Rape Of Lock

1. • Prepared by- HiraL kashyap
• Batch-2020-22 (MA sem-1)
• Paper – The Literature of neoclassical period
• Roll No-09
• Enrollment No-3069206420200010
• Email id -Hkg779@gmail.com
• Submitted to-S.B. Gardi Department of English Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

2. RAPE OF THE LOCK
HOW DOES THE POPE IN THE RAPE OF THE
LOCK CRITICIZE HIS SOCIETY?

3. HOW DOES THE POPE IN THE RAPE OF
THE LOCK CRITICIZE HIS SOCIETY?
• Satire in “The Rape of The Lock" can be called a social
satire because it satirizes the whole society in ways still
relevant to to-days world. Moreover, it is not a satire
against any individual, but the follies and vanities of
fashionable men and women in general. Belinda is the
type of fashionable lady of the time and in her, the
follies and frivolities of the entire sex are satirized and

4. • Pope’s remarkable poem ‘The Rape of the Lock’ very
faithfully mirrors at least a certain section of English
society in the eighteenth century. Pope exposes in a
witty manner the follies and absurdities of the
aristocratic life of 18th century England. It captures
perfectly the ethos of the aristocratic society of London
at that time. The principal targets of satire in the poem
are the fashionable and aristocratic ladies and
gentlemen of the time. All the people of that time mostly
the aristocratic class were enjoying visiting parks and
clubs, they were engaged in dancing, drinking, flirting,
doing false love with one and another, and were

5. • “The Rape of the Lock” is a poem about a wealthy girl who loses a lock
of hair... Belinda has a dream warning her to beware of vanity and men.
Belinda forgets this advice. At Hampton Court, one of her suitors, the
Baron, declares that he wants a lock of her hair. During a card game,
Baron cuts off a lock of her hair without her permission. Belinda tries
to get her lock back. Later, the Baron sneezes after having too much
stuff in the part and Belinda’s lock flies off into the sky. The stealing or
raping of Belinda’s hair, has taken too seriously, and caused an
estrangement between the two families, though they had lived so long
in great friendship before. We observe that the people of that society
were self-centered, they were only concerned with themselves. Only
because of the lock of that lady Belinda she ordered the armies to fight
not even thinking that how many will die in this fight only after the hair.
And the Baron who cut the lock was also not giving up and fighting for
it.

6. • Pope also satirizes Belinda as well as
the whole fashionable women of his
society to pretended purity. Because of
her false purity, she was punished.
Ariel discovered that Belinda was not
quite keen on preserving her virtue and
therefore she withdraws from the
scene pope satirizes Belinda by saying
that if she tried she could save her hair
but she tried outwardly to save her hair
but not from her heart.

7. • A toilet is the chief concern of these aristocratic
ladies. They spend hours in the toilets. These
ladies spend more time applying to themselves
beauty aid from distant lands. Belinda is
described at her dressing table. Belinda before
commencing her toilet operations offers a prayer
to ‘the cosmetic power’. Pope also satirizes the
arrangement of things on the table

8. • Pope has also satirized the system of justice of his era. At
four in the afternoon, they hurriedly sign the sentence so
that they could have their dinner in time. This is their sense
of responsibility and showings these judges Pope satirizes
the system of justice of his age.

9. HOW IS ALEXANDER POPE'S BELINDA
CHARACTER CONNECTED TO REAL LIFE AND
PRESENT SITUATION (21 CENTURY) IN THE
POEM RAPE OF THE LOCK?
• Imagine a private girls’ school that holds the Prom as a tea dance
— that is, during the day, possibly at a destination (that’s the
boat). Belinda is the Queen Bee, who has The Hair, the Baron is
the Pick Up Artist, who always collects a trophy from all his
scores, and brags about how far he got to get them. Belinda has
a frienemy, Clarissa, who owns an heirloom stork scissors in a
case, that can pass as jewelry in front of the chaperones. Baron
brags he can score Belinda, Clarissa says she can help him.
Belinda is going to have an updo with butterfly curls, and Baron
figures he’ll get one curl with Clarissa’s scissors.

10. • The day dawns. Clarissa wakes up to Twitters. Baron works out and
gets his game on. They get on the boat. Once there, Belinda plays a
great game of Uno, and seeks out the coffee urn, followed by Clarissa
and the Baron. While Belinda has her back turned, Clarissa gives
Baron the scissors, and the cut is made.
• Clarissa puts her hand back, having felt something, and feels…nothing.
She screams, and pulls out her hair sticks to face Barron. A fight
breaks out. And then…
• …she gets her period. In front of everyone.
• On her way home, a sympathetic adult tells the tale of the Coma
Berenice…
• Ref: https://www.quora.com/How-is-Alexander-Popes-Belinda-
character-connected-to-real-life-and-present-situation-21-century-in-

11. CONCLUSION
• The poem is a reflection of this artificial and hollow
life,painted with a humorous and delicate satire. It
paints the ideal life ofthe pleasure-seeking young men
and women. It introduces to us aworld of fashion and
frivolities. These pleasures are petty – flirting,card-
laying, driving in Hyde Park, visiting theaters and
writing love-letters. Their whole day’s program seems
to be nothing but a waste.Their whole day’s program
seems to be nothing but a waste.