The Rape of the Lock" is a mirror of the social life of eighteenth-century England. Elaborate.
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Discuss Pope's realism.
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Discuss “ The Rape of the Lock” as social criticism.
A great work of art is always the most typical product of its own time. It reflects the life of its age in itself. If it fails to do so, it will also fail to be universal in its appeal.
Without any doubt “The Rape of the Lock” is a great work of art and it reflects the social and cultural life of its time. “The Rape of the Lock” is concerned with the aristocratic society and presents a charming picture of it. The aristocracy of the 18th-century English society was a newly formed class. The aristocratic people were primarily urban with an easy flow of money from trade and commerce. They spent their time in idle gossip, backbiting, playing games of cards, and in frivolities of sex and love games. Sex intrigues and courting lies at the parties were their chief hobbies. Being free from the problems of earning their bread they were living a fashion crazy life. The “Rape of Lock” is a mirror of such a kind of society.
Lord Peter and Belinda are representative figures of that society. The details of the daily routine of gentlemen and women are given entertainingly. They rise from the luxurious beds at 12’O clock in noon, which was done by licking the lapdogs.
The strayed life of the women is clear from their toilet ceremony. The ladies used to spend more time applying beauty products to them than anything else. Belinda's preparation at the dressing table is not only ironic and amusing but meaningful too. For many of them like Belinda, the dressing table was a sacred place like a place of worship. Pope details the lady's constant concern for enhancing their beauty effect with artificial means. They undertake great pains to make their hair curly. They were more anxious to win the heart of the choicest beaus. For that purpose, they spent hours at the dressing table and danced and played games of cards with gentlemen of their own choice.
In other words, these ladies were devoid of any real moral sense or any real meaningful purpose in life. To them, husbands were no more important than lapdogs. The death of husbands affected them only as much as the death of lapdogs or the breaking of china jars. For them, reputation was all, but the honour was almost equal to nothing. Loss of chastity was not a serious matter for them. To them, the church meant nothing but to miss a ball was a serious issue for them.
Gentlemen of that age were also not better than ladies. They were chiefly concerned with getting richer and carrying on sexual adventures with fashion-crazy ladies. Lord Peter is a real portrait of the youth of that age. For them, all time was leisure time. To them, a love letter was more sacred than the Bible. Flirtation with the young ladies was both their hobby and Vacation. Lord Peter’s sense of victory and triumph at the cutting of Belinda's lock of hair is symbolic of the shallowness, triviality and emptiness of the youth of the contemporary aristocratic class. Their favourite games were games of playing cards, symbolic of futility and laziness.
Pope also presents the picture of other classes of the society of his time. Among people of other classes are the judges, the merchants and others. Judges did not take their job seriously, nor were the jury-men careful and patient about their responsibility. The judges and jury-men act impatiently and care more for their meals rather than cases. The merchants were also concerned with making money at the exchange.
Pope also gives a satirical remark on the coffee-drinking habit of the age, which was regarded as a sign of aristocratic fashion.
Conclusion
To sum up it can be said, that such a wasteful kind of life was led by the fashionable people of Pope’s time. Undoubtedly, Pope has given a realistic picture of his age but in a bit of a satirical way. Though it does not give a complete picture of Pope’s age, it presents a real picture of one particular class of his time, the aristocratic class, and here its completeness is beyond any doubt.