Pope's Rape
A Study Guide for Alexander Pope’s famous mock epic.
Many students find Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock challenging. This study guide hopes to make it more accessible.
Canto One
The alarm clock goes off at Belinda’s version of dawn (11 am or so), and the heroine’s dog Shock shakes itself, but Belinda goes back to sleep. Her guardian sylph (Ariel) then appears to her in a dream and makes a long, rambling speech in which he suggests that the sylphs are the ghosts of earthly maidens, who now watch out for maidens who are still alive. Ariel is Belinda’s own protective sylph whose job is to protect her chastity, and at long last he tells Belinda that she must be wary of man because some threat impends. Belinda wakes up and soon forgets her dream and its warning. In fine detail, Pope describes her dressing herself and putting on cosmetics (ll. 121-ff.) The vocabulary suggests however a maiden engaged in an act of religious worship. What is Pope’s satiric point? What precisely does Belinda worship? This worship is called an act of what? Line 139 informs us that this scene imitates the epic hero arming himself for battle. Thus, Belinda is the hero of this mock epic. Notice that the sylphs represent the gods of the epics, called “machinery,” here in miniature.
Canto Two
The scene has changed to the river Thames, and all the beaux and belles have gathered aboard a boat. Belinda is the center of attraction. What is she compared to? Especially attractive are two locks of hair. What is the purpose of these locks (cf. 19, 21–28)? The phrase “destruction of mankind” implies the fruit of Eden and the terrible consequences of eating it. In fact, why has Belinda spent so much time putting on cosmetics and presenting such tempting ringlets?
A male character is now introduced (l. 29) who is attracted to Belinda, or at least, her hair: how does he plan to get it (ll. 30–34)? For assistance, he has made a sacrifice to the gods, specially the god of love (ll. 35–46). What has he sacrificed? Lines 47–72 leave the beaux and belles and describe the sylphs flitting about the boat’s rigging in the sun; the lines are beautifully descriptive. Ariel, who we learn is not only Belinda’s personal guardian sylph, but is also the head honcho of the whole sylph nation, gives a speech (he likes to do this), lines 73–136. (Lines 72–73 recall Paradise Lost I.315–316, V.600–02 — note the repetition of “hear” and “fear”). First he outlines the cosmic then earthly duties of the sylphs, up to l. 100; then he relates that some disaster impends, but he’s not sure what it is, though he suggests things that might happen, ll. 100–110. These are very famous lines and suggest that Ariel’s sense of what’s important and not important is a bit confused. How? However, aware that some disaster portends, he assigns various protective tasks tot he sylphs. Fifty sylphs will guard the petticoat. Why? What will Ariel himself guard? Why? (We must remember that Ariel’s power depends on Belinda being totally chaste. See Pope’s introductory letter to the poem, paragraph four, bottom, and canto one, ll. 67–68.) Lines 123–136 point out the punishments in store for any sylph who fails to do its job.
Canto Three
The scene shifts to Hampton Court. We gather that the beaux and belles are part of the social elite attendant upon the queen. Lines 1–18 characterize the nature of the conversation of this society. These lines recall 100–110 of canto two, and suggest the priorities of this society are also a bit confused. How so? Lines 19–24 suddenly shift the scene, but not the time, to reveal a glimpse of another world, the harsh world of everyday London. What is happening here? Belinda and the Baron now decide to play cards (ombre, an 18th century equivalent of bridge). First the cards are reviewed (as if they were warrior kings and queens, etc.) then the game commences, as if it were some great battle. The whole episode suggests that this society places undue emphasis on the importance of cards, as if it were some sort of war. Lines 95–100 describe Belinda’s final triumph in the card game. How does she behave? Is she a gracious victor? The beaux and belles then drink coffee, while overhead hover the sylphs, ll. 105–116. Stimulated by the coffee, the Baron conceives the idea of cutting off a lock of Belinda’s hair. Coincidentally, Clarissa, a friend of Belinda’s, just then offers him a pair of sewing scissors. Thrice he tries to cut off the lock, but each time, Belinda turns around. Why? Finally, on the third time, he succeeds. Why is he able to succeed now whereas he couldn’t before (ll. 125–134)? Belinda roars in anger, louder than if what had happened? The Baron proceeds to boast of his deed. How does line 163 recall lines 23–27 of canto two?
Canto Four
In lines 1–10, Belinda is mad. Lines 11–88 describe how another sylph — actually a gnome — named Umbriel journeys down into the Cave of Spleen and returns with a vial of winds which he eventually pours on Belinda which (ll. 140–143) make her even more sorry about what has happened. We see Belinda now in the arms of a friend named Thalestris who makes a speech in which she tells Belinda all the nasty things people are saying about her and how the Baron is bragging (ll. 89–120). Thalestris then charges off to her boyfriend, Sir Plume, and sends him to the Baron to “Demand” the return of the Lock (ll. 120–140). Is Sir Plume successful? At line 147, Belinda appears to plead for the lock herself. What does she look like (ll. 143–146)? In her pleas to the Baron, she speaks almost as if he had done something else to her. What do you think? And in lines 175–176 as if she almost wishes what had actually happened? In fact, there are suggestions throughout this scene that Belinda has been raped. Has she?
Canto Five
We might note an increasing disorder in the poem. The first hint of “trouble” is suggests in line 31 of canto 2, when the Baron vows to get the lock not lawfully, but by “force” or “fraud.” Belinda openly violates the norms of conduct by shouting, exulting, when she wins the card game. Order is then violated far more strongly when the Baron “rapes” the lock, carrying out the intentions of line 31 above. From here we move steadily toward disorder.
Belinda “screams” and “shouts” at the Baron’s act. Hints of a woman having been violated, or desiring to be violated, run through canto four. Now with canto five the whole society plunges into warfare, the Baron having refused to restore the lock. The battle of the sexes culminates the movement toward disorder, with the libidinal forces hitherto held in restraint, but latent (as evidenced by the Cave of Spleen passage), now overtly expressed.
At the beginning of the canto, however, Clarissa makes a speech intended to avert war; she pleads for good sense and humor, for “disarmament,” but no one pays her any attention (ll. 35–36), and instead we haear a call “to arms.” Note that Pope has given Belinda two counselors, Clarissa who counsels moderation, good sense, and an awareness that is more important (and timeless) that outer beauty, represented by the lock, which is transitory; and Thalestris who stands for ill-humor, for “getting even,” and for values of reputation. We note, sadly, that Belinda chooses to follow the advice of the latter. Is she to blame for this?
The epic battle of the sexes in canto five recalls the Homeric battles in the Iliad and the battle of the angels in Paradise Lost. Since this battle, however, is between the sexes, no one can die, as no one could die in the battle in Paradise Lost, since angels are immortal. (Of course, in Homer’s world, there is plenty of dying of the ordinary, real sort.) In Pope’s day, to “die” also meant sexual orgasm, the act of intercourse, each act of which was thought to shorten one’s life (sort of like smoking a cigarette). Because “die” has this second meaning, we can understand why, in Pope’s poem, the men, oddly, seek to die (cf. ll. 44, 61, 64–66 as well as the overt sexual puns in ll. 61 and 98). Now, since in Pope’s sexual battle no one can “die,” and since the battle of the sexes is eternal anyhow, he is forced to resort to the deus ex machina device to extricate himself; i.e., the lock is transformed to heaven in the form of a star.
The closing paragraph of the poem is especially eloquent (Pope is always good at ending poems). Throughout the poem, Belinda has been compared to the sun (e.g., ll. 12–13 in canto 1, and especially lines 1–18 in canto 2); the comparison implies that Belinda exists in a world of time which, of course, will eventually “devour” her beauty. At the close, Pope suggests she will have what she wants, both glory and victory over time. How so? Lines 145–150 are especially eloquent and suggestive. To what earlier poem might 148 refer to, a poem also concerned with the passing of time and what to do about it?
