The Rape Of The Lock as a critique of contemporary fashionable society - The Uncovered English
The Rape Of The Lock
Alexander Pope
The Rape Of The Lock like Pope's other great poems - The Dunciad and The Essays on Man is a faithful critique of the 18th century life, particularly the frivolous, artificial life of the beau monde - of the beaur and belles. So, it is rightly said, "The artificial tone of the age, the frivolous aspect of the feminity is no where more exquisitely pictured than in this poem. It is the epic of triflings; a page torn from the petty, pleasure-seeking life of the fashionable beauty." It is a document of 18th century high life with its follies, foibles and vanities, its elegance and emptiness, its intrigues and jealousies, its love-rivalries and scandal mongering, its moral lapses and spiritual bankruptcy. Leslie Stephen says, "No writer reflects so clearly and completely the spirit of his own day as Pope does," and in The Rape Of The Lock he reflects the life of the fashionable society of his time completely.
Though Pope began writing the poem with the object of healing a quarrel between two families over a trivial matter, the poet soon lost sight of his original intention and wrote a satire upon the leisured and immoral aristocracy of the time. Belinda is not merely Arabella Fermor, she is the type of the fashionable belles of Pope's time. On the other hand, the Baron is not simply Lord Petre; he stands for the profligate, unscrupulous, gentleman of the time. Through them shortcomings of 18th century are satirically exposed. In this context Lowell commented, "As truly as Shakespeare is the poet of man as God made him ... so truly is Pope, the poet of society, the delineator of manners, the exposers of those motives which may be called acquired." In The Rape Of The Lock, he engages all his satire as well as entertaining art of the poignant attractiveness of the brilliant society.
The belles lived a reckless life and their daily activities were immoral and empty of seriousness. They attended nightparties, kept awake at night and slept till noon. Pope beautifully satarises them in those lines:
"And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake:
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground,
And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound.
Belinda still her downy pillow press'd,"
Their open air pleasures were promenading the Mal in St. James park and driving round in Hyde park. Their pride was puffed up by the young men praising and flattering them. They always harbour bright matrimonial prospects which made them reject good offers of marriage. The minds of women got corrupted when they were quite young and they lament the art of coquetry from them:
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground,
And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound.
Belinda still her downy pillow press'd,"
"'Tis these that early taint the female soul,
Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,
Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know,
And little hearts to flutter at a beau."
Love-rivalry was quite common in the beu monde. The young man vied with one another for the love of fashionable ladies. The belles were so fickle-minded that they often changed the object of their love:
Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,
Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know,
And little hearts to flutter at a beau."
"With varying vanities, from ev'ry part,
They shift the moving toyshop of their heart;"
Pope satirises here feminine frivolity, the ever changing nature of the belle's love. Pope gives a vivid but satirc analysis of a beauty's toilet which occupied an important place in her life.
The satire vein is not so harsh in the portrayal of men. It was an age when chivalry was dead. This is evident when the Baron rudely cuts a lock of hair from Belinda's head. The fashionable gentlemen of the time were really fops without any brains of higher ideals. Fashionable youths, wearing wigs and carrying swords, compete with one another to win woman's heart.
Moral and religious values have totally disappeared. Cross which is a holy symbol is not mere than an ornament which "Jews might kiss and infidels adore." Honour no longer means a moral or religious virtue but simply a public reputation which the women keep intact even at the cost of chastity.
Pope describes the Hamptan court, the place of the English Queen beautifully situated on the banks of the of the river Thanes where:
They shift the moving toyshop of their heart;"
"Here Britain's statesmen oft the Fall foredom
of foreign tyrants and of Nymphs at home:"
Here the lords and ladies of the time. Often resort to taste the pleasures of the court and to talk society scandal in which "At every word a Reputation dies." Thus the palace has become a mere place of gossip instead of Queent's taking serious counsel. Here Pope in very subtle manner satarises the activities of Palace.
Describing the afternoon routine of Augustan citizen Pope says that as soon as the rays of the sun becomes slanting in the asternoon. People in various walks of life start preparing for their homes and evening activities. The judges who have sat in the court since morning feel hungry and try to finish the complete work in hurry even if his business deals with life or death of client:
of foreign tyrants and of Nymphs at home:"
"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign
And wretches hang that jury men may dine."
The poem is a reflection of this artificial and hollow life, painted with humorous and delicate satire. It paints the ideal life of the pleasure - seeking men and women. The picture of the trivial occupations of the society could have been much more bitter. But Pope is genial in his satire in this poem. The satire on the hypocrisy and the superficially of the aristocratic society, especially the fashionable women exposes the confusion of values and moral disintegration of the society. The Rape Of The Lock exposes the ethos of a section of the 18th century society. The fundamental character of that society is brought out to be a moral confusion and a preoccupation with trivialities, its customs are shallow, beliefs almost non-existent practices are ridiculous.
Lowell says, "It was a mirror in a drawing room but it gave back a faithful image of society, Powdered and rouged, to be sure, and intent on trifles, yet still human in its own way as the heroes of Homer in theirs."
And wretches hang that jury men may dine."
Comments
Post a Comment