The Rape of the Lock is an 18th century satirical poem written by Alexander Pope. It is a long poem and is written in the style of a mock epic poem. Epic poetry were those poems that belonged to canons such as those of the ancient Greeks relating tales of ancient heroes and their exploits.
The mock epic, then, served to do the opposite, in true satirical fashion, by focusing on seemingly trivial things but allowing them to have, and presenting them in a manner that was reminiscent of, all the grandeur and greatness that were to be found in the true epics.
In a way, the mock epic form reminds me of celebrity culture today, in the 21st Century, where so much attention and importance is given to even the most meaningless and trivial of acts committed by celebrities.
Belinda, the heroine of Pope’s poem, and a great beauty, seems to be quite the celebrity herself – albeit in eighteenth century England. She is pretty, appears to be wealthy and has people waiting on her. One of her most significant characteristics are two locks of hair that she wears in curls at the back of her neck. The Baron, in love with Belinda, lusts after these locks of hair and ends up snipping off one of them from Belinda’s head. Belinda, of course, flies into a great rage and attacks the Baron, causing everyone at the party to join in the brawl caused by the snipping of the lock.
The poem is a highly comedic and a great part of that has to do with the mock epic style it is written in. Such examples include the way in which Pope assigns “slyphs” – slight, fairylike creatures as the invisible protectors of women, in much the same way that the ancient heroes would be watched over by the gods. The only difference is that the sylphs are tiny and cannot do a whole lot, as opposed to the all-powerful gods from the conventional epics. Then there’s the way in which Belinda’s act of getting dressed is presented as her arming herself for an upcoming battle the way the heroes in the epic poems did.
There is also quite a lot of sexual allegory in the poem, starting from the very beginning when the main conflict of one of Belinda’s curls (described as labyrinths of love which can entrap men) is cut off and stolen by the Baron. The cutting of Belinda’s hair, a physical aspect of herself, is meant to be interpreted as a violation of her body and is representative of rape itself – with the male lover forcefully taking what he wants from the woman. In many ways, particularly through his presentation of the woman in his poem and his use of the patriarchal stereotypes of his time, Pope might be accused of sexism, but it is possible that Pope may have simply been presenting sexist aspects of the society in which he lived, as there is a difference between presenting something and representing something. After all, based on the ending of the poem, it is obvious that he may have been on the side of Belinda after ensuring that she gets the upper hand in the battle with the Baron. Hilarious and witty, The Rape of the Lock is a must-read poetic battle of the sexes.
