Thinking Activity on 'The Rape of the Lock'

 Thinking activity

               The Rape Of  the Lock

                               By

                                            Alexander Pope

       This Blogspot is in response to the thinking activity on ‘ The Rape of the Lock’. This thinking activity task is assigned by Vaidehi Ma'am. I am going to write down a BlogSpot on Alexander pope's mock heroic poem , " The Rape of the lock. "

                                          

         

                             ‘The Rape of the Lock’

        ‘The Rape of the Lock’ written by a well known writer and Critic Alexander Pope, who was born in London, England. ‘The Rape of the Lock’ is a mock heroic narrative poem. The first version of this poem  published in 1712 , it has only two cantos. In this version the Alexander Pope chiefly emphasizes the quarrel between Belinda and The Baron. The second version of this poem was published in 1714 , It has five Cantos in this poem. In this Poem  Alexander Pope used ‘Supernatural Machinery’. This poem is based on real incidents. 

                                              Alexander pope

                                       

                       Alexander Pope(1688 – 1744)  was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. He was born in London, England. He was inspired by the classical Greek writers. He started writing at the age of 12. Alexander Pope also translated many Greek works.

  

                        Alexander Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in response to a request made my his friend John Caryll, a prominent Roman Catholic of the time. Caryll explained that his friend, Lord Petre, had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair.

                       

 Que.1 According to you , who is the protagonist of the poem Belinda or Clarissa?  Why? Give your answers with logical reasons. 

           The protagonist of the poem was Belinda but the real protagonist of the poem was Clarissa. Good humor, the enduring attraction of merit. But she stands apart in other ways as well.

                  The character of Clarissa played an important and a vital role in this poem ‘The Rape of the Lock’.  Because Clarissa believed that beauty is not everything rather than virtue. But, for Belinda beauty is everything. In canto five Clarissa give a moral speech that,

 

                                 " Virtue is most attractive to the soul. "

                            Clarissa is a very clear and focused girl, who knows the traits of life very well. Clarissa ,a lady at court who lends the Baron her scissors to chop off Belinda’s lock of hair. She later finds the whole incident frustratingly trivial and delivers a speech about how physical beauty is ultimately fleeting and that instead women should concentrate on being as morally upright as they possibly can. 

                 Looks might prove attractive to the eyes, Clarissa declares, but virtue is most attractive to the soul. Clarissa’s name, meaning “clarity,” hints that the reader might do well to take her wise advice. Quote , 

                                   

                    “Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;

                     Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”

               

               In the comparison of Belinda, Clarissa is a good character and played a vital role in this poem ‘The Rape of the Lock’.

 

                                              Que.2  What is beauty?  

                                  

              " The Rape of the lock. " We have seen that Belinda and Clarissa also had different views on the word - beauty. Clarissa believed that beauty is not everything rather than virtue. But, for Belinda beauty is everything.  Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” offers an ironic glance of court life in the 18th-century, highlighting societies centralized on beauty and appearance.

         

            The poem’s center of focus is around the experience of a beautiful woman, Belinda, who lost her lock of remarkable hair to a nobleman known as the Baron. As the poem starts to go along, it steadily becomes sillier and sillier and the characters collapse into a battle over the lock. 

                       It is important to note that at the time the Pope wrote the poem it was generally believed that women were both intellectual and moral inferiors of men. Alexander Pope seems to say that vanity itself is folly, but to appreciate great art, thus it can be said that one should be careful not to underestimate the role of beauty in inspiring great works like poetry.

                      Belinda’s obsession with her beauty by comparing it with a hero which is about to go into battle. She beautifies herself all day and appears at court as insignificant. When she lost the lock of her hair, her furious reaction allowed Pope to poke fun at her vanity.

                      Que.3 Write your views about the significance of hair. Is it symbolic? 

                                    

              

                   We can see that , in this poem,  Women's long hair has always been a symbol of beauty. When Baron cut off Belinda's lock of hair she behaved like now she lost everything in her life.

                                 Hair is a symbol

•  The absurdity of the importance afforded to female beauty in society. 

•  The loss of the lock was the symbolic loss of Belinda 's reputation in society. 

•  Hair emphasizes the ridiculous amount of emphasis placed on female beauty in society. 

              Belinda's lock of hair comes to symbolize the absurdity of the importance afforded to female beauty in society. Pope offers a hyperbolically metaphorical description of the two locks in Canto II, humorously framing the locks as alluring enough to virtually incapacitate any man who looks at them. The lock of Belinda's hair referred to in the title is also a powerful symbol both of vanity and of the power of female beauty over men.

      

 Thank You… .

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