Assignment : Q&A on the Mock-Heroic Poem 'The Rape of the Lock' Written by Alexander Pope

 (1) According to you, who is the protagonist of the poem Clarissa or Belinda? Why? Give your answer with logical reasons.

Ans. 1 : In my view, the true protagonist can be Belinda and Clarissa as well, for both have their own prominent place in the poem. Although, Belinda may be referred to as the primary protagonist whereas Clarissa, a subsidiary protagonist. Belinda has got much of  attention of the poet for her description in the poem for the purpose to mock the frivolity and pompous nature of 18th century English aristocratic class. As the poem is a mock-heroic poem and a well-cherished indictment of what we call as a peak of nescience as to over-identification with beauty and physicality, we can say that the protagonist Belinda befits all the traits of aristocratic upper-class women back then.

Let's have a glance in the verses about Belinda's description by Pope which help us to justify "Gentle Belle" Belinda as a primary protagonist :

"Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray,
And op'd those eyes that must eclipse the day;"

"Fairest of mortals, thou distinguish'd care
Of thousand bright inhabitants of air!"

Thus, the above-mentioned lines dedicated to Belinda's charm vindicate the fact that Belinda is the primary protagonist of the poem for the whole poem revolves around her taking readers into several facets of herself.

Now coming down to the subsidiary protagonist Clarissa, we can argue that her character goes hand in hand with that of the Belinda's. She plays pivotal role in letting the incident of cutting the lock happen for she lends scissors to Baron to perform the act. At the end, she gives a valedictory speech, veritably known as the voice of Pope himself.

Here are some ample speech examples from fifth canto in which Clarissa breaks her long-kept silence which vindicates the argument that Clarissa is a secondary most important protagonist of the poem :

"Not half so fix'd the Trojan could remain,
While Anna begg'd and Dido rag'd in vain.
Then grave Clarissa graceful wav'd her fan;
Silence ensu'd, and thus the nymph began."

"Say, why are beauties prais'd and honour'd most,
The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast?"

"But since, alas! frail beauty must decay,
Curl'd or uncurl'd, since locks will turn to grey,
Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,
And she who scorns a man, must die a maid;
What then remains but well our pow'r to use,
And keep good humour still whate'er we lose?
And trust me, dear! good humour can prevail,
When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail."

"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."

(2) What is beauty? Write your views about it.

Ans. 2 : First thing first, as the question has been asked regarding views of what exactly 'Beauty' is, we can look at it from two point of views; the very first one will be the general concept of what beauty is whereas second one will be in reference with the poem 'The Rape of the Lock' for the question has been asked in context to the poem.

Definition of the word 'Beauty' from various dictionaries :

(1) Merriem-Webster : 'the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.'

(2) Cambridge English Dictionary : 'the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at, or someone or something that gives great pleasure, especially when you look at it.'

As we have seen some definitions of the word 'Beauty' derived from several sources, we can get along our argument on the subjective basis. If I am to define what 'Beauty' exactly is, then I would prefer to tell that beauty is like a diamond bearing numerous reflection veritably in various spectrums each shading different hues when seen from different angles.

Basically, there are two outermost layers of beauty overlapping one over the other. The first one is - which everyone strikes in first sight - beauty in physicality; be it of any palpable form of either living or lifeless. The second one is a bit subtler than the first one as it is but the mental, characteristical, tactical, or qualitative beauty of a human being.

Now, coming down to philosophical approach towards the concept of 'Beauty,' we are obliged to give justice to the opponent as well, i.e., 'Ugliness.' It has unfortunately become a common notion about how much one's outerlook matters while dealing with society. Beautiful people are given priorities in jobs in every sector. They are treated by being presumed as belonging to higher order of society. They are inflated with flatteries by and for whom they are just scapegoat or means to be played with. On the other hand, having been an ugly or a little dark in skin-tone, is being seen as a crime done against the deformed mentality and crooked point of view of ignorant and submissive masses. There are no objection in cherishing and praising the beauteous aspects of anything, provided that one must not despise the people who are not considered or seen beautiful in hyperopia-eyes of the society; as Pope echoes the same in his famous mock-heroic poem 'The Rape of the Lock:'

"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."

So, it will not do to only being beautiful, provided that being beautiful is not a wrong thing but only being beautiful has no genuineness in its own, but one is supposed to possess inner beauty that is humanity within one's true self, that is all.

(3) Find out a research paper on "The Rape of the Lock". Give the details of the paper and write down in brief what does it say about the Poem by Alexander Pope.

Ans. 3 : I have come across a research paper under the name 'The Rape of the Lock : A Complex Mock Epic' on 'The Rape of the Lock,' a mock-heroic poem written by an 18th century poet Alexander Pope. The research paper is disserted by Dr Meeta Mathur who is an associate professor in Department of English at Delhi University, Delhi - India. The ISSN number of the research paper is ISSN: 2455-2631.

The paper denotes the basic aspects of a mock-heroic poem along with asserting the critical views on the mock-heroic poem by Pope, 'The Rape of the Lock' :

"The Rape of the Lock is a mock heroic epic by Alexander Pope. The poem is a result of feud between Lord Peter
and Miss Aabella Fermor. Lord Peter had cut a lock of hair from the head of Miss Fermor causing a fight in their families. Pope was entrusted the task of writing a brilliant piece about the incident so that the families could laugh together and peace be restored. Pope chose to write a mock epic treating this trivial incident in a heroic manner. In ‘’The Rape of the Lock’’ he has glorified the trivialities of the youth, the degeneration of society with prosperity unaccompanied by sensibility. Pope is trying to hit hard at excess of affectations, too much of self-indulgence and self-importance. Pope’s mock epic heals with morals what it hurts with wit. It is not a poem to be dismissed lightly but it eminently succeeds in its purpose of entertaining and offers criticism for contemporary morals and models .The present study is an attempt to analyze the mock epic characteristics in ‘’The Rape of the Lock’’ and how Pope has parodied the true epic characteristics in his witty narration."

The paper also hints at how Pope healthily employed a nuance while justifying how a mockery is done without demeaning the honour of a dignified literary genre that is Epic :

"A mock heroic poem is a parody of an epic and not the ridicule of a literary form as some critics believe it to be."

It has meticulously dealt with the idea and concept of what epic and satire should be as  literary forms of high seriousness :

"The writing of a witty narrative poem was one of the most obvious methods and the most eligible species of narrative was mock heroic. It had been evolved for the very purpose of diminishing petty quarrels and Pope combined the two forms, epic and satire."

The paper further goes on discussing the supernatural element which are used to embellish the poem in a manner of an epic, but in a jeering way so that readers can derive the outlook about aristocratic frivolous fops and light-minded ladies of 18th century England :

"Although the supernatural machinery plays practically no part in the action but it crowns the whole work. Lord Peter prays to love and its scales decide the issue of the battle between the beaux and belles, while the muse, sole, Phoebus, Powers, winds, the just Gods, Time and fate ,Cupid’s flames and Heaven are all mentioned . They are a little more than rhetorical lightening figures of speech used to lend emphasis at various points in the action of this mock epic.

By a stroke of genius and luck, Pope hit on the notion of basing his machinery on the Rosicrucian spirits. The creatures in which they believed had a suggestion about them which was fanciful and farfetched and made them particularly suitable for the mock epic. The identification of the Sylphs, Gnomes, and Nymphs by the Rosicrucian gave great scope of description with pagan deities, this enabled Pope to parody the use of Guardian Angels in heroic verse. The erotic quality of the Rosicrucian spirit is important as every epic poem has a peculiar passion which distinguishes it from the other epic poems. This singular passion corresponds to the character of the epic Hero. The peculiar passion of ‘Iliad’ is anger, soft and tender passion reign in Aeneid because that is the character of Aeneas so coquetry is the reigning passion in Pope’s epic of Belinda’s lock. The principal object of the Rosicrucian spirits is to carry on love affairs with human beings. The supernatural agents of ‘The Rape of the Lock’ are essentially his own creation."

Here is the link of the research paper :

https://www.ijsdr.org/papers/IJSDR1604069.pdf

Thank you!

 

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