The Rape of The Lock
Context
Alexander Pope was born in London in 1688. As a Roman Catholic living during
a time of Protestant consolidation in England, he was largely excluded from the university system and from political life, and suffered certain social and economic disadvantages because of his religion as well. He was self-taught to a great extent, and was an assiduous scholar from a very early age. He learned several languages on his own, and his early verses were often imitations of poets he admired. His obvious talent found encouragement from his father, a linen-draper, as well as from literary-minded friends. At the age of twelve, Pope contracted a form of tuberculosis that settled in his spine, leaving him stunted and misshapen and causing him great pain for much of his life. He never married, though he formed a number of lifelong friendships in London''s literary circles, most notably with Jonathan Swift.
Pope wrote during what is often called the Augustan Age of English literature (indeed, it is Pope''s career that defines the age). During this time, the nation had recovered from the English Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution, and the regained sense of political stability led to a resurgence of support for the arts. For this reason, many compared the period to the reign of Augustus in Rome, under whom both Virgil and Horace had found support for their work. The prevailing taste of the day was neoclassical, and 18th-century English writers tended to value poetry that was learned and allusive, setting less value on originality than the Romantics would in the next century. This literature also tended to be morally and often politically engaged, privileging satire as its dominant mode.
The Rape of the Lock is one of the most famous English-language examples of the mock epic. Published in its first version in 1712, when Pope was only 23 years old, the poem served to forge his reputation as a poet and remains his most frequently studied work. The inspiration for the poem was an actual incident among Pope''s acquaintances in which Robert, Lord Peter, cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor''s hair, and the young people''s families fell into strife as a result. John Caryll, another member of this same circle of prominent Roman Catholics, asked Pope to write a light poem that would put the episode into a humorous perspective and reconcile the two families. The poem was originally published in a shorter version, which Pope later revised. In this later version he added the "machinery," the retinue of supernaturals who influence the action as well as the moral of the tale.
After the publication of The Rape of the Lock, Pope spent many years translating the works of Homer. During the ten years he devoted to this arduous project, he produced very few new poems of his own but refined his taste in literature (and his moral, social, and political opinions) to an incredible degree. When he later recommenced to write original poetry, Pope struck a more serious tone than the one he gave to The Rape of the Lock. These later poems are more severe in their moral judgments and more acid in their satire: Pope''s Essay on Man is a philosophical poem on metaphysics, ethics, and human nature, while in the Dunciad Pope writes a scathing exposé of the bad writers and pseudo-intellectuals of his day.
Characters
Belinda - Belinda is based on the historical Arabella Fermor, a member of Pope''s circle of prominent Roman Catholics. Robert, Lord Petre (the Baron in the poem) had precipitated a rift between their two families by snipping off a lock of her hair.
The Baron - This is the pseudonym for the historical Robert, Lord Petre, the young gentleman in Pope''s social circle who offended Arabella Fermor and her family by cutting off a lock of her hair. In the poem''s version of events, Arabella is known asG>Caryll - The historical basis for the Caryll character is John Caryll, a friend of Pope and of the two families that had become estranged over the incident the poem relates. It was Caryll who suggested that Pope encourage reconciliation by writing a humorous poem.
Goddess - The muse who, according to classical convention, inspires poets to write their verses
Shock - Belinda’s lapdog
Ariel - Belinda’s guardian sylph, who oversees an army of invisible protective deities
Travels to the Cave of Spleen and returns with bundles of sighs and tears to aggravate Belinda''s vexation
Brillante - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda''s earrings
Momentilla - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda''s watch
Crispissa - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda''s "fav''rite Lock"
Clarissa - A woman in attendance at the Hampton Court party. She lends the Baron the pair of scissors with which he cuts Belinda''s hair, and later delivers a moralizing lecture.
Thalestris - Belinda''s friend, named for the Queen of the Amazons and representing the historical Gertrude Morley, a friend of Pope''s and the wife of Sir George Browne (rendered as her "beau," Sir Plume, in the poem). She eggs Belinda on in her anger and demands that the lock be returned.
Sir Plume - Thalestris''s "beau," who makes an ineffectual challenge to the Baron. He represents the historical Sir George Browne, a member of Pope''s social circle.
Summary
Belinda arises to prepare for the day''s social activities after sleeping late. Her guardian sylph, Ariel, warned her in a dream that some disaster will befall her, and promises to protect her to the best of his abilities. Belinda takes little notice of this oracle, however. After an elaborate ritual of dressing and primping, she travels on the Thames River to Hampton Court Palace, an ancient royal residence outside of London, where a group of wealthy young socialites are gathering for a party. Among them is the Baron, who has already made up his mind to steal a lock of Belinda''s hair. He has risen early to perform and elaborate set of prayers and sacrifices to promote success in this enterprise. When the partygoers arrive at the palace, they enjoy a tense game of cards, which Pope describes in mock-heroic terms as a battle. A round of coffee follows this. Then the Baron takes up a pair of scissors and manages, on the third try, to cut off the coveted lock of Belinda''s hair. Belinda is furious. Umbriel, a mischievous gnome, journeys down to the Cave of Spleen to procure a sack of sighs and a flask of tears which he then bestows on the heroine to fan the flames of her ire. Clarissa, who had aided the Baron in his crime, now urges Belinda to give up her anger in favor of good humor and good sense, moral qualities that will outlast her vanities. But Clarissa''s moralizing falls on deaf ears, and Belinda initiates a scuffle between the ladies and the gentlemen, in which she attempts to recover the severed curl. The lock is lost in the confusion of this mock battle, however; the poet consoles the bereft Belinda with the suggestion that it has been taken up into the heavens and immortalized as a constellation.
Analysis: Themes and Form
The Rape of the Lock is a humorous indictment of the vanities and idleness of 18th-century high society. Basing his poem on a real incident among families of his acquaintance, Pope intended his verses to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own folly.
The poem is perhaps the most outstanding example in the English language of the genre of mock epic. The epic had long been considered one of the most serious of literary