MA ENGLISH POETRY: THE RAPE OF

THE LOCK AS A MOCK-EPIC BY

ALEXENDER POPE

Heroic or Epic poems are poems like the Odyssey, the Aeneid, and Paradise Lost
dealing with man in his exalted aspects. Their action is weighty, their personages are
dignified and their style is elevated. In all the epics, gods and daemons, take active part
in human affairs and guide their destiny. In contrast, the mock-epic is a poetic form
which uses the epic structure but on a miniature scale and has a subject that is mean
and trivial. The purpose of the mock-epic or mock-heroic poem is satirical. In fact, a
mock-heroic poem is not a satire on poetry itself, but the target of the attack may be a
person or an institution or the whole society. The subject of such a poem is trivial or
unimportant, but the treatment of the subject is heroic or epic and such exaggeration of
the trivial naturally arouses laughter. The pleasure of the poem, as Ian Jack points out,
ensues from:

“comparing small men to giants and making pygmies of them in the process”
That Pope was conscious of his intentions to make The Rape of the Lock a mock-epic is
evident from the title. Homer’s Iliad which describes the events arising out of Helen’s
elopement with a Trojan prince and the war between the Greeks and the Trojans can be
appropriately described as a poem dealing with the “Rape of Helen”. The title of Pope’s
poem, The Rape of the Lock is thus a parody of the Iliad in this sense; for in this poem,
the mighty contest ensues from the assault on the lock of Belinda’s hair. The Rape of
the Lock parodies the serious epics not only in it title but also in the overall structure. At
the beginning, there is invocation to the Muse as in an epic. Pope imitates as in:

“I sing – this verse to Caryll Muse! is due/ This ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise/ If she inspire, and he approve my lays”
The invocation, the description of the heroine’s toilet, the journey to Hampton Court , the
game of ombre magnified into a pitched battle all lead up to the moment when the peer
produces the fatal scissors. But the action of the mortals was not enough. Pope knew
that in true epics the affairs of men were aided by the Heavenly Powers. He, therefore,
added the supernatural beings – sylphs, gnomes and nymphs– as agents in the story.
The gods of the epic are heroic beings, but pope’s deities are tiny. Unlike the deities of
the epics, who act guardian agents of the epic heroes, Belinda’s guardian sylph, Ariel is
an ineffectual airy being who deserts her at the critical moment. The supernatural
machinery mocks at the epic deities. Pope describes the diminutive gods as:

“the light militia of the lower sky”

Belinda screams like the Homeric poems and dashed like the characters of the great
epics. We find a battle drawn to combat like the Greek warriors but it is only a game
of cards on a dressing table. There are several instances of Burlesque-treatment. There
is Belinda’s voyage to Hampton Court which suggests the voyage of Aeneas up to the
Tiber in Virgil. There is a coffee party which is a parody of the meals frequency
described in Homer. The combat at the end recalls the fighting which is found anywhere
in the ancient epics. The Cave of Spleen is a parody of an allegorical picture from poets
like Spenser. Just before the cutting of the lock, when Ariel searches out the close
recess of the virgin’s thoughts. There he finds an earthly lover lurking in her heart, and
Pope tells us that Ariel retires with a sigh, resigned to fate. This situation echoes the
moment in Paradise Lost when after the fall of Adam and Eve, the Angles of God retire
sad to heaven. Belinda’s dressing and cosmetics has been described in a way that
would suit the arming of a warrior like Achilles. She appears as:

On her breast a sparking cross she wore/ Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
Though the subject matter of the Rape of the Lock is trivial and ridiculous, the style,
diction and versification are rarely so. The diction is exalted and the heroic-couplets are
carefully polished and chiseled. Mock-epic is an example of the collation of the great
with the little. In the Rape of the Lock, Pope frequently juxtaposes the heroic with the
trivial to produce the mock-epic effect. The very opening couplet juxtaposes “Mighty
contest” with trivial things”. In following couplet, chastity is equated with ‘frail China jar’.
The effect of this juxtaposition is highly amusing and startling.

Whether the nymph shall break Diana’s law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw,
The Rape of the Lock is a highly subtle and complex mock-epic. It is a nearly perfect
example of its genre. The genre of the mock-epic not only because it parodies the
epic conventions throughout, but also because it provides a highly amusing drama of its
own rights. The greatness of the poem is due to Pope’s genius as well as to the care
and pains he took in a different form. The balance between the concealed irony and the
assumed gravity is as nicely trimmed as the balance of power in Europe. The little is
made great and the great little. You hardly know whether to laugh or weep. It is the
triumph of insignificance of foppery and folly. It is the perfection of the mock-heroic.

“Rape of the Lock”, a mock-epic

Mock-epic, also known as mock-heroic poetry is a juxtaposition of
trivial subject matter and grandeur epic style. From the
fundamental point of view, mock-epic is nothing but the most
popular neo-classical burlesque used as a double-edged satirical
weapon. Batrachomyomachia, an anonymous parody, attributed
to Homer, is most probably the earliest example of the mock-epic
genre. Alexander Pope was the central figure of Augustan Age, for
his best mock-heroic poetry The Rape of the Lock, written based
on a contemporary scandal. It deals with the journey from an
insignificant event of cutting hair lock of a belle, to a Trojan war.

Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, published in 1712(revised version in

1714 with five cantos), is like a literary heterogeneous architecture
that offers a multi-dimensional flow of phenomena. This poem
nurtures the every sphere of emotions. The poem is just to bring
out a serious enmity between two Catholic landlord-families-the
Petres and the Fermors derived from a ‘dire’ offense by the young
lord Petre. He takes revenge by cutting the lock of hair of Arabella
Fermor, a lady from Fermor family, as his amorous proposal was
strongly shunted aside by the lady. The entire poem is decorated
with supernatural characters like sylphs, gnomes and their
magical activities. From the beginning, Pope created a sarcastic
atmosphere with the luxurious, idle lifestyles of lord families. At
last but not the least, this mock-heroic poetry, written in iambic
pentameter, also leaves a great literary value with its enriched
rhetoric and prosodic features.

The features of a mock-epic would be almost same as the epic, but

it should be clearly distinguished by its dissimilarity between
subject and style. The features of The Rape of the Lock as a mock-
epic, are depicted below:

1. The Title: A mock-heroic poetry must be beautified with a grand

title. Rape is a serious moral violation which means the seizure of
a lady against his consent. In this case, Pope brought such very
word to describe the possession of Belinda’s hair lock by Baron,
just to produce a mock-heroic sensation.

2. Variation of Style and Subject: Mock epic is a good example of

‘high-burlesque’. This means, the rhyme-scheme of a mock-epic
would be grand, but the subject would be ridiculous.

In this poem, Pope’s subject matter is insignificant but the style is

very high like an epic saga. The rape of the lock is not so rich in
content to fit with the epic rhythm.

3. Structural Form: Like an epic, this poem is also divided in

several Cantos and episodes that filter The Rape of the Lock as a
mock-heroic epic. Pope also began this poem with an invocation in
the first stanza, that fits the style appropriately.

4. Supernatural Activities: Being an epic, The Rape of the Lock is

presented with supernatural activities. As an epic feature, an
explicit difference between heaven and hell is shown in this poem.
Belinda plays the role of a divine ore from the celestial chastity of
sylphs. In other hand, Baron is the spokesman of gnomes like
Milton’s ‘Satan’.

Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, a tribute to friend Caryll, is a

superlative piece of mock-epic that delivers charms at first glance
with its inherent intellectual tricks at its fullest, as Pope describes
in his own way-“Charms strike the sight, But merit wins the soul”
(in “The Rape of the Lock”).