of the characters.
The titles of the epics are also attractive, Paradise Lost is a universal topic and every human being
can be interested in it. While 'The Rape of the Lock' is a ridiculous topic. The grave sense of
'Rape' has been connected with a lock. Thus the titles fulfill their relevant needs.
An epic has a good sized length and breadth. Everything is explained with full satisfaction.
Paradise Lost with its twelve books leaves no aspect unexplained. While The Rape of the Lock has
only seven hundred and ninety lines. Its brevity multiplies its charm and a compact pleasure is
enjoyed by the reader.
In epics, characters have grand passions according to their position. As in Paradise Lost, Satan is
full of grand passions. Though insane, his task to overthrow God is no doubt a great passion. Then
he burns in the fire of revenge and enters paradise against God’s orders and succeeds in bringing
about man’s fall. His great passion is a force for his great adventures. Milton’s Satan proves a
mighty mountain of courage. Standing in the burning ground, he doesn’t fall into the quagmire
of despair. He utters very boldly:
Farewell, happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: Hail, horrors, hail,
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor: one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself.
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
But in a mock-epic, passions are also trivial; the young men want to entrap girls and vice versa.
Belinda says:
Oh, if you had been content to seize
Hairs less in sight, or any hair but these!
The whole piece brings before us social vices along with personal drawbacks.
Kalimuddin Ahmad asserts:
It is only a realization of truth that gives life its meaning–and art its significance.
The Rape of the Lock gives us the realization of the English society of the Eighteenth century.
Thus the two epics have a large number of aspects where they compare and contrast with each other.
other. But each of them has its own worth and quality. With respect to grandeur, Paradise Lost
impresses us very much but with respect to humour and pleasure, The Rape of the Lock brings us
a glass of laughter.