Assignment Topic : Analysis of Belinda’s

Character

Submitted by : Areeba Areej

Class : BS English

Roll number : ENGL51BF20S005

Section : Self support

Semester : 5th

Subject : Poetry

Submitted too : Miss Sabika Zahra

Thal University Bhakkar

 Belinda’s Character
The Heroine of the poem :

Belinda is the heroine of the poem . Belinda is the Miss Arabella Fermor of real life .

The Belinda of the poem is creation of beauty , wit , and poetry . She wake up at 12 and the first

thing with grass her attention is a love letter . Then she decorates herself with diamonds ,

ornaments , perfumes and powders . After putting on her all arms of beauty she starts for the

conquest of lovers . Her smiles are sunny , her manners polished , her eyes large . With pride she

cherishes two lovely locks of hair to the destruction of mankind . She goes for a sail and then to

the Hampton court and participates in singing and laughing . There she also plays the game of

Ombre and then takes coffee and gets one of her locks raped by Baron . She in grief and anger

attacks lord Peter first with charge of snuff then with deadly bodkin . Her party triumphs but she

is unable in regaining her lost paradise of lock .

An ambiguous character :
Belinda is most richly ambiguous character . She is both an object of beauty and

ridicule . As a representative of the class of aristocracy , she is mocked at . On the other hand she

is praised as a woman of beauty and charm beyond the measure . She is almost presented as a

goddess of beauty and youth . It is not possible to dispose of Belinda’s character in few words .

Her character in the poem seems to be larger than any prose version can make of it . Pope tells us

about Belinda’s beauty in highly fantastical words . He says that when she opened her eyes late

in the morning , the brightness of her eyes was so much brighter than the bright sun in the sky

that it seemed to eclipse the sun . It is an exaggeration in the manner of Donne's metaphysical

poetry but it serves the purpose of suggesting Belinda’s inestimable charm .

Her habits :
She is a late riser , and idle , lazy , moony young girl . Even when it is 12 o'clock in the

day she is not in the mood to get up . She still has her downy pillow pressed , and goes dreaming

about dumping and intriguing men . She is extremely sophisticated in love with luxuries and

beauty aids and same to have no other interest in life . On waking up the first thing that she must

do is to make up herself . She beautify herself with aid of cream powder Vaseline etc . The toilet

table the toilet table it’s so arrange that I’m waking up the first thing her eyes must see are the

toilet things.

Her romantic nature :

She is the personification of romantic attributes and is presented in the idioms of

hyperbole . Her charm , physical charm , like Cleopatra’s , Makes even highly religious sanctity

irrelevant . This sparkling cross that she wore on her white breast derived its value from her

white breast for which sake both the Jews and the infidels the non believers in Christianity would

have kissed the cross in disguise of their love for her body . she wears a lively and alert looked in

her eyes and on her face which revealed the brilliance and intelligence of her mind . it is difficult

and impossible to be offended by anything she does or says for she has no special favorite of her

own . she is again even this respect like the sun . she sheds her smiles on everyone who comes to

her as the sun sheds its warmth on everyone irrespective of any considerations . she's the epitome

of grace composure and sweetness and these virtues would hide the fault of any young girl . As

for Belinda she had plentiful of these virtues plus her physical charm which would hide any

faults in her character .

Flippancy and charm :
She has cultivated , nourished her hair well , she wears two locks and flaunts them to

Attract the attention of admiring men . Those happen to look at her locks becomes immediately

infatuated and loose their peace of mind . She wears the well pleated Shining locks in equal curls

with ringlets and makes them roll on her Ivory smooth neck . To har har locks are the ensnaring

labyrinths to entangle love of her admiring men . She is there for exceedingly proud of her

profession in a society full of flippant young Lords and dendies . She finds her logs and unfailing

instrument of seduction .

Satirically human and adorably divine being :

The blend of satirical human and adorably divine marks her characterization till the end

of the poem , indeed one of her locks , the one rapped by the Baron , disappears in the midst of

the final battle to become one of the planetary stars , and inscribes Belinda’s name among the

mortals . But certainly in the portions of the poem from the middle of the second canto to the end

of the fifth , she is painted as mainly the satirical figure of the aristocratic class .

A shrewd Coquette :
A representative of her class , the vices associated with her are many , but , it must be
noticed , that none of the vices is serious one , and Pope with hyperbole and mock heroic
exaggeration of vices considerably subdues his satirical intention . Apart from being lazy
in getting up in the morning , her abnormal adoration of shock , her lap dog , her dreamy
sentiments about her wishing to outshine all others in netting men for sexual flirtation ,
Belinda reveal to us her shrewdness , coquetry and is blind with a sense of arrogance .
Above all , Pope means to present her as an embodiment of self deception . Belinda
behave in the most alluring manner , her lock flowing about her neck , on reaching the
Hampton Court with Clarrisa , she burnt with the desire of being the cynosure of all eyes .

Belinda at card game :

 At the card game of course she establishes her superiority in being clever and an

enchanting temptress . The card game is described in terms of sexual allusions and symbols

which suggest that she gets from the game the vicarious satisfaction and pleasure of sexual game

of flirtations . Sometimes she acts as a temptress , at other times as a Virgo and all the time using

all her means to defeat the Baron in this game when she wins she is over Joyed and burst out

laughingly .

This shows her shallowness fickleness of her mind , lack of restraint , excessively

joyful in victory and torrentially tear full in sorrow . When the Baron in his revenge success in

cutting the lock of Belinda , she flies to other extreme of being exceedingly sorrowful and

tearful . this pic trace child superficial in constant fickle mind from one extreme a passion to the

other and driving perhaps a secret joys from self-dramatization .

Self dramatization :
There is a certainly and element of self dramatization in her which emanates from her

constant self deception refusal to see herself as she really is and pretending to see in herself what

she is not . all this suggest a complete lack of spiritual honesty in Belinda . In fact as she as all

aristocratic ladies of the time lacked the sense of personal honor . Sheared only for public

reputation . She has no sense of moral integrity her spiritual values are Topsy turvy . She is

spiritually vapid , to her love and sex are substitutes for church and Christ . She is hardly aware

of her soul she has only sentiments .