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The Rape of the Lock: Reflecting the Satire of the 18th Century British Society
Material prepared by Dr Trayee Sinha,

department of English for Undergraduate Second Semester Honours Students
The 18th century was one in which exaltation of wit and reason came to the forefront of
literature in the form of both Horatian and Juvenalian satires which, through keen
observation and sharp nimbleness of thought, exposed the superficial follies and moral
corruption of society during the neo classical period in Britain. Underneath the
Enlightenment ideals of rationality, order and knowledge, society embraced a pervasive
obsession with ‘decorum’, a facade of established traditions and vanities as well as an
innate sense of moral and political supremacy. Satires during this period aimed to point out
the shortcomings of society through ridiculing accepted standards of thought, exposing
Britain’s flaws and chastising the hypocrisy of the time. Enlightenment writers such as Swift
and Pope used different mediums of satire, different types of logic and different targets of
ridicule in order to focus on different aspects of British society, providing much needed
criticism of the profuse moral corruption of a society that sometimes seemed to forget the
true ideals of its age.
Pope, in The Rape of the Lock, is Horatian in tone, delicately chiding society in a sly
but political voice by holding up a mirror to the follies and vanities of the upper class. Pope
does not actively attack the self important pomp of the British aristocracy, but rather
presents it in such a way that gives the reader a new perspective from which to easily view
the actions in the society as foolish and ridiculous. According to Pope, female chastity is
something over which man has a rightful claim, then the lock must, by association, be
understood at least transiently as the common property of Belinda and the Baron. Pope and
Swift, well-known for their sharply perceptive works, both looked to rhetorical masters of
the rational, classical past and their separate archetypes for inspiration. The text is a gentle
mockery of the upper class, more lyrical and delicate than his brutal counterpart. Pope
nonetheless is able to effectively illuminate the moral degradation of the society to the
public. Once Dryden said, “The true end of satire is the amendment of vice by correction”
and this is what Pope sets out to do in his mock epic. By using the burlesque, mockery and
irony Pope ridicules his society.
The Rape of the Lock assimilates the masterful qualities of a heroic epic, yet is
applied satirically to John Milton’s Paradise Lost were held in high regard, due to their
significant subject matter, compelling heroes and rich text. Pope follows this grand form in
The Rape of the Lock, ultimately achieving a whimsical mock epic through his melange of
the trifling and the timeless. Satire in the poem is not a staire against any individual, but
against the follies and vanities of fashionable men and women in general. Through Belinda,
Pope satirizes the fashionable women of the time and through the Baron, he satirizes the
aristocratic gentlemen of the age. Despite the likeness to historical epic pieces, this work
displays a light and playful tone, which illuminates the idiosyncratic nature of the poem’s
central conflict; the Baron ‘stealing’ or ‘raping’ Belinda’s illustrious lock of hair: “The
meeting points the sacred hair dissever from the fair head, forever and forever! Then
flashed the living lightening from her eyes, and screams of horror rend the affrighted
skies”(lines 153-156). This embellished and exaggerated quotation is representative of the
fundamental elements of Horatian satire used in this mock epic. Personification is employed
to place emphasis on the seemingly transcendent effects of Belinda’s terror, as her screams
“rend the affrighted skies”. This example makes a mockery of the traditional epic,
suggesting that the removal of Belinda’s lock has detrimental and almost divine
implications. Pope uses personification extensively throughout, to add to the heroic
colouring of the poem and in general elevating the subject matter.
This epic is, in fact, a satire upon feminine frivolity. Pope introduces the readers with
many “female errors”. At the very beginning, Pope satirizes the idleness of the late rising of
aristocratic women by Belinda: “Now lapdogs give themselves a rowzing shake”. He makes
fun of the vanities of women. The aristocratic ladies of those days were fond of guilded
chariots and of ombre and the poet makes fun of that over fondness: “Think not, when
women’s transient Breath is fled/ That all her vanities at once are dead”. The poet also
expresses the weakness of these ladies for entertainment and for marked balls: “With
varying vanities from every part/ They shift the moving Toyshop of their Heart”. He satirizes
them by saying that making love was the greatest pastime of young ladies. They expected
attention and gifts from the lovers but they were rather inconsistent in their love. Pope also
ridicules the women’s excessive attention of self embellishment and self decoration of a
famous satirical passage. Belinda is describes as commencing her toilet operations with
prayer to the cosmetic power, puffs and powders lie on Belinda’s dressing table: “Here Files
of Pins extend their shining Rows/ Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles and Billet doux.”Bible gets
importance like the other toilet objects.
Through the mock heroic battle Pope is suggesting that the energy and passion once
applied to brave and serious purposes is now expanded on such insignificant trials as game
and gambling, which become a mere front for flirtation. The final victory of the King of
Hearts, in one way, can be interpreted as the final victory of a male which represents the
success of the Baron’s attempt. But on the other way, we see that “hearts” possibly echoes
with line 144 of Canto 3, when Ariel entered Belinda’s brain, that “an earthly lover looks at
her heart”. Pope had a motive behind composing his compelling yet divergent satirical work.
Pope fashioned the characters of Belinda and the Baron as representations of Arabella
Fermor and Lord Petre. Catholic British aristocrats possessed an infatuation with decorum
during the neoclassical period. These characters represent the facsimile of the 18th century
British personal ideals and thus take the roles of pseudo heroes in the epic. Pope uses his
elaborate mock-epic to serve as a metaphor for the vain and superficial period in the
attention of aristocrats and society in general, compelling them to humorously realize their
shortcomings and spark a cultural shift.

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The Rape of the Lock: Reflecting the Satire of the 18th Century British Society

Material prepared by Dr Trayee Sinha,

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