As a part of presentation I made this ppt about the Neo classical age on topic "The Rape of the lock" as a social satire

1. Prepared by Asha Rathod
Paper 102: -the Neoclassical Period
Subject code : 22393
Submitted to smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English,
Bhavnagar.
“The Rape of the lock” as a
‘social satire’

2. ● Witty satire against the fops and belles
● Fashionable , dandies and ladies of pop’s age
● Society of that day
● Aristocratic section
● Satire against feminine frivolity
● Published : 1712
● Mirror to the 18th century aristocratic society
Reason for why pope’s “ The rape of the lock “ can be
called a social satire ?
The Rape of The lock “as a social satire”

3. Satire on vanity of 18th century England society
❏ Explorer their excessive beliefs in their own abilities and attractiveness to others
❏ Fashionable men also mention that ladies were not different from men in this
regard
❏ Creates war like scene to ridicule the society and preparation for useless activity
❏ Doesn’t target a single person not any specific professions but as a whole
❏ It is a beauty of ‘The rape of the lock’
❏ The poem has not been ever judged from the psychological perspectives yet it is
a matter of fact that the poet shows mental psyche of those people through social
satire
“With varying vanities from every part
They shift the moving toyshop of their heart”

4. Satire on males and females
❏ Female character☻Belinda (Aristocratic class)
❏ Male character ☻ Baron ( show the routine life of gentlemen )
❏ England has been known for the people with heroic deeds for many
years. however, the lifestyle that the gentlemen adopt in this poem is
entirely opposite to the heroism.
❏ Begging of the poem the poet starts showing the laziness of the
upper class
❏ Belinda wakes up from sleep and sleeps again (nothing worry about )
❏ Prepares herself for party (Soldier prepare for a bettle)
❏ Social satire on noble ladies of that century in ‘Rape of the lock ‘
❏ No denying the fact that women were busy in impressing men (women’s
curiosity has been shown towards puffing, make-up, using cosmetics,
drying hairs, patting etc….)
❏ Men trying to make good impression in front of ladies (men on the other
hand are shown useless, idle, lazy, unwise, foolish and hollow minded
who thinks flirting with ladies as their primary moto )

5. Satire on materialistic Relationship
❏ Relationship between men and women were not real
at all
❏ Romeo and juliet once lived
❏ Busy in making affairs and they were apathetic to real
relationship
❏ Rape of honour and social satire that honours had no
value in eye’s of those people
❏ No purity in those ladies living in 21th century
❏ Living relationship without marrying
❏ Targets every relationships people do not like the
friendship of those people who are inferior to them
❏ When Belinda’s lock was cut, her friends left her alone
this incident is a social satire
❏ Satire on emptiness in relationship between the
people of that era

6. conclusion
Thus we can say that the poet does not directly
uses any word against the standards of 18th
century england society rather he uses the
technique of social satire in his poem “the rape of
the lock” to spread awarness about the follies of
their people . He covers almost everything in the
poem from every angles the rape of the lock seems
a poem that best defines the technique of social
satire.

7. My citation
” ';;' - YouTube, 9 March 2019, https://youtu.be/KsR48htzM7s?si=IXMaJqmV-
5tjZUUX.
prince, Richard. “rape of lock as a social satire | raksha jha.” Academia.edu, (DOC)
rape of lock as a social satire | raksha jha - Academia.edu.
singh, varsha. “rape of the lock as a social satire Archives | English Literature.”
English Literature Zone, https://englishliteraturezone.com/tag/rape-of-the-
lock-as-a-social-satire/.