“The Rape of the Lock” as a Mock-Epic and a Satire of the 18th-Century Beau-Monde

 Q.  Discuss the feature of the Mock Epic poem and how “The Rape Of The Lock” can be analyzed as a parodic exposure of the English eighteen century “Beau-Monde”.

The Rape of the Lock is mock-heroic epic poetry penned by Alexander Pope to satires petty egotistical elitist quarrel between two aristocratic families. Here  I  intend to explore “The Rape of the Lock” as an epic conforming to all the conventions of an epic such as invocations of Gods, descriptions of armour, battles, and extended similes. Pope here uses humour, wit, mockery, ridicule and irony to criticize the frivolous aspect of the feminine world through the medium of Belinda impersonating Arabella Fermor and caricaturing trivial concerns and un-heroic values of the Beau-Monde.   

Epic literature belongs to the narrative genre of poetry. Epic is a long narrative poem recounting in elevated style the deeds of a legendary hero, especially one originating in the oral folk tradition. Epic poems tell the story of societies and heroes. The subject matter includes topics of human interest. When we refer to epic poetry, we usually refer to the two Greek poems attributed to   Homer - The Iliad (about the role of Achilles in the Trojan War), and  The Odyssey (about the misadventures of Odysseus trying to return from the Trojan War and the shenanigans of the suitors trying to usurp his place back in Ithaca) and  Vergil’s The Aeneid (tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans).

In The Rape of the lock also we can see the elements of epic in the scene where the table is laid for the game of cards. The rendering of the card game as a battle constitutes an amusing and deft narrative feat. By parodying the battle scenes of the great epic poems, Pope is suggesting that the energy and passion once applied to brave and serious purposes is now expended on such insignificant trials as games and gambling, which often become a mere front for flirtation. The structure of “the three attempts” by which the lock is cut is a convention of heroic challenges, particularly in the romance genre.

Mock epic is a work in verse that employs the lofty manner, the high and serious tone and the supernatural machinery of epic to treat a trivial subject and theme in such a way as to make both subject and theme ridiculous. Almost a case of breaking a butterfly upon a wheel. The acknowledged masterpiece in this genre is Pope's The Rape of the Lock which he describes as a Heroic-comical poem. His subject is the estrangement between two families one of Arabella Fermor and the other of her suitor, Lord Petre, were both from aristocratic families. Petre, lusting after Arabella, had cut off a lock of her hair without permission, and the consequent argument had created a breach between the two families. Pope, also a Catholic, wrote the poem at the request of friends in an attempt to "comically merge the two." He utilized the character Belinda to represent Arabella and introduced an entire system of "sylphs," or guardian spirits of virgins, a parodied version of the gods and goddesses of conventional epic. Pope’s poem uses the traditional high stature of classical epics to emphasize the triviality of the incident. The abduction of Helen of Troy becomes here the theft of a lock of hair; the gods become minute sylphs; the description of Achilles’ shield becomes an excursus on one of Belinda's petticoats. With faultless skill, Pope minifies the epic scale in proportion to the triviality of his theme:

What dire Offence from amorous.......Lord t'assault a gentle Belle?(Line 1-8,Canto 1)

 

Pope knew that is true epics the affairs of men were aided or thwarted by heavenly powers. He, therefore, added four bodies of fairy creatures—Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders—as agents in the story. This is the celestial machinery of the poem. The gods of the epic are heroic beings, but Pope's deities are tiny. Pope describes the diminutive gods of the poem as "the light militia of the lower sky." The sylphs led by Ariel  considerably heighten the mock-epic effect of the poem.

 

An outstanding mock-heroic element in the poem is the comparison between the arming of an epic hero and Belinda’s dressing and using cosmetics to kill. Pope describes a society-lady in terms that the world suits the arming of warriors like Achilles. In The Rape of the Lock, like epic heroes, Belinda pays due homage to her own beautiful image reflected in the warrior-

“A heavenly image in the glass appears

To that she bends, to that her eyes she nears.”(Line 125-126,canto 1)

 

“The Rape of the Lock” is a petty amorous quarrel assisted by the spirits of the air. The epic portrays the age-round personality of a god or semi-god, and its characters are heroes. “The rape of the Lock”, on the other hand, gives us a picture of fashionable society. The central figure in that picture is a pretty society girl, and the other characters are a rash youth, a foolish dandy and a few frivolous women. Instead of deep and genius passions as found in ancient epics, we come across a succession of mock passions in “The Rape of the Lock”.

From the very beginning of the poem, Belinda is introduced as a paragon of female Charm, whose name is Latin for “ Lovely to behold”. In fact, she is the epitome of such a mesmerizing beauty that Pope describes her in superlatives – the brightest fair, the fairest of mortals. Thus she becomes the perfect incarnation of the goddess of beauty. Such beauty and charm can work miracles and even eclipse the Sun by bringing joy and gaiety into the world of fashion. As the Poet says:-

“Belinda smiled and all the world was gay”(line52,canto 2)

This hypnotizing beauty with her sparkling cross and white breasts attains such a height that it can even cover up her flirtation and faults. But, despite this heavenly beauty, the contradiction of contemporary society is strongly reflected in her as Pope models Belinda’s character on the real-life person of Miss. Arabella Fermor. She comes up with all the frivolity, superficiality and pretensions of the 18th-century Swish-English society. The impeccable qualities and the grace of her character are balanced by these unfixed and non-specified faults.  Edmund Gosse comments-

“It is the mirth of the beauty along with some hint of despicable flaws, which   make Belinda a palpable reality.”

This immoral character of Belinda gains more support in the comparison of her eyes with the Sun, where her inviting eyes shine in lust:-

“Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike

And like the sun, she shines on all alike”(line 13-14,canto 2)

But even her charm is not also totally natural. She attributes excessive value to her makeup and thus transforms all spiritual exercises and emblems into a coquette’s self-display and self-adoration. Cleanth Brooks comments that:-

“Belinda is a goddess, but she puts on her dignity at her dressing table.”

 

In fact, the description of Belinda’s morning beautification ritual reveals her devotion to her religion of Narcissism. After leaving her bed at noon her main agenda is to decorate herself with expensive beautifying articles. This immoral devotion leads her to the confusion of values, and she places the Bible with her loads of beauty accessories and love letters. The Bible is seen as a trinket for the adornment of her dressing table, along with other beauty products. The main force of this passage is satire, but alongside the satire, Pope reveals a hint of fascination with the charm and delicacy of Belinda and her cosmetic devotion. This cosmetic devotion leads her beauty to be more seductive and takes the consciousness of the young lovers in a way, which increases her self-importance and stirs up her vanity. The shallowness of her character and the superficiality of her nature have been skillfully exposed in these two lines, which also sharply contrast her bright appearance. Thus Pope’s attitude to Belinda is very mixed and complicated: mocking yet tender, admiring and yet critical. In fact, through the character of Belinda, Pope waves various layers of irony, where though he certainly pokes fun at women’s cosmetic concerns and tendency towards triviality, but also makes a significant distinction between what may be called ‘innate femaleness” and “learned female behaviour”. So the Critic John Dennis perfectly commented that Pope has given,

 

“his fine lady Beauty and good Breeding, Modesty and Virtue in words, but has in Reality and in fact made her an artificial dawbing Jilt; a Tomrig, a virago and a  Lady of the Lake.”

 

The Rape of the Lock is the epitome of eighteenth-century social life. In this poem, the Pope has caught and fixed forever the atmosphere of the age. His satire focuses largely on the bad habits of the upper classes and gentry, who he depicts as interested only in trivial matters, such as flirting, gossip, and card games. In reality, an excuse for flirting and gambling, the card game represents the young aristocrats’ only opportunity to gain heroic recognition. This is not, of course, true heroism, but rather a skill that serves no purpose in the outside world. Chief among the upper classes’ other pastimes is gossip, but the Pope limits their conversation to the insular world of the aristocratic lifestyle. They care most about “who gave the ball, or paid the visit last,” the irrelevant structures of upper-class socializing. Hence, Pope’s analysis of idleness and ignorance of the upper classes in contemporary society plays an integral part in The Rape of the Lock.

A mock epic is a narrative poem that aims at mockery at laughter by using almost all the characteristic features of an epic but for a trivial subject. In it, there is an invocation to muses, the proposition of subject, battles, supernatural machinery, journey on water, underworld journey, long speeches, coffee houses, Homeric similes and grand style but all for a simple family dispute instead of a national struggle. In a nutshell, it can be said without any doubt that The Rape of the Lock is one of the finest pieces of mock epic. But it is not just a parody of epic tradition. It gives Pope the position of a great artist and moralist.