The Rape of the Lock
Pope's portrayal of Belinda and her society in 'The Rape of the Lock'
This Lock, the Muse shall consecrate to Fame,
And mid'st the Stars inscribe Belinda's Name!
In 'The Rape of the Lock' Alexander Pope (1688-1744) employs a mock-epic style to satirise the 'beau-monde' (fashionable world, society of the elite) of eighteenth century England. The richness of the poem, however, reveals more than a straightforward satirical attack. Alongside the criticism we can detect Pope's fascination with, and perhaps admiration for, Belinda and the society in which she moves. Pope himself was not part of the 'beau-monde'. He knew the families on which the poem is based but his own parents, though probably comfortably off, were not so rich or of the class one would have to be in to move in Belinda's circle. He associated with learned men and poets, and there can have been little common ground between the company he kept at Will's Coffee House and those who frequented Hampton Court.
The incident at the centre of the poem is the Baron's theft of a lock of hair and the ensuing estrangement of two families. The opening lines of the poem introduce the reader to the satirical stance he is taking towards the society portrayed in the poem.
What dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, [I.1-2]
Pope suggests that they are taking a trivial incident too seriously, displaying an exaggerated sense of their own importance. Throughout the poem Pope continues to make this point through his use of the mock-epic style, which itself takes a trivial incident too seriously, and uses disproportionately grand language to describe an unworthy subject.
Belinda is belittled earl...
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...y men of the age. An affinity between them is revealed by Pope's empathy, fine judgements, and carefully aimed criticisms, and Pope must have been at least a little fascinated by the 'beau-monde' to apply his talents to this poem which, in an ironic way, celebrates Belinda and her world and, as Pope himself suggests in the final couplet of the poem, has preserved them for posterity.
This Lock, the Muse shall consecrate to Fame,
And mid'st the Stars inscribe Belinda's Name! [V.149-50]
References
Butt, John (Ed). The Poems of Alexander Pope. A one-volume edition of the Twickenham text with selected annotations. London. Methuen & Co Ltd. 1963. First published in University Paperbacks 1965, Reprinted with corrections 1968. Reprinted 1977
Bibliography
Cunningham. The Rape of the Lock. Oxford University Press. 1971
Gordon. A Preface to Pope. Longman. 1976
Everett, Nicholas From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamiltong. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
Lieutenant Cross is a character who, until the death of a soldier, has been very loose and not taken the war seriously. He had let his soldiers throw away their supplies, take drugs, and sing happy songs in the middle of the serious war. He was only concerned with Martha; he dreamt about being with her, and he was delighted when he received letters from her. Tim O’Brien says, “Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin.” (p. 2) This shows how all he cared about was Martha; he was not paying attention to his real life and his surroundings. He was basically living in a world of fantasy because they lived in two separate worlds. Being unable to wake up from this dream made him potentially weak because his mind was always wandering elsewhere, never in the current situation. This made him an easy target for his enemies because if this had gone on, then he would start to fear death, fear fighting, and fear the war. He would become a coward because he would wish for the day when he could be with Martha again after the war. This would greatly weaken him and his army both, and they would most likely lose to the enemy.
through the connection of hair to culture. In the poem, Alexie calls attention to the pressure
...ll the Republican political leaders, two third of the majorities of the house and the senate approved and sent the senates to approved the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery. President Abraham Lincoln used his influences republican party leaders, and his campaign speech that he spoken from Springfield to Washington to persuasive and changed the South state’s mind. Lincoln wanted to end the civil neutral by stating that he was willing to conciliate the slaves’ states in the South, but that there will be no compromise that was acceptable of the expansion territory of the slavery.
Here, Lt. Cross has burned the letters and photographs of Martha. This quote reveals much about not only Jimmy Cross, but also the other soldiers. Jimmy had been using the fantasy of Martha as an escape from the harsh realities of war. However, he became so engrossed with the fantasy of Martha that he started to neglect his duties as a leader. As a result of Jimmy’s negligence, Ted Lavender dies. Jimmy feels guilty, and decides to burn all the things related to Martha. However, Cross realizes he cannot make the guilt disappear by burning it. Even though the burning was just a gesture, it shows that Cross is ready to take responsibility of his soldiers and be a better leader. The quote is important because it conveys the adversity soldiers face when trying to deal with the realities of the war and the fantasies of comfort after the war soldiers dream of. O’Brien is trying to tell the readers that soldiers find the actuality of war quite obfuscated.
Terry Tempest Williams writes a beautiful memoir bringing together the unnatural and natural world. Williams claims that cancer found in her family was caused by the atomic and radiation testing where she lived during the 1950s and 1960s, but she came to realize that once one is diagnosed with cancer, its course occurs naturally, and slowly deteriorates one’s body. Terry Tempest Williams describes how cancer affected everyone in her family by detailing how she and her family struggled through the time when her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to the time after her death. She specifically describes this struggle by incorporating the birds that she studies near her hometown in Utah with the flooding of Great Salt Lake to her mother and other relatives’ journey with fighting cancer. In the first half of the book, Williams often times describes the birds that she studies at the Bird River Migratory Bird Refuge as a means to escape and suppress the hardships that she faces with her family. By the end of book, she learns that suppressing and escaping the cancer and disease that surrounds her family is not the answer, instead, she realizes that it is better to accept it, and learn how to cope with death and the changes it can bring. The relationship between the inescapability of life and death and the uncontrollable elements of nature deliberated in Terry Tempest William’s memoir Refuge make this a poetic, graceful, and telling book.
Jimmy Cross has many burdens to bear out on the line of duty because of his leadership position as platoon leader and first lieutenant. As per his rank, Cross is required to carry such things as maps, code books, a compass, his pistol and the responsibility of the lives of his men. Jimmy carries around memoirs of his love back home, Martha. He carries two pictures of her, a letter that she ...
Lieutenant Cross spends most of the story thinking about Martha instead of the survival of himself and his platoon. After Lavender dies, Cross realizes that the fate of the other men were in his hands and that he had to abandon his thoughts of Martha and focus on keeping everyone alive. “He was realistic about it. There was that new hardness in his stomach. No more fantasies, he told himself (O’Brien1149).” After burning the pictures and letters that Martha had sent to him he realizes how selfish and foolish he had acted and decided to take responsibility and learn that the good of the group was more important than his needs. “This was not Mount Sebastian, it was another world, where there were no Pretty poems of medterm exams, a place where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity. Kiowa was right. Boom-down, and you were dead, never partly dead.(O’Brien1150)” Cross realizes that the war and violence of Vietnam changed his view of life after Lavender’s
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
As First Lieutenant, Jimmy Cross is the highest ranking member in the short story, thus the other characters look to him to lead them. However, he is just as messed up as the rest of the soldiers are he just does not show it because the soldiers need someone to look up to. When listing Lt. Cross’s personal effects O’Brien deliberately includes “a responsibility for the lives of his men,” (O’Brien 271) and although responsibility is not tangible it does weigh him down. Jimmy deals with the war by fantasizing about a girl back home as much as he can. Try as he might, he cannot push the thoughts about Martha out of his mind and concentrate on the war. Sometimes the thoughts come unbidden and he find himself “suddenly, without willing it, … thinking about Martha” (274). Whenever a member of his platoons is killed, he blames himself for his distracted state. While marching down the trail he sucks on a pebble that Martha sent him and thinks about the New Jersey shore instead of looking for signs of ambush. He didn't want to be in ch...
... after life for that person. Other things that are considered goods are placed to follow the soul to insure to please the deceased. The things can range to armor, weapons, food like milk liquor, lamb meat etc.., gold, silver, jewelry, even horses and slaves were sacrificed for the soul to have a vehicle and servants to help in the after life. Once the ritual practice of burying the body is done, yet again another ritual practice is proceeded, returning to home.
“Well, Marianne…for one morning I think you have done pretty well…. You know what he thinks of Cowper and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought, and you have every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than proper.” (Chapter 10)
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
There are three main issues that Pope talks about in his long poem "An Essay on Man." First, the poet evokes a timeless vision of humanity in which the universe is connected to a great chain that extends from God to the tiniest form of life. Secondly, Pope discusses God's plan in which evil must exist for the sake of the greater good, a paradox not fully understandable by human reason. Thirdly, the poem accuses human beings of being proud and impious. Pope feels that man claims more insight into the nature of existence then he possesses.
In the end, a story that appears to poke fun at the carefree lives of upper class women actually gives great appreciation to the subtle powers women hold over men. It could be argued that one of the most important powers of women is that of controlling men with their trivial problems and needs. Perhaps Pope was demonstrating women's skill in controlling men by simply playing the part of the vain shallow debutant. Whatever his intentions were it is clear that Alexander Pope did not in fact find the women of his time to be completely powerless, instead they were the driving forces of the household and of society.