The Rape of the Lock

A detailed Summary of The Rape of the Lock


The traditional epic was an extravagant tale, revolving around the ideal and mighty hero and his quest, always extending beyond the ordinary confinements of society. Alexander Pope used the very structure of the formal and majestic epic in his The Rape of the Lock, to underscore the ridiculousness of his own society and their trivial practices and beliefs. In following the epic form, inventing his own divine machinery, using a learned and stiff diction Pope effectively treats his trivial subject matter (the 'rape' of Belinda's most beautiful curl) in the most striking fashion. Pope further belittles the ideals of his society by introducing a voice of reason, in the character of Clarissa, towards the end of the poem who outwardly and blatantly ridicules the traditions of her contemporaries. In a perfect marriage of the trifling subject matter and the impressive epic form, Alexander Pope's truthful points are effectively relayed to his audience.

The very first demonstration of the trivial in resects to the mighty is the very title of Pope's epic, The Rape of the Lock. Simply but allowing the heavy word rape to describe the marginal action of Belinda's dramatized hair cut, reveals that Pope sees the 18th century's new endeav


Another means by which Pope is able to satirize the trivial by placing it on a grandiose plane lies in his invention of a ridiculous divine machinery, which he plants effectively into his poem. Unlike the powerful, classical deities who played active roles in the lives of the mortal epic character Pope's Rosicrucian sprites are nothing more than playful, vanity-obsessed guardians.

Clarissa's role is perhaps the most revealing and palpable of Pope's satirical devices; instead of relying solely on the greatness of the epic tale to tell an essentially ridiculous tale, Pope introduces a voice of reason to help electrify his central idea. The wind behind the Baron's hideous action, shortly after Clarissa hands the scissors to the Baron, she delivers an eye-opening sermon to Belinda and the others. Through Clarissa, Pope advocates that beauty and vanity are not everlasting, and thus should not be "praised and honored most" (canto v, line 9). Clarissa is essentially the 'moral of the story', she drives home Pope's notion that beauty is the God that the 18th century idolizes, and not rightly so; as such society has become petty and has regressed a great deal: "Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul"(canto v, lines 33-34). In Clarissa, we are introduced to

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 888
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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