Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock is not studied and admired only because of its style and form, but also for its base content and underlying themes. Pope's ability to manipulate text into mock-heroic form, constructing a flow of satirical description is what makes this poem one of such quality.
The piece was first published in 1712 by the request of Pope's friend, John Caryll. It was to make peace between the Fermors and Petres, two prominent Roman Catholic families at the time. The feud was supposedly caused by an incident at a card game that ended with Lord Petre cutting a lock from the hair of lovely Arabella Fermor. Caryll had hoped that Pope wrote a poem that would sooth the tempers of the two families.
Popes intention was to combine satirical humor with the already existent ill feelings produced by the incident. He was, more or less, putting the minor situation into perspective, hopping all involved could laugh at them selves. To do this, he chose a mock-heroic form and to model the work after an epic poem, possibly mocking Milton's Paradise Lost. Pope's satirical take on the incident continues with his strict line rhyme and meter, which adds to seriousness of the writing style.
Through understanding where Pope is coming from in his over the top style, the reader begins to understand that the piece is a view of the follies of upper class society, relationships, and especially female vanity. The entire poem comments on the current social world, satirizing concerns of women in society.
Pope jokingly describes the main character, Belinda, as if she were a heroin in an epic tale by addressing her as, "Fairest of all Mortals, thou distinguish'd / Cave of a thousand bright ...
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... as ridiculous. At the same time, The Rape of the Lock is littered with fragments of understanding and sensitivity towards the opposite sex.
It would be unfair to the examination of this mock-epic poem, if one were to not address the author's intentions in compiling such underlying themes. From all historical accounts, Mr. Pope was not a physically attractive man. With poor health caused by tuberculosis and asthma, Pope also had a curvature of the spine resulting in his four foot, six inch stature.
Is this piece of his work not only a satire on the cutting of hair, but a description of Pope's hopes of finding such a woman who is not as shallow as the characters he writes of? Once again, speaking though Clarissa, Pope states an effective and simple truth, "Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; / Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul." (N. 1)
The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.
She questions “why should I be my aunt / or me, or anyone?” (75-76), perhaps highlighting the notion that women were not as likely to be seen as an induvial at this time in history. Additionally, she questions, almost rhetorically so, if “those awful hanging breasts -- / held us all together / or made us all just one?” (81-83). This conveys the questions of what it means to be a woman: are we simply similar because of “awful hanging breasts” as the speaker of the poem questions, or are we held together by something else, and what is society’s perception on this? It is also interesting to note Bishop’s use of parenthesis around the line “I could read” (15). It may function as an aside for the reader to realize that the six year old girl can in fact read, but also might function as a wink to the misconstrued notion throughout history that women were less educated and didn’t
In the poem, Boniface is not only a cleric to be condemned. Hell is full of them; Celestine is among the neutrals despite his holiness.Most of the early commentators agree on this identification-not only because he rejected God’s will but also presumably because in resigning from the papacy, denying his responsibility.He left the door open for Boniface and his corruption.The circle of greed filled with popes and cardinals, whose guards shouts “Pape Satan”, a phrase that suggests to an early commentator bishop calling his pope Satan.A Pope, as well as a cardinal, appears in the circle of heresy: Simony is dominated by popes, hypocrisy by monks or friars. There is probably an allegorical reference to the church in the Suicide Pier Della Vigna (Canto X111), Whose name “Peter of the vineyard”, suggests a perverted image of St.Peter, the first pope, a martyr for the vineyard contemporary popes are laying waste.Pier was at the court of the emperor Fredrick.Federico, whose name ...
To begin, in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope uses satire to invoke a capricious, melancholy mood to illustrate the absurdity of fighting over the cutting of one's hair. Hidden inside this poem is a crafty criticism of the society that helps create the crisis over the stolen lock. A Society in which appearances ere more important to a person’s sense of identity, and treats the insignificant with utmost importance.
Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 .
She tells the girl to “walk like a lady” (320), “hem a dress when you see the hem coming down”, and “behave in front of boys you don’t know very well” (321), so as not to “become the slut you are so bent on becoming” (320). The repetition of the word “slut” and the multitude of rules that must be obeyed so as not to be perceived as such, indicates that the suppression of sexual desire is a particularly important aspect of being a proper woman in a patriarchal society. The young girl in this poem must deny her sexual desires, a quality intrinsic to human nature, or she will be reprimanded for being a loose woman. These restrictions do not allow her to experience the freedom that her male counterparts
In the poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” written by Jonathan Swift, one may say he portrays himself to be a chauvinist by ridiculing women and their cryptic habits. However, others may say he wants to help women from the ideals placed upon them by society and prove to be an early feminist. This poem written in the 18th century represented women to be fake and sleazy at first. Then during the 20th century, the feminist movement used it as an attack against women, depicting the poem’s meaning as not valuing their rights and freedoms. The truth far hidden from these points of views became uncovered recently. This essay will explain both sides of the views and using critical thinking will uncover the real message the author intended to portray.
Rape has destroyed the lives of women victimized, even ending their lives. Though by gender, women are different, they are persons just as men are and deserves right to life. The essay will argue on why punish the rapists, what punishments would be appropriate, and how advisable would these punishments be.
In order to see how Gray’s Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat uses mirrors the style of the mock epic, we must pinpoint features and conventions of epic literature. One common feature of the epic is that there is commonly a huge amount of focus on an object of desire. In the case of a mock epic, the object in question is given a disproportionate amount of importance. In Alexander Pope’s mock epic The Rape of the Lock, the main object of desire is Belinda’s lock of hair. As the lock is an object that the Sylphs surrounding her are tasked to guard, is it treated is something sacred, and becomes a symbol of Belinda’s chastity. In the case of Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, the goldfishes are treated as the object of desire. The fishes take on “angel forms” and don hues of purple and gold – regal colors that give the fishes a disparate sense of importance and entice the cat towards the fishbowl. This flattering...
This, in fact, is an example of “dynamic decomposition” of which the speaker claims she understands nothing. The ironic contradiction of form and content underlines the contradiction between the women’s presentation of her outer self and that of her inner self. The poem concludes with the line “’Let us go home she is tired and wants to go to bed.’” which is a statement made by the man. Hence, it “appears to give the last word to the men” but, in reality, it mirrors the poem’s opening lines and emphasises the role the woman assumes on the outside as well as her inner awareness and criticism. This echoes Loy’s proclamation in her “Feminist Manifesto” in which she states that women should “[l]eave off looking to men to find out what [they] are not [but] seek within [themselves] to find out what [they] are”. Therefore, the poem presents a “new woman” confined in the traditional social order but resisting it as she is aware and critical of
within the poem is what Pope thinks of the situation, and what he wishes to show. Due to this, I feel that it is impossible to consider Pope criticising Belinda for being a sham. Like many things within life, there is no black or white answer but a shade of grey and Pope is. privy to both the positive and negative sides of Belinda, and also how.
She then talks about great men such as Mussolini, Pope, Napoleon and Goethe and how they viewed women. After discovering their opinions, the narrator is bewildered at her findings. These men are praised for their philosophies and wisdom, yet they all view women as being inferior. The narrator is pointing towards the fact that these men in reality are quite ignorant. During th...
No,w in the twenty first century, many moral values have changed and stayed the same, even some of the Catholic views on the sins condemned in The Inferno have been changed and are now allowed. Throughout the epic, the morality of the dark age condemnation system are subjugated and scrutinized through analysis of the characters. After perusing The Inferno an obvious bias and contortion in the determination of good and evil, sinful and the righteous emerge. The views of the poem and in this essay were not an attempt to castigate catholicism at all, but to put into question the ideas and morality of the catholic church in the thirteen hundreds.
In the end, a story that appears to poke fun at the carefree lives of upper class women actually gives great appreciation to the subtle powers women hold over men. It could be argued that one of the most important powers of women is that of controlling men with their trivial problems and needs. Perhaps Pope was demonstrating women's skill in controlling men by simply playing the part of the vain shallow debutant. Whatever his intentions were it is clear that Alexander Pope did not in fact find the women of his time to be completely powerless, instead they were the driving forces of the household and of society.
Sex has been a taboo subject for many generations in nearly every culture present in the world. Many seem to rely on the traditional idea that one should abstain from sex until marriage, while others evolved and began to exercise the idea of sexual freedom and are not held down by any certain beliefs or traditions. Leslie Bell takes an in-depth look into this complex situation by taking into account various psychoanalytical theories and first-hand experiences in order to make sense of this complicated subject. One can argue that sex becomes a much more complicated rather than a pleasurable experience for women due to the confusing standards that society has put in place, their upbringing from childhood to adulthood, and their overwhelming desire