‘The Rape of the Lock’ as a satire/social satire.

((()))))THE RAPE OF THE LOCK ((()))))

‘The Rape of the Lock’ as a satire/social satire.
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Belinda as a symbol of the moral degeneration of the contemporary life
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Documentary value of ‘The Rape of the Lock’
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Element of satire in ‘The Rape of the Lock’
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Pope as a moralist in ‘The Rape of the Lock’
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The Rape of the Lock as a satire on the contemporary beau monde.
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Character of Belinda in ‘The Rape of the Lock’
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  Pope as a critic of women/fashionable life
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Pope's attitude towards women

Alexander Pope is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever satirists of all times (Walker, 1925). He is a poet of society (Griffin, 2015) the largest part of whose poetry is satirical and didactic (Warton & Rounce, 2004). His masterpiece The Rape of the Lock serves as a true embodiment of the Neo-classical values (Pope, 2016) and the protagonist, Belinda, the moral degradation of the contemporary English beau monde (Szwec, 2011). But, thanks to Pope’s poetic genius, the otherwise ordinary account of a family feud transcends the contemporary age and exposes universal evils of pride, vanity, hypocrisy, sentimentality, class-consciousness and indifference. Pope has painted a detailed picture of the following evils infecting these women.

1))))Illicit relations
These women have illicit relations with the beaus, exposed by the poet through such sexual symbols as ‘melting maids’, ‘midnight masquerades’, ‘softening music’, ‘dancing fires’, etc. They indulge in these activities because they are dazzled by the charms by the fashionable life.

2))inconsistency in love
Because of their illegitimate relations, they are inconsistent in love and are not contented with anyone:

“With varying vanities, from every part
They shift the moving toyshops of their heart.”

3)))Ambivalent attitude
It is interesting to note that just before the cutting of Belinda’s lock, when Ariel searched ‘the close recesses’ of her heart, he found ‘an earthly lover (Baron) lurking at her heart”. It shows the ambivalent attitude and confused as well as mixed feelings of these women. It is difficult to guard the chastity of these women as they themselves do not desire so. Pope warns:

“Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale;
Form a strong line about the silver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.”

4)))Slanderous Attitude
Their attitude is defamatory and libelous. When they sit together, they have nothing to do except to allure the beaus and slander other fashionable ladies who are their competitors:

  “A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word and reputation dies.”

5)))Preferring social reputation to chastity
For them, social reputation (‘Honour’) is more important than chastity and they can sacrifice anything for it:

“Honour forbid! At whose unrivalled shrine
Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign.”

That’s why, Belinda, after the loss of the lock, complains:

“Oh hadst thou, cruel ! been content to seize
Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!”

So she is not shocked at the loss of chastity (‘Hairs less in sight’) but at the loss of her reputation (‘any hairs but these’, means the curls which were visible). The reason is that these curls enabled here to ensnare beaus.

6)))Endless competition to hunt beaus
This is a type of society in which there is endless competition among the ladies to surpass each other in their ability to hunt the fashionable boys. That’s why, Belinda’s own friends are insincere. So we see her friend, Clarissa, providing the scissors to Baron to cut Belinda’s lock and another friend, Thalestris, trying to make her disgrace public:

“Belinda burns with more than mortal ire, 
And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire.”

7)))Never ending obsession with the beau monde
Pope humorously tells us that these women are so obsessed with the fashionable life that even after their death, they turn into spirits and perpetuate their interest in the fashionable circles by supervising the living ladies:

“Think not, when woman’s transient breath is fled,
That all her vanities at once are dead:
Succeeding vanities she still regards,
And though she plays no more, o’erlooks the cards.”

8)))Self conceit
These aristocratic ladies suffer from self-conceit and each one of them considers herself some heavenly creature. The dream in which Belinda hears the address of a spirit, Ariel, is just a form of her self-praise and self-conceit. ‘Fairest of mortals’ is, in fact, an epithet which Belinda chooses for herself. But when reality is revealed to her, it is too late. Ultimately, the fashionable women who look down upon the whole world end up dying friendless, isolated and lonely.

Pope describes their pathetic condition in these ominous words:

“And she who scorns a man, must die a maid.”