Canto 1 themes

Themes

Pope’s poetry, especially ‘The Rape of the Lock‘ holds up a faithful mirror to the
18th century English ‘beau monde’.

It was Queen Anne’s regime that faced newborn urban industrialization and huge
advances of science, technology, and merchant-economy created a new class: the
‘noveau riche’ middle class, who imitated the lifestyle of the aristocracy. ‘The
Rape of the Lock‘ depicts the eighteenth-century practices and pastimes, the false
standards of living in a very big panorama. The card games, parties, lap-dogs,
pleasure-boating, snuff-taking, scandal-mongering, love-letter writing and
collecting, idle gossip- everything, presented in the poem, are culled from the
pages of the contemporary history.

Though the male folk was no less glued to this external resplendence, it was the
fair sex who really stole the show. In their obsession with vagant dress, jewelry,
and toiletry, in their desperate attempt in aping, and in surpassing one another’s
fashion display, in their feigned nonchalance, in their preoccupation with
worthless Bric-à-Brac, in their artificial gentleness veiling their aggressive
sensuality and finally, in their inherent frivolity- the women of their time
surpassed all feminine vanity of the preceding ages. Pope has left no dart in his
stock unused, to banter this innately empty embellished society, especially its
female folk.

Detailed Analysis

Line 1-31

What dire offence from am’rous causes springs,

What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:

This, ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:

Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,

If she inspire, and he approve my lays.

Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel

A well-bred lord t’ assault a gentle belle?

O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor’d,

Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?

In tasks so bold, can little men engage,

And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?

 Sol thro’ white curtains shot a tim’rous ray,

And op’d those eyes that must eclipse the day;

Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake,

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,

Her guardian sylph prolong’d the balmy rest:

‘Twas he had summon’d to her silent bed

The morning dream that hover’d o’er her head;

A youth more glitt’ring than a birthnight beau,

(That ev’n in slumber caus’d her cheek to glow)

Seem’d to her ear his winning lips to lay,

And thus in whispers said, or seem’d to say.

“Fairest of mortals, thou distinguish’d care

Of thousand bright inhabitants of air!

If e’er one vision touch’d thy infant thought,

Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught,

Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen,

The poet, Alexander Pope cries about the terrible results of misunderstanding in
love affairs and the impactful quarrels and invokes the Muse, the goddess of art
and poetry, to shower blessings on his verse. He requests the goddess to make
both Caryl and Belinda notice the poem, because, though the theme is trivial, it
will surely bring fame. Pope wonders what might be the reason for the well-bred
suitor to offend a lady and also a lady to reject a lord.
The sun rises higher and the rays fall into Belinda’s room through white curtains
and opened her eyes which dazzled more than the bright sun. It’s midday and the
lapdogs wake up and shake their bodies breaking her sleep. Belinda rings her
handbell trice and then makes a sound on the floor with her slipper, but no one
replied, so she pressed her soft pillow under her head and fell asleep again starts
dreaming about a handsome young man dressed in a better way than a suitor
who is going to attend a beautiful evening ball dance on a birthday of a king or
queen.

The young was too attractive to make Belinda blush even in her dreams. The man
in the dream slowly lays his lips on her ear and whispers that a fair lady like
Belinda should be protected by the airy elves. He tells Belinda that if she had
heard in her bosom from nurses or priests about angels and fairies that lived in
the air, seen in shady places on moon-lit nights.

Line 32-64

The silver token, and the circled green,

Or virgins visited by angel pow’rs,

With golden crowns and wreaths of heav’nly flow’rs,

Hear and believe! thy own importance know,

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

Some secret truths from learned pride conceal’d,

To maids alone and children are reveal’d:

What tho’ no credit doubting wits may give?

The fair and innocent shall still believe.

Know then, unnumber’d spirits round thee fly,

The light militia of the lower sky;

These, though unseen, are ever on the wing,

Hang o’er the box, and hover round the Ring.

Think what an equipage thou hast in air,

And view with scorn two pages and a chair.

As now your own, our beings were of old,

And once inclos’d in woman’s beauteous mould;

Thence, by a soft transition, we repair

From earthly vehicles to these of air.

Think not, when woman’s transient breath is fled,

That all her vanities at once are dead;

Succeeding vanities she still regards,

And tho’ she plays no more, o’erlooks the cards.

Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive,

And love of ombre, after death survive.

For when the fair in all their pride expire,

To their first elements their souls retire:

The sprites of fiery termagants in flame

Mount up, and take a Salamander’s name.

Soft yielding minds to water glide away,

And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.

The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome,

In search of mischief still on earth to roam.

He is talking about the fairies who put silver pennies into the slippers of the maids
at night or dance on the green grass. If Belinda ever believed in the tales of angels
who visit virtuous damsels with golden crowns and garlands of flowers, then she
should know her importance and never bow down her thoughts by what is visible
on earth.
There are some unrevealed talks which were hidden from grown-up men and told
to children and maidens, that numerous spirits which fly around invisibly when
one is in the box of theatre or is driving in the Hyde Park in London or enjoys a
race are the light militia of the lower sky. In past, the fairies were enclosed in
bodies of beautiful women, passed from physical bodies by a big change into airy
beings.

It’s a misconception that all the vanities go away when a woman dies, she takes
an interest in the vanities of the next generation. The delight in playing ombre, or
cards doesn’t fade away after death. When a proud woman dies, she turns into
the five elements of the earth. The violent women who represent fire are the
salamanders. The women with soft hearts are nymphs and the serious-minded
women are gnomes, spirits of the earth who always roam the earth to search for
mischief.

Lines 65-105

The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,

And sport and flutter in the fields of air.

Know further yet; whoever fair and chaste

Rejects mankind, is by some sylph embrac’d:

For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease

Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.

What guards the purity of melting maids,

In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,

Safe from the treach’rous friend, the daring spark,

The glance by day, the whisper in the dark,

When kind occasion prompts their warm desires,

When music softens, and when dancing fires?

‘Tis but their sylph, the wise celestials know,

Though honour is the word with men below.

Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face,

For life predestin’d to the gnomes’ embrace.

These swell their prospects and exalt their pride,

When offers are disdain’d, and love denied:

Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain,

While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train,

And garters, stars, and coronets appear,

And in soft sounds ‘Your Grace’ salutes their ear.

‘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.

 Oft, when the world imagine women stray,

The Sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way,

Thro’ all the giddy circle they pursue,

And old impertinence expel by new.

What tender maid but must a victim fall

To one man’s treat, but for another’s ball?

When Florio speaks, what virgin could withstand,

If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand?

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,

Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive.

This erring mortals levity may call,

Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all.

Of these am I, who thy protection claim

These light-hearted flirts go up to a higher region of air after the death, in the
name and forms of sylphs and play in the air. She (Belinda) should know that any
lady who rejects all love offers from men is protected by the sylphs. They are
beyond the rules of charging over human bodies and mold in any shape or sex
they like. They protect the weak ladies at country balls and masked dances from
male friends who desperately seduces the ladies, from young lovers, from the
amorous gazes, from the tempting favorable opportunities that excite the ladies
to have male companies.

The wise beings know that the sylphs take care of the ladies’ safety, though men
take this safety to their own sense of self-respect. Some girls are very proud of
their beauty and destined to live under the influence of gnomes all their life. The
gnomes pump their pride and vain beauties. Their head is filled with thoughts of
lords, who will court them with all their wealth, and address them ‘Your Grace’ in
soft voices, how to maintain a captive modest face during the period and to be
excited at the thought of young lovers.
Often the sylphs guide the women through puzzling problems of fashionable life
and give them company among the bucket of pleasures that turns their heads and
keep them straight with new foolery. No woman will give up on her chastity,
being just an entertainment for the lover, if it is fired up in a ball dance party
arranged by a rival lover. No woman can resist Florio’s charm if Damon isn’t there
to squeeze her warm hands and attract her to himself. These young maids, with
their various vanities, shift their eyes from one gallant to another just like a toy
shop always on move. There’s always a wave of dodging one another by ‘wigs
with wigs’, or the strive of sword -knots. The continuous interchange of one
option to the better one is the tricks of the sylphs to protect the ladies. And in
Belinda’s case, the sylph is Ariel.

Line 106-148

A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.

Late, as I rang’d the crystal wilds of air,

In the clear mirror of thy ruling star

I saw, alas! some dread event impend,

Ere to the main this morning sun descend,

But Heav’n reveals not what, or how, or where:

Warn’d by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware!

This to disclose is all thy guardian can.

Beware of all, but most beware of man!”

He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,

Leap’d up, and wak’d his mistress with his tongue.

‘Twas then, Belinda, if report say true,

Thy eyes first open’d on a billet-doux;

Wounds, charms, and ardors were no sooner read,

But all the vision vanish’d from thy head.

And now, unveil’d, the toilet stands display’d,

Each silver vase in mystic order laid.

First, rob’d in white, the nymph intent adores

With head uncover’d, the cosmetic pow’rs.

A heav’nly image in the glass appears,

To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;

Th’ inferior priestess, at her altar’s side,

Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride.

Unnumber’d treasures ope at once, and here

The various off’rings of the world appear;

From each she nicely culls with curious toil,

And decks the goddess with the glitt’ring spoil.

This casket India’s glowing gems unlocks,

And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.

The tortoise here and elephant unite,

Transform’d to combs, the speckled and the white.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,

Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.

Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;

The fair each moment rises in her charms,

Repairs her smiles, awakens ev’ry grace,

And calls forth all the wonders of her face;

Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,

And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.

The busy Sylphs surround their darling care;

These set the head, and those divide the hair,

Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown;

And Betty’s prais’d for labours not her own.

The sylph, Ariel, tells Belinda that as the sylphs dwell in the high reign of air, he
can see clearly that something wrong is going to happen in her life before the
sunset. He doesn’t know what exactly will happen, how or where it will happen.
He warns Belinda to put on her guard every time and asks to stay away from the
Male sex. After his speech, Belinda suddenly wakes up by her dog and sees a love
letter containing the lover’s confession that how he has been captivated by the
spell of her beauty and forgets about the dream. Then the readers are led directly
to her toilet.

The way it’s unveiled resembles the rising of the curtain in a theatre. The silver
pots were arranged in a manner of expertise. Belinda wears a white dress without
a headdress, worships the deities that roam in the toilet. She adorns herself in the
mirror by bending her body and raising her eyes. Her servant Betty who was
called the inferior priestess stands beside her to help her in doing makeup,
trembling in fear if something goes wrong in the ritual.
The caskets are opened one by one which contains different makeups collected
from all over the land. Belinda, as an expert puts all the makeup on her face with
great care. One casket contains gems from India, there other have perfumes from
Arabia and another contains comb made of tortoise-shells and milky white combs
are made of ivory. One of the caskets contains shinning pins, puffs, powders,
patches, bible, and love letters. Belinda equips herself just like a warrior equips
himself before the war.

She starts to look heavenly after her toilet ritual. Her smile becomes more
attractive, charms more captivating. The blushes on her chicks oozed out all the
wonders of her face and her eyelashes were the flash with the brightness of the
lightning. The attending sylphs are busy correcting her hair, sleeves, braid, and
gown. Though the sylphs contributed to her rituals, Betty takes all the credit
away.

Literary Devices

Mock-Heroic elements: The poem starts with mock-heroic elements. The

engagement of inconstant deities in the lives of human beings is an epic element.
The way of presenting the central problem of the poem is a mock-heroic element.
The emotions and passions in the poem, the satiric tone with which Pope
criticizes the 18 th century society is an example of a mock-heroic element. The
usage of supernatural elements can be seen in the mock-heroic aspect.

Satire: Pope’s satire is very much lively and jovial. The device he uses to arouse
comic laughter and to rectify the follies of the age was the unexpected
juxtaposition of the serious and the petty. The readers recognized that the society
took its foppery solemnly and its religion frivolously.
Images and their significances: Pope compares Belinda’s glamour with the sun.
There are images of silver and gold. Belinda’s lock symbolizes the importance
given to a woman’s beauty in society. The card symbolizes the trivial nature of life
at court. The Bodkin symbolizes the swords and spears of a warrior. ‘Atar’, ‘The
Sacred Rites of Pride’ are instances of religious imagery.

The main device is Hyperbole, Pope uses this device to describe Belinda, her
activities and to exaggerate the common places. In lines 13 and 14 readers can
see hyperbole used to describe Belinda’s beauty.

There are some other rhetorics used in the poem such as:

Personification: is used to personify any inanimate thing

Anaphora: Lines 1 and 2 starts with the word ‘what’, line number 75 and 76 starts
with ‘when’

Alliteration: In line number 5,26.37,101-102, there are repeating sounds like /s/,
/w/ etc.

Metaphor: In line 100, the ‘toyshop’ is compared with women’s whims.

Historical References: In lines number 3 and 27 there are references to Caryl,

Ombre.