Pope as a satirist with reference to The Rape Of The Lock - The Uncovered English

The Rape of the Lock

Alexander Pope

Discuss Pope as a satirist with reference to 'Rape Of The Lock.'

Poetic Craftsmanship in Rape Of The Lock

Bonamy Dobree, an eminent critic, considers 'The Rape Of The Lock' as one of the greatst and most perfect of all Pope's work and says "The Rape Of The Lock is a jewel of the many facets each shining brilliantly." The wit for the sataric concept and brilliance of satire art exhibited by Pope in the poem is unanimously accepted as its paramount attraction. So Joseph Warton rightly remarks that "The Rape Of The Lock is the best satire extant; that it contains the truest and loveliest picture of modern life; and that the subject is of more elegant nature as well as more artfully conducted than that of any other heroic comic poem." It bears in mind at once and the same time general design and particular detail.

Besides being an Augustan Verse satire 'The Rape Of The Lock' is a fine speciman of Pope's poetic craftsmanship. Deighton rightly remarked that "The secret of the success of all pure literature is its genuineness." G. Nilson (Wilson) Knight established the profound literary qualities to be found here and shows the combination of the poetic and dramatic in perfect proportion here. So, Dr. Johnson was tempted to remark that it is " The most airy, the most ingenius, the most delightful of all Pope's composition."

Pope uses mock epic form in 'The Rape Of The Lock.' The object of his satire is the fashionable 18th century society and Pope presents the petty people on the guise of the epic figure. In this manner Pope not only exposes his victims and their follies and absurdities but also reminds the readers of a scale which is much larger than the petty people and thus to bring out the discrepancy between the people and their gigantic robes.

It is difficult to speculate why Pope turned his genius to the writing of satirical poetry. It is argued that Pope's physical deformities and his alienation from the main stream London society, both because of his physical handicap and Catholic views made him a little bitter critic of the contemporary society. It is also argued that the political and literary elimate of satire.

The satire in 'The Rape Of The Lock' is directly not against any individual, but against the follies and vanities in general of fashionable men and women. Pope started writing this poem with the object of conciliating two questioning families but ended up as an over arching satire of feminine firvolity of the 18th century society. Belinda is not Arabella Fermor, she is the type of a fashionable ladies of the time. And the Baron represents not Petre alone but typifies the aristocratic gentleness of that age.

The mock epic form of the poem also softens down the harsh edge of Pope's satire. Many critics have pointed out that Pope loved the Augustan world even as he satirised it. Thus 'The Rape Of The Lock' remains a delightful poem good humoured mockery. The poem also serves Pope's satirc intent which the poet himself declares, "to laugh at the little guarded follies of female sex."

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