The Rape of the Lock

Notes

Submitted By: M Altaf

Class: BS (English)

Submitted to: Ma’am Mahwish

Department of EnglishThe University of Lahore, Pakpattan

Alexander Pope: Life and Work

• Born on May 21 1688 in London, England

• Roman Catholic Family

• Life “As disease”

• Inspired by Greek writers specially Horace.

• Self taught

• Start to write when he was only 12 years old

• Poet of Society

• Most famous work is “The Rape of Lock”

• Translated the Greek writings.

• Died on May 30, 1744 in the age of 56

The Rape of the Lock

Alexander Pope wrote this particular poem with the sole purpose to satirize and end an absurd quarrel between two families which centered around the obsession of cutting off a lock of hair.

Definition of satire

Derived from the Latin word “satira” .

It is a literary attack on the follies and vices of an individual or society with a view of correcting them through laughter and ridicule written either in prose or verse.

The Rape of Lock: General Introduction

Two aristocrat Roman Catholic Families in friendship

Lord Petre and Lady Arbela Fervor fall in love

Peter cut Arabella’s hair lock

Relationship between two families cooled down.

Mr. John Caryll asked Pope’s to write a poem

Pope accepted to do this job. He wrote “The Rape of Lock”

Epic:

“A long narrative poem about the

actions of a great person.”

Or

“A long narrative poem which deals in a grand diction with sublime themes and tells heroic deeds.”

Mock Epic:

“It is a parody of an epic.”

Or

“A long narrative poem which deals in a grand diction with trivial/ordinary themes and produces laughter.”

CharactersBelinda Beautiful young lady with wondrous hair, two locks of which hang gracefully in curls. The Baron Young admirer of Belinda who plots to cut off one of her locks.Ariel Belinda's guardian sylph (supernatural creature).Clarissa Young lady who gives the Baron scissors.Umbriel Sprite who enters the cave of the Queen of Spleen to seek help for Belinda. 

Queen of Spleen Underworld goddess who gives Umbriel gifts for Belinda.Thalestris Friend of Belinda. Thalestris urges Sir Plume to defend Belinda's honor.Sir Plume Beau of Thalestris. He scolds the Baron.Sylphs, Fairies, Genies, Demons, Phantoms and Other Supernatural CreaturesSupernatural Machinery: In classical epics God, gods and goddesses were the supernatural elements but here this part is performed by tiny spirits like; sylphs, nymphs, gnomes, and salamanders etc

Source: a Real-Life Incident 

Canto 1

Belinda awakes from sleeping

The dream of Belinda

Belinda prepares for the day’s social activities

Canto 2

The travel on the Thames river

The prayer of the young adventurer Baron

The Sylphs’ mission to “tend the Fair”—to protect Belinda

Brillante—the earrings

Chrispissa—the locks

Ariel—Shock, Belinda’s lapdog

Momentilla—the watch

fifty chosen Sylphs—the petticoat

Canto 3

The game of cards—ombre

Omber: popular card game

Matadore: a powerful card that could take a trick The rape of the lock

Canto 4

Belinda’s Ill-Natured mood and Affection after the loss of the lock

Umbriel, the earthy gnome, descends to the Cave of Spleen

Thalestris’ speech rouses the rage of Belinda

Sir Plume bids in vain the payment of the lock

Canto 5

Clarissa’s speech

The battle of belles and beaux

The lock rises to the heaven and becomes a star

Epic, the Characteristics

A long narrative poem

Elevated, grand style

Great heroes and heroines

The setting is vast in geographical range

Supernatural power

Epic Conventions

The theme is usually the adventure of a hero or a war.

Invocate the Muse’s aid. (Calliope)

Ask epic question(s).

Begin with in medias res.

Use epithets and similes.

Gods’ interference in human affairs.

Structure

Heroic couplet

Rhymed in every two lines.

Iambic pentameter

Ten syllables in each line

Alternate with stressed and unstressed syllables

Summary

: Pope’s ‘heroi-comic’ epic is a social satire. The action completes in one single day in the life of fashionable recusants of London. Belinda gets up from bed at about noon and spends a few hours in ‘denting and painting’. She has to take part in a card game named ‘Ombre’ at Hampton Court Palace. She along with a number of young men and ladies undertake a boat journey in the river Tames to reach the destination in the north Bank. Ariel, the divine angel guesses some evil to happen on Belinda and engages his troop of Sylphs to guard Belinda’s possessions and honour. An adventurous youth Robert,Lord Petre is determined to steal Belinda’s tempting ‘Locks’ of hair. In the card game Belinda wins. This makes the Baron more adamant. Clarisse hands over a pair of scissors to the Baron. The Baron stealthily cuts a lock from of hair from Belinda’s head.

Discovering the theft, Belinda becomes utterly sorry. Clarisse tries to mollify her but fails. A gnome named Umbriel descends to the Underworld on Belinda’s behalf and obtains a bag of sighs and a vial of tears from the Queen of Spleen. With these magical gifts, he means to comfort poor Belinda. Grief overcomes her as her eyes half-drown in tears and her head droops upon her bosom. She resolves to fight against the Baron. She attacks the Baron with snuff and hair-pin etc. A

fearful combat ensues. During the fight, the Baron loses the Lock. So he fails to return it.

The poem, however, ends with a note of consolation to Belinda that her golden ‘Lock’ must have formed a constellation in the sky.

Style and Rhyme: Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in heroic couplets. A heroic couplet is a unit of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter. The entire poem consists of one heroic couplet followed by another.

Figures of Speech

The main figure of speech in The Rape of the Lock is hyperbole. Pope uses it throughout the poem to exaggerate the ordinary and the commonplace, making them extraordinary and spectacular. In so doing, paradoxically, he makes them seem as they really are, small and petty. Examples of hyperbole include the following:

Sol through white Curtains shot a tim'rous Ray,And ope'd those Eyes that must eclipse the Day.Hyberbole: Belinda's eyes are so bright that they outshine a ray of sunlight  

Alliteration

Slight is the subject, but not so the praise (Canto I, line 5) 

And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say (Canto I, line 26)

Some secret truths, from learned pride conceal'd (Canto I, line 37) 

Where Wigs with Wigs, with Sword-knots Sword-knots strive, Beaux banish Beaux, and Coaches Coaches drive. (Canto I, 101-102)

Anaphora

What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things (Canto I, lines 1-2) 

When kind occasion prompts their warm desires,When music softens, and when dancing fires? (Canto I, 75-76)

 MetaphorThey shift the moving Toyshop of their heart (Canto 1, line 100)Comparison of the whims of a young woman to the Toyshop of the heartMetonymy

And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. (Canto II, line 24)Use of hearts to represent Belinda's male admirersPersonification

This Nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourish'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind.....................In equal curls, and well conspir'd to deck With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. (Canto II, 19-22) The two locks conspire. 

Love in these Labyrinths his Slaves detains (Canto II, line 23) Comparison of love to a master with slavesSimile

Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. (Canto II, 13-14)Comparison of the brightness of Belinda's eyes to the brightness of the sunComparison of Belinda's gaze to the shining sun

Objective Questions & Answers

  i.Juvenalian satires are also called Menippean satire: True/False.

  Ans. True

  ii.‘The Rape of the lock’ was first published anonymously in Lintot’s ‘Miscellaneous Poems and Translations i. 1712 in two cantos(334) lines: True

  iii. How many versions of ‘The Rape of the Lock’ were published by Pope?

  Ans.3

  iv. What was the addition in final version of ‘The Rape of the Lock’?

  Ans. Clarissa’s speech on good humour.

  v. Who was Pope’s Muse in ‘The Rape of the Lock’?

  Ans.John Carryl

  xi.Who was to guard ‘Shock’?

  Ans.Ariel

  xii.Who was Ariel?

  Ans.Ariel was the chief of the Sylphs.

  xiii. How many Sylphs were engaged to guard Belinda’s body and petticoat?

  Ans.50

  xiv. Who was engaged to guard Belinda’s ‘Locks’?

  Ans. Crispissa

  xv. What was the usual time for the fashionable youths to get up from bed?

  Ans. Noon

  vi.Who were the protagonists in the poem?

  Ans.Lord Petre and Belinda

  vii.With which Belinda’s eyes were compared more than once in the poem?

  Ans.The Sun

  viii.Who was Shock?

  Ans.The name of Belinda’s lapdog was Shock.

  ix.Who was to guard Belinda’s ‘earring’?

  Ans.Brillante

  x.Who was to guard Belinda’s ‘wrist watch’?

  Ans.Momentilla

  xvi. What is a ‘Billet Doux’?

  Ans. A love letter from the lady love.

  xvii. What were Lord Petre’s earlier tokens of ‘Love’?

  Ans. Half a pair of Gloves; three garters and a number of trophies from his former loves.

  xviii. What did Petre do with all his ‘Billet Doux’?

  Ans. Petre lit a Pyre with all the love tokens that he got from his earlier beloveds and prayed kneeling down before that ignited pyre.

  xix. What did god grant to him?

  Ans. God granted half of his prayer.

  xx. Where did the youths go in a boat?

  Ans.Hampton Castle Palace on the north Bank of the Tames.

  xxi. What card game did they play?

  Ans. Ombre

  xxii. Who cut the ‘lock’ of Belinda?

  Ans.The Baron ,on the third try ,cut off the coveted ‘lock’ of Belinda.

  xxiii. Who was Belinda’s maid?

  Ans.Betty

  xxiv. What had happened to Belinda’s ‘Lock’ ultimately?

  Ans. Belinda’s ‘Lock’ turned into a constellation.

  xxv. Who according to Myth, becomes a Sylph after death?

  Ans.A good lady like Belinda.