A Mock Poem
In Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock,” Pope eloquently uses heroic couplets to mock the trivial pursuits society indulges itself in. The first few lines “what dire offense from amorous causes springs, what mighty contests rise from trivial things” mocks how society no longer honors and celebrates pursuits that are righteous and significant but rather pursuits of diminishing quality. The “contest” Pope alludes to are card games and sexual conquests rather than “mighty” struggles such as the epic battles of ancient stories. Hence, Pope begins his first canto in an ironic sense by juxtaposing the significant with the insignificant. He illuminates and ridicules the trivial games society indulges itself in rather than addressing issues of serious manners such as economics and politics. Furthermore, the line “her joy of gilded chariots, when alive, and love of ombre, when death survive” states woman are primarily concerned with social image and, within the mind, lack any sense of seriousness towards things outside of their world due to social conventions. In addition, the line “with varying vanities, from ev’ry part, they shift the moving toyshop of their heart; where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive” suggests that vanity has replaced intelligence and society has deemed values of little importance to be outstanding qualities of character and person. However, Pope does not blame the participants for the immoral state of principles but rather the supernatural creatures “sylph that contrived it all.” Therefore, we see that the mystical beings serve an allegorical purpose. By stating that these creatures have woven the current state of society, Pope is placing the blame not on the participants but rather society for creating such deplorable individuals.
In conclusion, Pope describes a society lacking in morality and overwhelming in vanity. He satirizes a social class with an exaggerated sense of self importance. We can infer from his description that woman in high society at the time served a shallow purpose and had little to no significant roles since their main concern are social standing. It is these qualities that moved men to engage in flirtatious tussles; the victor being the one who gains a higher social status. Despite Pope describing woman to possess little to no understanding of anything of value, he sympathizes with them by blaming the social conventions for creating them in such a way and perceives them of being capable of much more. Furthermore, we can infer from Pope’s mockery of social conventions that early 18th century was, perhaps, a time when religious influence was declining. Hence, in the eyes of a Catholic, it may be concluded that Pope’s mockery of society is a product of religious downturn in society.
-Richard Chang
18th Century Women
Arabella Fermor
In “The Rape of the Lock”, Pope reveals within his dedicatory letter that Belinda is a literal representation of Arabella Femor, a member within his Catholic circle. He expresses within his letter that the poem primarily functions to point out the follies of women and society, and hopes that a few may admit and enjoy the humor within their follies. Therefore, Pope uses Belinda to represent early 18th century high society women and satirically poke fun at their silly ways.
At first glance, we are introduced to Belinda as a stunningly beautiful woman whose beauty is a “rival to [the suns] beams.” The praise, however, is ironic for in the previous canto we see that Belinda has deliberately and ritually created this image with “puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.” Therefore, Pope uses Belinda’s effort in creating such an image to ridicule society for placing external beauty as a significant value for women to pursue rather than internal beauty. Furthermore, Belinda adorns a cross on her “white breast” for which “ Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.” Despite the cross being a strictly Catholic symbol, Belinda uses the religious symbol for ornamental purposes to sexually enhance her beauty for “Jews” and “infidels” to admire. Hence, the use of a religious symbol for purely aesthetic purposes amounts to sacrilege and moral depravity for Belinda and all her admirers.
During the climax of Belinda’s tussle with the Baron, Belinda is described to dodge the Baron’s attempts at snipping a piece of her hair several times. The Baron only succeeds when the sylph, who are guarding her hair, witness in “the close recesses of her virgin thought…an earthly lover lurking in her heart” thus causing the sylph to resign their efforts. Despite Belinda’s dramatic scream, it is implied she secretly desired to sacrifice her moral chastity. Furthermore, the two maids “ill-nature” and “affectation” show that Belinda had an ulterior motive to use this occasion to wear a new gown or act. Later in the poem, Thalestris states “ Gods! Shall the ravisher display your hair…and all your honor in a whisper lost” shows that Belinda does not regret nor languish in the thought of her moral breach but the embarrassment of social humiliation and her image. Therefore, Belinda is shown to lose her “virgin” or pure thought when she secretly desires the Baron to violate her hair. The lack of moral integrity is further exacerbated through Belinda’s anguish of not her moral purity but rather her fear of social humiliation. Given these points, one can exam Belinda’s entire situation as being corrupt since her anguish was intentional and her motivation to right what is wrong lacks any moral consideration.
In conclusion, we can see through Belinda that early 18th century women of high society were primarily admired for their beauty. It can be inferred from the extravagant parties and flirtatious engagements that women of this time prioritized social activities and were, perhaps, discouraged pursuing academic education. Therefore, women of the early 18th century played a role of social status symbols based on external beauty. Despite Popes satire on women, one can look at Pope’s ironic criticism as a means of advocating women’s rights. By satirizing how contemporary women behaved, Pope encourages readers, especially women, to humorously take his criticism but earnestly consider on pursuing more serious pursuits. Therefore, the discrepancies between Pope’s heroic couplets serve another layer of illumination and stimulation.
-Richard Chang
In the first post, Japanese women in society during those times would most likely also be concerned with their social image more than anything else. Their primary concern was to grab attention of a man of the upper-class. In attempt to climbing up the ladder of social standing women valued their looks more than anything. I can agree that the social conventions were to blame because within the Japanese society, women had no power in economics, and politics. They were portrayed as sexual objects; the stories mention prostitutes and symbolizes it through the ideas of love, lust, and temptation. Even today, women value their image highly.
In the second post it is agreeable that women played a role of social status based on external beauty disregarding internal beauty. Like the story Kibitsu no Kama, Shotaro only looked for external beauty in a woman. He was blind to Isora’s internal beauty as a caring, loving wife and complains about Isora looking ugly and rough hands due to labor. He choose to seek for his prostitution buddy instead. On the side note, a lot of women mentioned in Japanese literature were poor, so I would assume they never had the opportunity for academia.