Creative Circle

Conducted by – Sanawaz Alam (M.A in English,B.Ed)

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The Rape of the Lock
Q. Balanced critique of eighteenth century English society. Examine this statement with illustrations
from the poem.
The Rape of the Lock is a poem in which Alexander Pope shows himself emphatically as the spokesman of
his age. This poem pictures the artificial tone of the age and the frivolous aspect of femininity. "It is the epic
of triflings; a page torn from the petty, pleasure-seeking life of fashionable beauty; mise-en-scene of the
toilet-chamber and the card table; in short, the veritable apotheosis in literary guise of scent, patches and
powder." We see in this poem the elegance and the emptiness, the meanness and the vanity, the jealousies,
treacheries and intrigues of the social life of the aristocracy of the eighteenth century.
The poem brings out the coquetry, the art, the artifice, and the "varying vanities" of the ladies of the time.
These ladies learn it early in their life how to roll their eyes and to blush in an intriguing manner. Their
hearts were like toy-shops which moved from one gallant to another:
With varying vanities, from every part,
They shift the moving toy-shop of their heart.
One gallant could drive out another gallant, and one coach could drive out another coach. "Levity" was the
hallmark of these women. Their manners and behaviour were artificial and affected. They knew the art to
lisp, to hang their heads aside, to faint into airs, and to languish with pride. They used to sink on their rich
quilts and pretend sickness so that young gallant men should come to inquire after their health and in this
way also see the costly gowns which they were wearing.
The women of the time felt glad to receive love-letters. Thus, when at last gets up from her bed, her eyes
first open on a love-letter couched in the conventional language of such letters. Another of the vanities of
these ladies was to keep domestic pets such as dogs and parrots. Thus Belinda has her Shock and her Poll.
Among the ill-omens that Belinda recalls after losing a lock of her hair is the indifference of her two
domestic pets: "Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind!"
Aristocratic ladies treated toilet as their chief concern. One important passage in The Rape of the Lock
describes Belinda at her dressing-table. Before commencing her toilet operation, she offers a prayer to the
"cosmetic powders". At her dressing-table are "the various offerings of the world" glowing gems, Arabia's
perfumes, speckled and white combs, files of pins, "puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux." Later in
the poem, we are told how these ladies "take such constant care to prepare the bodkin, comb and essence!"
They take special pains to curl their hair; they bind their locks in paper durance; and they strain their tender
heads with fillets.
The ladies have no moral scruples. "Honour" is a word with little meaning for them; and "reputation" is
more important to them than honour. The loss of "honour" does not matter if "reputation" is not lost. Several
passages in the poem reveal the moral disarray of their lives. In one passage, for instance, a frail China-jar
receiving a crack is equated with a lady's losing her chastity. The death of a lap-dog or the breaking of a rich
China-vessel is as serious a matter to the lady as the death of her husband. These are all examples of the
superficial nature of the ladies of the time. There is a complete confusion of moral values in their minds.
The aristocratic young men of the time were, like the ladies, lacking in any serious purpose or morality.
Florio and Damon are representatives of those gallants and fops who vie with one another to capture the
hearts of the ladies. There is a keen competition among them to win feminine favours. Wigs strive with
wigs, and sword-knots strive with sword-knots. The attitude of these fops to love is amusingly described in
the manner in which the Baron tries to propitiate heaven in order to win Belinda's heart. The Baron builds an
altar to Love. This altar consists of twelve vast French romances, three garters, half a pair of gloves, and all
the trophies of his former loves. He lights a fire with the tender love-letters that he has received, and
breathes three amorous sighs to raise the fire.
The shallowness and superficiality of the time are also clear from the kind of gossip that goes on at the
court: "At every word a reputation dies". Pauses in conversation are filled with snuff-taking or fan-swinging,
or "with singing, laughing, ogling, and all that." Card parties were common. Ombre was the favourite game.
A victory at ombre gave to a woman a feeling of importance. Coffee-drinking was another important
diversion of the times. Coffee "made the politician wise". It was coffee that gave rise to a clever device in
the Baron's brain for obtaining possession of a lock of Belinda's hair.
We are given a satirical picture of judges, jury men, and merchants. The judges are in a hurry to sign the
judgment and the jury-men are in a hurry to pronounce a verdict of "guilty" because they want to get back
home for dinner. The merchants spend feverish hours at the Exchange. Other aspects of the life of the time
which are mentioned in an amusing manner are the wits of heroes and of beaux, courtiers' promises, cages
for gnats, chains to yoke a flea, dried butterflies, and heavy books of casuistry.
The glitter and the elegance of the period are also effectively depicted in the poem. Belinda's beauty and
charm receive much attention. Robed in white, she sees her heavenly reflection in the mirror. Assisted by
her maid, Betty, she decorates and embellishes herself with cosmetics and jewellery. We are fascinated by
Belinda's beauty as described in the famous passage dealing with her toilet. Her beauty and charm are
mentioned again and again in the poem. She is described as the rival of the beams of the sun. She wears a
sparkling cross on her white breast. Pope’s attitude, and therefore our attitude, towards Belinda, is mocking
and yet tender, critical and yet admiring.
Q. The Character of Belinda.
Belinda is the most famous character in Pope's poetry. She is a bundle of contradictions. On one hand, she is
the object of satire; on the other hand, she is the goddess of beauty and charm. In fact, Pope invokes her
blessings as if she were the goddess of poetry. At another place, she is the representative of the decadent
aristocratic society. Through her character, Pope describes the flippancy and depravity of the English society
of the eighteenth century. Essentially here is the satire portrait of a frivolous and flirting girl. This is quite
obvious in the scene at Hampton Court.
Belinda is an ideal girl of Pope. She loves lap-dogs more than her lovers. Even by noon, she is in no mood to
leave her bed and keeps on dreaming about her lovers and how to make fool of them. The poet satirizes her
for her idleness. Her dog knows when to wake her up. After waking up, she must perform her toilet. Her
dressing table has a number of expensive beautifying articles like powder, paint and jewellery boxes. Her
combs, perfumes and cosmetics consume a lot of her time.
In fact, Belinda is in love with her own beauty. The toilet table is like a church to her, her cosmetics are like
her offerings to the goddess of Beauty. Pope calls her the goddess of Beauty. Apart from her maid servant,
Betty who helps her in her toilet, there are a number of sylphs to perform the various duties assigned to
them. In fact her character is due to the assistance of the supernatural creatures. As Pope remarks:
How awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms.
Pope attributes divinity to Belinda's character. She is an incarnation of the goddess of Beauty. She is brighter
than the sun. She eclipses the sun by bringing joy and gaiety into the world of fashion. As the poet says-
“Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.”
Belinda's outdoor life begins with her boat which sails on the silvery Thames. Here, again, Pope emphasizes
her physical charm, namely, sparkling cross, and white breast. Christian and infidel would kiss the cross,
just to be able to touch her breast. As she sails on the river, she smiles at her spectators and keep them at a
safe distance. She is an embodiment of grace and sweetness which cover up her flirtation and faults.
Among her lovely possessions are her two locks of hair which attract the attention of young lovers. The
locks roll on her white neck. The locks are meant to capture the hearts of young men. Very few will escape
this great seduction.
Belinda visits Hampton Court - a place of merry-making and getting together. This place attracts courtiers,
politicians, writers and men of different professions. Here people gather for fun and entertainment. Here
young ladies exhibit their charms and win the heart of the young lovers. Young men and women play the
game of cards, which is nothing but the game of flirtation. The young lovers are prepared to lose and to
surrender to the fair maid. This increases her self-importance and stirs up her vanity. It also shows her inner
mind which is shallow, fickle and given to tantrums.
Belinda is very mindful of the virtues, though she would not care if she lost her virginity in some secret
love-affair. She is very conscious about her reputation, about her morals. Actually she is fond of men and of
having a good time with them. On the other hand, she would not like to be called cheap or frivolous but only
as a goddess of beauty and virtue.
'The men may say, when we the front box grace,
Behold the first in virtue as in face.'
Pope seems to be enamoured with his own creation. He describes her in superlatives-the goddess, the
nymph, the fair, the rival of sun's beams. In this way he plays a homage to this beautiful character who
resembles Shakespeare's Cleopatra. Like her, she is a perfection of beauty, and a winner of men. Secondly,
Pope regards her as a fair warrior who wins the battle of life. She is the conqueror of Hampton Court; she
knocks down two knights at the card table. Her protests against the attack of Lord Petre put a premium on
her virtue.
On the other hand, Pope is not blind to her human side with her weaknesses and whims. He mocks her at
times and laughs at her fragilities. In fact, she is the goddess of sex who knows all the tricks of the sex-
games. Belinda's reaction to the loss of her lock is quite natural. It is a breach of hero-worship and rules of
chivalry and courtship. All in all, Pope makes her a living human personality full of life to the finger-tips.
Through Belinda, Pope depicts the fashionable aristocratic woman of her age. She was the social butterfly
who met different persons by appointment and attended the occasions of marriage and funeral. A lady would
pretend illness and keep in bed and then receive her suitor either for showing off her gown or her beauty. In
a sense, illness was in fashion, this provides an occasion of entertaining a lover.
Moreover, as the poem is written in mock-heroic vein, Belinda could not be any other than a mock heroic. It
is quite clear that the poet wrote this poem in a playful mood and his light satire should not be taken
seriously.
Belinda is a complex character. It is not possible to find a single label to cover up her qualities.
Undoubtedly, she is a representative of the upper class women of the eighteenth century. But she is more
than a mere type. She has her own personality and stands out by her whims and fancies. The very fact that
the poet first calls her a goddess and in the end a heavenly being, shows that Pope worships beauty and had
an over-riding respect for the fair sex. Who would spoil his chances of success with the fair sex by satire,
except at his own peril! It is impossible to find a parallel to Belinda in any other poem of the eighteenth
century.
Q. Describe Belinda's toilet scene.
Ans. In the dressing table scene in Canto-I, we see Belinda's beauty both as mere ornamentation governed
by pride and as the realisation of genuine aesthetic ordering. The worship before the mirror of the cosmetic
powers produces the appearance of Belinda wishes to have and which she further adorns, her maid assisting
'the sacred rites of pride. The spacious world can enter Belinda's dressing room only in a serviceable and
diminished form. Arabia is compressed into its perfume; the unwieldy elephant and tortoise are transformed
into the elegance of shell and ivory combs. The condensation of the vast into small is at once reversed: the
pins extend into shining rows or files of soldiers, and Belinda becomes the epic hero investing herself in
armour as well as the god-like "awful beauty". Here is triumph of art. “Belinda calls forth all the wonders of
her face” and gives them realisation with her cosmetic skill. She is the mistress of the "bidden blush" but
also the culmination of nature.
After waking from her sleep, long after mid-day, Belinda immediately went to her dressing table to perform
her toilet. Her dressing table contained numerous accessories of her toilet. There was a number of silver
boxes, containing paints, powder, jewellery, and many other costly and fashionable articles. There were also
found on her table the sweet perfumes of Arabia and the rich combs made of ivory as well as the shell of
tortoise. In fact, the dressing table of Belinda displayed a fine gathering of various cosmetics and the articles
of luxurious toilet.
Belinda began her toilet by worshipping earnestly all those objects which would add to her beauty and grace.
She was dressed in a white garment, and her head was uncovered. She almost looked like a priestess,
devotedly engaged in the worship of the goddesses of luxury and toilet.
The lovely image of Belinda was reflected on her mirror and she bowed and raised her eyes, trying to
contemplate and appreciate her own beauty. She was helped in her toilet by her maid Betty, who seemed to
act as an inferior priestess. Betty stood tremblingly by her side and began to adorn her mistress and armed
her with all her force of her youth, charm and grace. She selected carefully different articles to make Belinda
lovely and charming. Gradually, Belinda's beauty took a captivating form, and she looked more and more
beautiful as her toilet neared its completion. She assumed every grace, seemed to be very fresh, began to
smile effectively and posed her beauty wonderfully. Blushes beamed upon her cheeks, as she applied rouge.
She made her eyes sparkling and penetrating by properly painting them. In fact, her beauty seemed perfect
and her triumph over men was certain.
Of course, the lady's toilet could be so effective only because of the assistance of the sylphs. During her
toilet, the sylphs had their best help and co-operation for her. Although Belinda's maid Betty was praised for
the success of her mistress's toilet, the entire credit truly belonged to the mysterious airy creatures, the
sylphs. When Belinda's toilet was over, she became the cynosure of all eyes. Her charm was irresistible and
her beauty made people completely oblivious of her every fault.
The scene of Belinda's toilet is most effectively employed by Pope to create the mock-heroic character of his
social satire. The whole description is fanciful, and contains the delicate touches of wit, humour and satire.
The performance of toilet is slight, but Pope endows it with mock-seriousness. He makes the toilet operation
of a fashionable lady as sacred a task as the scrupulous observation of some religious rite. Belinda is
described as the priestess, while her maid Betty is the inferior priestess. Both of them devote themselves
solemnly to the decoration of the goddess of fashion with the costly articles of luxurious toilet. Of course,
this goddess, in Pope's amusing description, is none but Belinda, the proud beauty, who arms herself, in no
time, with the irresistible charms of her loveliness :
"Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms."
The insignificant, nameless toilet is couched humorously with the seriousness of ancient epics. Indeed, in
The Rape of the Lock, as Hazitt has so admirable noted. "The little is made great and the great little." A
most glittering and ceremonial appearance is given to everything-to 'puffs, powders, patches', and whatever
is on the toilet-stand. Belinda's toilet is described with the solemnity of an altar, raised to the goddess of
vanity and fashion. This is the uniqueness of Pope's art-the triumph of his mock-heroic.