The Rape of the Lock is an early 18th century based mock-epic poem about the actual disagreement between two aristocratic families. It is the exaggerated and mocked story of the stealing of Belinda’s lock of hair and Lord Petre’s desire to attain the lock. The author- Alexander Pope uses his imagination, wit, and gentle satire to tumefy the problem into a great big Greek tragedy with cosmic results. By mocking the Baron and Belinda and their disagreement, the Pope tries to put forth the ridiculous vanities and idleness of the 18th-century high society.
The poem moves between criticizing the ‘silly’ conventions of the aristocracy and mocking the serious traditions of ancient epic poetry. By using elements of ancient poetry such as refined style, mythology, and imagery of warriors ready for battle, Pope tries to show the ridiculous conventions of courtship rituals. Hence he tried to show how too much tradition and too much convention leads to corruption in the society. Pope compares the loss of Belinda’s hair to the great battles of ancient epics, such as Homers Iliad and Odyssey; furthermore, pope describes the process of Belinda’s preparation where she puts on her makeup and does her hair as a scene from epic poetry where the hero goes to battle.
The method Pope uses to make his point is not by mocking the epic itself but by mocking the society in failing to address the level of standard that exists in epic poetry exposing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the traditional heroic subjects and the bravery and fortitude of epic heroes: Pope’s mock-heroic treatment in the poem underscores the ridiculousness of a society in which values have lost all proportion, and the trivial is handled with the gravity and solemnity that ought to be accorded to fundamental issues.
Every element of the contemporary scene in the poem conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical worldview. The pieces are bounded together with original language, and elaborated style where each element is transformed into the picture and each image are turned into the silly conventions of the aristocracy. The transformations are moral implications for the society to understand, change and apply. The famous battles such as Troy become simple flirtations of Barons, and the ladies, the Greek gods who interfere and alter the fate of heroes, are changed to sprites who have no effect whatsoever on the heroes, all the clothing, jewelry, etc. are transformed into the famous weapons and armors of heroes and heroines and the religious sacrifice to the gods of ancient epic are stuffed into a dressing room and the altar where the hero and heroine do not pray for honor or immortality but prays for fame and beauty.
By sarcastically describing Belinda, Pope aims to show the difference between reality and appearance. He tries to lament the loss of the ancient days, where people fought and lived for honorable causes. He criticizes the ages of the battle for appreciation, competition for eligible husbands, money, stature, social concerns, fame, and reputation. He tries to make the point that the old ideals of honor, nobility, virtue are lost and the public value fame, status, and appreciation more. He focuses specifically on Belinda, to show that the women are more ambitious in attaining these appreciation values, by appearing – both physically and emotionally- to be someone they are not. Pope also critics men for no longer fighting for patriotic and honorable causes, and instead pursuing women to satisfy their desire and they do this by sacrificing to the gods at the altars, not for honor and immortality but the love of women.
The lock of hair is equated with chastity throughout the poem, which is why the Baron’s stealing of the lock is a big issue. It symbolizes the loss of Belinda’s virginity and purity. The way the Pope describes the event shows that it is a sexual game, which is about Belinda’s chastity seeming to be taken by the Baron by the lock of hair. In Canto Iv, Pope writes about the pathos of the epic hero, where he appears to parallel the extreme agony of the past with Belinda’s pain in her lock being stolen: he compares the shame of a king being captured alive in a battlefield with Belinda’s lock being taken and says that the latter is a more significant pain. In this discourse, of course, Pope is criticizing and mocking the latter and trying to show that the former is a higher degree of shame and is the actual pain. Pope also mocks the affectations that women show, the exaggerated grief as demonstrated by women, the fake fainting and the soft sound of despair. Pope says that Belinda would show such affectations to counterfeit her pain to get attention and be noticed. In the battle scene, where women attack the men, the women’s weapons consist of things belonging to women such as bodpins, snuff boxes, powder, etc. All these show that Pope is satirical of women and how they use their powers against men. With such a description, Pope also seems to suggest that behind the very lady-like decorum of the women, there is a very fierce and angry woman who seeks revenge and has a strong will-power.
In Canto V the resolution comes with the first sighting of Clarissa: she criticizes the society for valuing appearance, beauty, and elaboration. Pope, through Clarissa, advises the audience: to give importance and value to things that are more simple, permanent and real; to find honor not in trivial things but in situations like being accurate, loyal, have good humor. In the end, it is fame and reputation that Belinda seeks, and it is again in glory and appearance that she thinks lies immortality; unlike the women of epic poetry, who desired to die honorably and be remembered after death thus achieving immortality. The question the Pope makes the audience ask is: Belinda does reach fame and immortality through this poem and not through having a rich husband; but does this make her honorable?
It is possible that intended this poem to be a guide for the future and then-present men and women on how to live a simple, honorable and “normal” life. As a conclusion, Pope makes the audience think about the morals, virtues, and honors that a person should have and how these should be reflected upon the society.