Instead they waste their time gossiping and pursuing frivolous amusements.3.Which elements of society does Pope satirize in The Rape of the Lock? The best account I know of them is in a French book called In the beginning of this mock-epic, Pope declares that a "dire offence" (Canto 1 line 1) has been committed. Pope thus exposes the ignorance and idleness of the upper classes.4.What is the sexual allegory in The Rape of the Lock?As the title of the poem suggests, the cutting of Belinda's hair has a sexually explicit connotation. Others in those languages followed later, as well as in Dutch, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Polish, Swedish and Danish.Early Italian verse translations of the poem include Andrea Bonducci's Scandinavian versions appeared near the start of the 19th century, beginning with the Swedish Meanwhile, in Britain most illustrations of the work were descending into "high kitsch and low camp".Oil paintings by two artists rise a little above this judgment. When she demands that he restore the lock, however, it is nowhere to be found. Be sure to discuss some of the interpretive problems associated with it.Clarissa's speech questions the value society places on appearances, in particular female beauty. in The Rape of the Lock?The supernatural forces that feature in The Rape of the Lock perform a role similar to that of the gods and goddesses in traditional epic poems, such as The Iliad. In reality an excuse for gambling and flirting, the "battlefield" of ombre becomes the only opportunity for these young aristocrats to gain heroic recognition. Whither does Umbriel journey? He makes numerous allusions to the British Empire and trade: "One speaks the glory of the British Queen, / And one describes a charming Indian screen" (III.13-4). Thalestris easily overcomes many of the men during the fight over the lock, in which the women are the aggressors. The baron attempts to cut a lock of hair from behind Belinda's head while Belinda bends over to sip a cup of coffee (lines 133-134). Similarly, when he sees Belinda's attraction to the Baron in "the close recesses of the virgin's thought," he retreats, powerless to defend her (140).
She declares that because beauty cannot last, women must have other qualities to sustain them after they lose their looks. The plain kept coat of arms shows an opened book at the top left, representing the concept of learning, a fountain pen for teaching, and at the bottom right a pair of scissors for the hairdressing trade. This happens three times, but in the end the Baron succeeds (also cutting a Sylph in two although Pope reassures us, parodying a passage in A gnome named Umbriel now journeys to the Cave of Spleen and from the Queen receives a bag of "sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues" (canto 4 line 84) and a vial filled "with fainting fears, soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears" (line 85–86) and brings them to Belinda. Pope refigures the combs, pins, "puffs, powders, patches" that Belinda uses to prepare herself as the arms and armor of the epic hero (I.138). With only a tube of glue and a pair of scissors, this book becomes a superb model of a 12th century castle.. .
The "sacred rites" that she performs—in reality the simple act of dressing herself—act within Pope's epic paradigm as a prayer to the goddess for success on the battlefield (I.128). . She observes that men worship women as angels without assessing their moral character and that the beauty these men revere is ephemeral: "frail beauty must decay" (V.25). Ariel: Belinda’s guardian sylph (supernatural creature). The men, by contrast, are mostly foppish and weak. Her actions in the poem further problematize the moral superiority she attempts to claim in this speech. Finding her dejected in the arms of the woman Thalestris, Umbriel pours the contents over them both.
Be sure to consider his use of the mock-heroic genre.In The Rape of the Lock, Pope's satire focuses on the foibles of the upper classes.
Clarissa admonishes them to keep their good humour, but they will not listen and instead a battle ensues with glares, songs and wits as weapons.
The Baron also expresses his willingness to acquire the lock "by fraud betray," suggesting his comfort with taking advantage of Belinda's innocence (II.32). Ariel's suspicion that the foretold "dire disaster" will be a sexual assault further advances the sexual allegory. It has been made a constellation and is destined to outlast the contestants. Pope even sexualizes the cross, locating it on Belinda's "white breast," suggesting that her breasts are the objects of worship, not the cross (II.7).