Resumo de The Rape Of The Lock

The theme of the poem is based on a real life incident involving a stolen lock of hair. Lord Petre clipped off a lock of the beautiful Arabella Fermor?s hair, leading to animosities between the two aristocratic families of catholic origin. John Caryll commissioned his friend Alexander Pope, to write a poem on the incident.

Alexander Pope, one of the famous poets of eighteenth century, is well known for his satirical mode of writing. Even though the poem is triggered by a trivial incident, Pope has lent his magic touch and has turned it into one of the best mock-epic poems.

In the eighteenth century, women were considered as objects of beauty and chastity. Pope has elaborately described the toiletteries of the protagonist Belinda. She is surrounded by invisible guardians of chastity. A particular group of sprites known as sylphs serve as Belinda?s personal guardians. The chief of the protectors, Ariel warns Belinda to be ?beware of man?. The sprites that watch over Belinda are meant to mimic the Greek gods and Roman traditions, who act either benevolently or maliciously. The gnomes, sylphs, salamanders and nymphs, who get involved in earthly events, represent the four elements of earth, air, fire and water respectively.

The poem cannot be compared to the grand love of Greek heroes, but it rather represents a trivialized version of that emotion. Instead of the great battles of epic tradition, there are card games and flirtatious tussles. The ladies are governed by an elaborate system of social mechanism, where as young lords compete for attention of beautiful ladies indulging in battle of vanity.

Women were not supposed to equal men in any of the rituals. They had to attain pride through rituals of beauty. But Belinda shows pride in winning the card game and beating out males in a male domain. Morality dictates that she should be punished and shown her rightful place.

Baron Peer, having lost in card game to Belinda, desires to own her locks of hair as a prize. Declaring that her locks were created for the ?destruction of mankind?, showing no remorse for his action, he clips off her locks with scissors. Belinda experiences a great deal of shame and public humiliation. She becomes a looser in the war of sexes.

Pope bases his value of equation on the intellect of man verses beauty of woman. Instead of sympathizing, he mocks Belinda and other women for their rituals of beauty. He manages to marginalize women by turning the de-locking of Belinda into a mock-epic. It is said that, through this poem, Pope has tried to mock the Barrier Treaty signed by Lord Townshend. He has attacked the misguided values of society that takes trivial matters for serious ones, while failing to attend to issues of general importance.

Alexander Pope has turned a trivial issue into a mock- epic with his dignified style of writing.

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Notes compiled by: J.Prabha.

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