Alexander Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’

     In Canto III, we have a fine example of subtlety of Pope’s satire, this time a comment on the obsession on the society of early eighteenth century with class and the aristocracy. Pope speaks of how the sylphs in the game of Ombre sit on Belinda’s cards, guiding their mistress but still concerned with rank and hierarchy. Ariel, the chief sylph sits on the most important card, says Pope ‘For sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race/ Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place’. When we read this poem in its entirety, it seems clear that whilst the original purpose of the poem may hold true, Pope certainly viewed his poem as an ‘adventitious vehicle for satire’. He surely intended to comment on the less pleasing aspects of the community in which he was ‘a total outsider’ due to his own physical defects. Yet we sense that there is no real hatred on Pope’s part for this society, his satire is quite gentle in comparison to his later works and this, too, is reflected in his use of the supernatural machinery.

     The second, hugely important function of the sylphs in ‘The Rape of the Lock’ is to ensure that the mood of the poem remains light and airy. When we look at the language used by Pope in any sequence concerning the sylphs we can certainly picture these ‘ lucid squadrons’. Pope uses highly evocative adjectives such as ‘glittering’ and ‘fluid’ to describe these creatures, teamed with excellent use of light and sound imagery ‘Soft o’er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe’. In these sequences we are transported from the mortal world, who could be troubled by the foibles and weaknesses of man when we are surrounded by such heavenly creatures? We cannot help but read the poem lightly, influenced as it were by the mood of the magical, tiny sylphs, but we must remember that this is the poet’s intention. Satire is an art, whilst other genres may be purely lyrical, romantic, from the heart, the satirist is cunning, witty, and as P.K. Elkin so perceptibly comments; ‘no matter how gay and sparkling its surface, it is always fundamentally judicial’. Pope has succeeded in creating a highly effective form of satirical comment, one which seems quite paradoxical in that it could have made the Augustan reader laugh or smile whilst the true nature of their ways was being made clear to them, one can only marvel at such a degree of skill and artifice in a poet. This type of satire was not, however, founded by Pope, rather it derives from ancient works of the great Roman poet Horace.

      In fact all satire is largely descended from the classical Greek and Roman literatures, something which one must find fascinating, given the particular nature of Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’. It is interesting that one of the truly outstanding satirical poems of the Augustan age has also been described as the ‘generic model’ for the Augustan mock epic. As the term suggests, the mock epic genre parodies the classical epic; it is constructed around the same basic formula and employs the same devices and conventions as the epic itself, yet is based around so trivial a subject that it can only be mock-heroic despite its exultant nature.

     The epic has a strict set of conventions and quite a structured framework which defines it as a genre. It will always be based around a central heroic figure, contain grandiose speeches and have as its background a hugely important event, take Homer’s ‘Iliad’ set against the remarkable backdrop of the Trojan War, for example. Here we begin to realise how Pope’s text is, in effect, neo-classical, how it imitates the classical models but deals with much more trivial matters. It is here that we also come to realise how utterly important Pope’s inclusion of the sylphs and spirits is to ‘The Rape of the Lock’ in terms of its genre. One of the most striking features of the classical epic is the connection between the mortal world of man and the immortal gods, the use of some form of supernatural machinery, which is precisely what Pope has done in ‘The Rape of the Lock’. This allusion to the heroic form is incredibly important and what is even more important is that we are aware of the fact that use of the mock-heroic form is yet another device employed by Pope to satirise the ridiculous fuss that resulted from the cutting of Arabella Fermor’s hair. By exaggerating and inflating the affair, Pope in fact deflates it by juxtaposition of such a trivial event with an elevated grandiose style.

     As I have previously pointed out, the role of the supernatural beings in this poem is, indeed multifaceted. Whilst on one hand they are representative of the coquettish young ladies of Augustan society, in the mock-heroic sense they mimic the role of the gods in the Greek and Roman epic traditions. In classical heroic literature the gods were intimately involved in the fate of heroes, something which Pope has carried off to great effect. We see how Belinda, our ‘heroine’ is always under the watchful eye of her guardian sylphs, how they intervene at every given opportunity. For example, in Canto III when the Baron is poised to cut the lock of hair; ‘Swift to the lock a thousand sprites repair’, warning Belinda of the imminent danger. This is reminiscent of the intervention of Aphrodite in Book V of Homer’s ‘Iliad’ to remove her son Aeneas from the battlefield.

     The battle motif which is constant throughout ‘The Rape of the Lock’ is also made all the more intricate by the inclusion of the sylphs and the military allusions that Pope uses to describe them. They are described, for example, as ‘the light militia of lower sky’, an obvious reference to military formations that would have been a common feature of the classic epic genre. We see them also in their role as followers, Belinda’s army, just as an epic hero would have his faithful servants we see how

‘To fifty chosen sylphs, of special note, / We trust the important charge, the petticoat’. Again Pope’s use of bathos here deflates the epic style, we expect an elevated example here such as the arming of an epic hero before battle, and rather we are presented with something trivial, a further satirical comment on the superficial values of the Augustan period. Furthermore, the undergarment seems a parody of the ‘glorious armour’ of Achilles in Homer’s ‘Iliad’, and even more so with the seeming importance of the petticoat with its fifty chosen guardians.

     Perhaps the most striking allusion to the conventions of the epic comes in Umbriel’s descent to the Caves of Spleen in Canto IV, which describes Belinda’s psychological state following the ‘rape’. The significance of this journey is two-fold; firstly, it mimics the epic formula, being reminiscent of the journeys of both Odysseus in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, and Aeneas in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’, which serves to trivialize the causes of Belinda’s ‘anxious cares’. Secondly, the description of the actual Caves of Spleen is a highly intelligent comment on the maladies and complaints of Augustan society, and their priorities; ‘Here living tea-pots stand, one arm held out, / One bent,’. Could Pope here be commenting on the aristocracy and their obsession with trivial social affairs?

     Yet we must remember that, at this time, satire was an ‘aristocratic art’, written for the upper classes. Pope’s main aim was not to use satire as a means to change society, rather to comment on its various idiosyncrasies and in this poem the supernatural element is an integral part of this.

     In ‘The Rape of the Lock’, for me, the machinery is one of the most important aspects of the poem. It allows Pope to make un unequivocal satirical statement, yet is so magical, so enchanting that the society of the time could not have been over offended at his suggestions. The supernatural element lends a sense of incredible originality to the poem, something which has ensured over the years that this poem will never become dull or boring to read, therefore securing the place of The Rape of the Lock in literary history, and indeed immortalising Miss Arabella Fermor’s lock of hair!

Notes