Before, we go in the details of a mock epic, I would prefer you to read the title of the poem that

is, “The Rape of the lock” at least three times. When you read it for the first time, the first word,
one would easily feel that this poem is based on a serious and intense issue, “Rape”. Have you
ever heard that someone has written a whole poem on cutting of a lock of a girl’s hair? And
naming it with such an intense and sensitive word? Maybe no. But, this is exactly what Pope did.
He played with words using satire, treats an ordinary matter in full epic style. So, it would not be
wrong to say that, it is a truly mock epic written by a genius. This poem can be named as a mock
epic simply by reading its name as the object of desire is not a queen, princess, noble woman or
even a peasant but hair. The Baron was infatuated with her locks.
In my view, object of the poem is mockery, but is civilized. As a poet pens down,
“Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire and approve my lays.
Mock Epic has various names in poetry such as, heroi comical or mock heroic poetry. All the
forms, serve the same purpose. They serve as a parody of serious and comic style of classical
epics. In mock epic poetry, a very common, trivial, of less importance subject is highlighted in a
very sublime and lofty manner. But, its main purpose is to ridicule, subject and the theme makes
fun of the human follies. So, in short, “Mock epic is type of satire that treats petty humans or
insignificant occurrences as if they were of high importance and are extra-ordinary”. So, a mock
epic is basically a parody which mocks a typical epic. It mocks classical epic, by making action
so outlandish to an extent that it sounds absurd. (Shah, 2019)
History of The Rape of the lock
The poem is based on a trivial incident. Lord Peter cut off a lock of hair from the head of Lady
Arabella Fermor which led to quarrel between two families, so Pope was requested by John
Caryll to make a jest of the incident. This occasion was the reason of the composition of the
poem. And no doubt, it is a wonderful combination of wit and satire leading to one of the best
mock-epic of English Literature. I really hope the families reconciled after this poem.
(Openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au, 2019)
Lets shed a little light on the rationale behind me, saying, “ Rape of lock is a mock epic. The
structures prove it as such. The first two lines, set the tone of the whole poem. When I say, it is mock
poem because it mock’s silly conventions of aristocracy. Pope mocks the society on various basis, like
their moral values or rather we can say misplaced values. He uses sublime language. He is clever in using
his words, at one moment, he lifts the person to heights and then suddenly, that person is not more than
an insignificant part. He avoids saying directly, rather he alludes certain aspects

It is a mock epic, both in its matter and spirit. As, its intention is to highlight hollowness and superficiality
of that age. Pope intelligently combines elaborated formula and elevated style of epic poetry.

Third important factor is opening of the poem which is mock-heroic epic. The scene where Belinda
wakes up, she is portrayed as the goddess of beauty to an extent that it outshines the beauty of sun.
Sun, peeps through the window, to see Belinda.
“Sol thro’ white curtains shot a tim’rous ray,

And opened those eyes that must eclipse the day.”

Fourth important element is comparison between Belinda’s dressing and the arming of a warrior like
Achilles. Her cosmetics seem as her weapons.

“Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;

The fair each moment rises in her charms,

Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,

And keener lightning quicken in her eyes”

Fifth important factor is, episodes. The rape of the lock, works on the epic of the game of Ombre. Mock
epic is again used, when fans and snuff are used in battle instead of swords and spears.Sixth common
feature is use of supernatural machinery which are used to control human affairs in epics. That is what
Pope did. Usually, the gods or supernatural beings are huge, magnificent and great in epics, but in mock
epic, Pope does the opposite (that was what he was supposed to do), that is use of tiny machinery. Pope
defines his machinery that are his four creatures as, “the light militia of the lower sky.” The epic always
uses the supernatural element. In The Iliad there are gods and goddesses; in The Rape of the Lock, there
are the sylphs and gnomes. These aerial spirits are small and insignificant things, and are, therefore,
exactly in keeping with the triviality of the theme. They guard the person of the heroine and when there
is a fight between the followers of Belinda and those of the Baron; they take part in the fight, like the
gods and goddesses in the Trojan War:

"Propped on their bodkin spears, the spirits survey,

The growing combat or assist the fray."

Belinda's toilet is another engaging account in which Pope has attributed in a perfect mock-heroic
manner, the solemnity of a religious observance to the luxurious toilet of a lady of fashion and frivolity.
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux, are all brought to the same table and the slight and the
series are all strangely synthesized.

As every epic starts with an invocation and muse, so does the rape of lock. The theme suggested in the
invocation is as follows:

“Say, what strange motive, Goddess! could compel

A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?”

POPE MOCKS WHOM?

Then the irony lies in the fact that all sylphs are guided by Ariel. Another mock element is the coffee
party, which finds its way back to meals discussed in homer. After the cutting of lock, Belinda screams in
the following words, “Restore the lock, restore the lock.” This scream again reminds us of Homeric
heroes. Another interesting point, I was pondering upon was when Ariel finds out that an Earthly lover is
in Belinda’s heart, he retires with a sigh and gives everything in the hands of fate, this takes me
somewhere in the epic “Paradise Lost” when after the fall of Adam and Eve, the angels retired like Ariel
feeling helpless before man’s own will.

“Sudden he view’d, in spite of all her art,

An earthly lover lurking at her heart.

Amaz’d, confus’d, he found his pow’r expir’d,

Resign’d to fate, and with a sigh retir’d.”

There is the mischievous gnome who, like Milton's Satan, is intent upon making Belinda miserable and
thereby all her admirers. The gnome, addresses the wayward Queen who rules the sex from fifteen to
fifty, thus

"Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin,

That single act gives half the world the spleen."

Answer the Objections:

Though with the above examples and explanations, one should have less doubt that about it being a
mock-epic but certain people with different school of thoughts raise objections like, its length. They
argue that, The Rape of the Lock is a short poem in comparison with other epics. Secondly, epics cover
long periods of history while pope covers hours. Lastly, usage of inadequate machinery. In my point of
view, the first objection might be true to some extent but the other two should be rejected as mock-epic
does not require to cover long periods of history. Furthermore, the tiny machinery is responsible for the
flavor of mock-epic.

Conclusion:

Pope’s mock epic poem, “ The Rape of the lock’s purpose is not to mock epic form but to display a
comparison infront of us of triviality of mean things with great things. Pope is successful in making us
feel the great as little and little as great.

As Hazlitt says: “The balance between the concealed irony and the assumed gravity is nicely trimmed,
the little is made great and the great made little. It is the triumph of insignificance, the apotheosis of
foppery and folly. It is the perfection of mock-heroic.”

The rape of the lock is a narrative poem, with all epic elements but the interesting factor is its subject
which is of trivial nature. Mock epic is an inspiration of muse, some of its characters are humanely other
divine. The language is stilted and grandiose, but subject is of commonplace nature. It
belongs to burlesque, which is a parody on large scale. A whole type of style of
literature is parodied, the language and thought proper to a serious theme
reproduced in setting forth something ridiculous or trivial.

Difference between an epic and a mock epic?

Let’s make it a little interesting. In a normal epic, what would one expect. Grand
passions and great fights between heroes accompanied by some divine spirits.
An age with Gods, semi gods and heroes. A whole adventurous film. Mock epic is
contradictory to all of this.” The Rape of the lock “resides on a petty small
quarrel assisted by spirits of air. It is set in a fashionable society revolving
around a pretty girl,and the other characters are a rash youth, a foolish dandy and a few frivolous
women. Instead of deep and genuine passions as found in ancient epics, we come across a succession of
mock passions in The Rape of the Lock.

Rape of the lock and an epic, in both of these, themes are suggested in the invocation but what
differentiates is the theme. In mock epic the theme is trivial, when seen in comparsion with a grand epic.
The action opens up with awakening of a fragile Belinda, the heroine of the poem, goddess of beauty.
The whole structure of the poem is that of the epic but in a satire, ironic and parody mode because the
subject is so trivial.

The poem is divided into Cantos as done in an epic and begins with an invocation too.

"Say, what strange motive, Goddness! could compel

A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?"

As in epics, in The Rape of the Lock, too, divine beings are portrayed. Belinda is in the divine care of the
sylphs

"Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished 'care,

Of thousand bright inhabitants of air".

Again irony rises in the atmosphere where the sylphs are fragile, airy beings and they are helpless before
the caprices of men. Despite their concern and powers, Belinda, her beautiful lock of hair is raped by the
naughty Baron.

PURPOSE

Pope wanted to use humor to heal an argument but also to show that the
aristocrats and leaders of his day lacked the heroism of figures from classical
literature. By poking gentle fun at them, he hoped to inspire them to worry about
more important subjects than card-playing, hair, and flirtations.

"The Rape of The Lock" is an excellent example of mock-epic or mock heroic poem in English
Literature. The epic had always been considered as the most serious of literary forms; it had been
used to cater the lofty subject matters of love and war. The grand style with which Milton applied
the genre of epic to the intricacies of the Christian faith is evident of its heights. Pope, in a
seemingly lofty manner of great epics, wants to expose the life of the nobility of his time. He
does not want to mock the form of epic rather his aim is to mock his society in its very failure to
rise to epic standards. He exposes the meanness of his age's nobility by contrasting it with the
bravery and noble height of traditional noble heroes. He makes his purpose clear in the beginning
of the mock epic: "What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise
from trivial things, I sing ...slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he
approve my lays". Where Milton used blank verse to suit his grand task, Alexander Pope has
used heroic couplet to "trivialize the grandeur". He has purposely involved such content that is
trivial to suit his goals in writing a mock epic. His scope is purposefully narrow as well as his
style purposefully light-hearted. Pope declares that his poem will treat "amorous causes" and
"mighty contests," the usual subjects of epic poetry. His characters are no gods or of great sizes.
He creates a world of miniatures whether it is in the form of degradation of human character or
the aerials that aid Belinda. The subject of the poem is the Baron's love for Belinda's icon (her
hair). Therefore, the poem's "mighty contests" arise from the theft of Belinda's hair, and not from
the revolt of Satan in Heavens, his defeat or "man's first disobedience". "Say what strange
motive, goddess! could compel A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle? O say what stranger
cause, yet unexplored, Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?"

BACKGROUND OF POEM

It is an excellent example of a mock-epic. Taking the entire piece, itbecomes an epic poem in miniature,
if every action is taken at face value. But if everything is conceptualizedthrough comedy, then the
mocking aspect can be seen. Canto One includes many of the traditional elements of anepic, but the
comic aspect is also present. By examining the various epic conventions and epic machinery thatPope
uses in this canto, the poem can be assessed as a mock-epic.Epic conventions are known as such because
they have been included in the works historically known as epics,such as Homer's

The Iliad, Virgil'snAeneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost. All of these works had protagonists thatwere of
historical significance: Achilles, Aeneas, and Adam and Eve. Pope's protagonist is notable for her
beauty,but Belinda is of little historical note. Yet she is treated with the same reverence as the
aforementioned characters.Another convention is the inclusion of supernatural beings. In

The Iliad

and

Aeneid

, these were the Greek gods; in

Paradise Lost

, God and the Devil.

What is relation between the rape of lock and Paradise Lost:

The Rape of the Lock has its own supernatural creatures, but these are by no means on the scale of Zeus
and Poseidon, who ruled the heavens and the seas; instead, the sylphs, gnomes,nymphs, and
salamanders that run the show are fairy-like incarnations of coquettish, prudish, yielding, andshrewish
women, respectively. Rather than take charge of an entire sky or ocean, these creatures are chargedwith
protecting Belinda's diamond earrings or petticoat. Yet another epic convention that
Pope uses is thetraditional arming of the heroes. For Homer, this was a catalogue of ships and armor that
comprised all of Book Two. Canto One includes this ritual as Belinda is given her combs and pins.
The conventions used by Pope arethe traditional epic conventions, only inverted to produce a comedic
effect.Pope uses epic machinery in much the same way. The very first two lines posit the epic argument
and questions:"What dire offense from amorous causes springs,/ What mighty contests rise from trivial
things." This is akin toMilton's epic question at the beginning of Paradise Lost: "Of man's first
disobedience, and the fruit/ Of thatforbidden tree whose mortal taste/ Brought death into the
world, and all our woe," because it alludes to the storythat is about to be told and even why the story is
worth telling at all. Pope uses another typical machinery to make a comic reference to the epic in
Canto One when he begins at thebeginning of the day, when Belinda is still asleep. Epics generally begin
in medias res , and Pope's action to thecontrary once again draws attention to the differences between
his poem and a real epic

The features of a mock-epic would be almost same as the epic, but it should be clearly distinguished by
its dissimilarity between subject and style. The features of The Rape of the Lock as a mock-epic, are
depicted below:

1. The Title: A mock-heroic poetry must be beautified with a grand title. Rape is a serious moral violation
which means the seizure of a lady against his consent. In this case, Pope brought such very word to
describe the possession of Belinda’s hair lock by Baron, just to produce a mock-heroic sensation.

2. Variation of Style and Subject: Mock epic is a good example of ‘high-burlesque’. This means, the
rhyme-scheme of a mock-epic would be grand, but the subject would be ridiculous.

In this poem, Pope’s subject matter is insignificant but the style is very high like an epic saga. The rape of
the lock is not so rich in content to fit with the epic rhythm.

3. Structural Form: Like an epic, this poem is also divided in several Cantos and episodes that filter The
Rape of the Lock as a mock-heroic epic. Pope also began this poem with an invocation in the first stanza,
that fits the style appropriately.

4. Supernatural Activities: Being an epic, The Rape of the Lock is presented with supernatural activities.
As an epic feature, an explicit difference between heaven and hell is shown in this poem. Belinda plays
the role of a divine ore from the celestial chastity of sylphs. In other hand, Baron is the spokesman of
gnomes like Milton’s ‘Satan’.

Read more at: https://www.risenotes.com/rape/Rape-of-the-Lock-As-a-Mock-Epic.php

Copyright © RiseNotes.com

Mock epic and Mock-heroic epic are often considered the same thing. Pope's subtitle is "An Heroi-
Comical Poem." However, anthologies tend to call it a mock epic. But I think both terms apply. It mocks
the epic style. There are gods (Ariel and Umbriel), there is a battle (with teacups), there is a descent into
the underworld (the Cave of Spleen) and there are heroes (Belinda and the Baron specifically, but it is a
war between the sexes). The apotheosis, a divine glorification of the hero or the hero's deeds, occurs
when the lock of hair flies up, becoming a celestial body such as a star. Depending on your
interpretation, you could say that Belinda and the Baron are heroes, similar (in mocking style) to Hector
and Achilles in The Illiad. You might also consider Ariel a supernatural hero since it is his job to protect
Belinda. But in epic style, Belinda fits the heroic role more than any other character because the act of
putting on her makeup is actually symbolic of putting on armor. She "arms" herself at the end of Canto
1:Here files of pins extend their shining rows,

Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-dout.

Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; (137-39).

It is generally agreed that the sylphs are the gods and Belinda, the Baron and the other humans are the
mock heroes. These heroes don't seem heroic but that is the point; they are being mocked. This is also
called bathos; this means to present a common or trivial event in an exalted, epic style. The result is that
the characters look ridiculous.

I suppose if you wanted to differentiate between mock epic and mock-heroic epic, the former would
focus most of its mocking on the epic style and the latter (mock-heroic) would focus most of its mocking
on the characters: the "heroes." I think "The Rape of the Lock" does both, but since it is a criticism of
early 18th century upper-class twits, the people themselves, you could say the focus leans toward
criticism of the so-called heroes, so maybe it is slightly more mock-heroic.

Heroic or epic poems are poems like Odyssey, the Aeneid and Paradise Lost, that deals with man's
exalted aspects. Their action is powerful, their parsonages are dignified and their style is elevated.
Following the traditions and devices of a serious epic, mock epic deals with situations and personage in a
serious manner and style, but these situations and personage are trivial and petty. In the result, it
produces humorous effect.

“The Rape of the Lock'' is a mock-heroic epic poem, both in its matter and spirit. The intention is to
reject the artificiality and hollowness of the Pop's age. Pope had intelligently used the formula and
elevated style of epic poetry but has employed it to something very trivial. However, it is important to
note that “The Rape of the Lock'' is a very complex mock epic. It is not limited only to comparison and
parody; rather it has instructive purpose too. Mock- heroic effect is achieved at three levels; action,
convention and style.

At the surface level of the action, the mock-heroic effect is produced by contrastingBelinda's spending of
day in trivial activities with heroic adventures and great achievements of heroes and heroines of serious
epic. Mockery is also produced by comparing petty war of sexes— of Belinda and Lord Peter— with the
bloody wars of nations. The desired aim is achieved when the reader find the war of sexes as that of
nations.

Similarly at the social level, the poem gives the picture of moral condition of people ofPope’s age. The
world of coaches, snuff boxes, lap dogs, and lustful eyes is like the elevated world of Homer, Vergil and
Milton. The mock-heroic effect is produced by placing side by side gigantic with very small and the heroic
with non-heroic.

Therefore, “The Rape of the Lock" is more than a mere parody of serious epic. It is also evident from the
fact that actually this poem was written to reconcile the two families. It aims at moral reformation. This
places “The Rape of the Lock” in the line of “Odyssey”, “Aenied” and “The Fairy Queen”. “The Rape of
the Lock" revolves around a very serious theme like Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. But its theme is not only
funny but trivial also. In the result, its action automatically becomes parody of pure epic.

The weapons used in the war of sexes do not consist of shinning swords and mighty shields but hairpins,
cosmetics and amorous looks. Pope creates the same serious atmosphere; which reader finds in Virgil’s
“Aenied’. Like Homer and Milton, Pope also uses different similes. He compared Belinda's eyes with a
radiant lighting sun. At another place he ironically compares her with “Queen Dido” and “Helen”. The
funniest comparison is between Belinda’s petticoat and “Mighty shield” of epic heroes.
Lastly, Pope's elevated style is another source of mock-heroic effect. He uses number of poetic beauties
like periphrases , alliteration, long vowel, sounds and elevated poetic diction. These all devices increase
beauty, charm and mock-heroic effect of the poem. Besides, Popeuses rhetorical style just like serious
epic. Then the use of high sounding words, signs of exclamation and interrogation throughout the poem
makes its style grander. Then there are lengthy speeches like the serious epic.

The destruction of the grand style of the epic is just what Pope was after in his mock epic, "The Rape of
the Lock." Pope had no such universal goal, or moral pronouncements to make as did Milton. His
purpose was merely to expose the life of the nobility of his time. While Milton chose blank verse to
express the immensity of the landscape of his epic, Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize
this grandeur. Pope's quick wit bounces the reader along his detailed description of his parlor-room epic.
His content is purposefully trivial, his scope purposefully thin, his style purposefully light-hearted, and
therefore his choice of form purposefully geared toward the smooth, natural rhythm of the heroic
couplet. The caesura, the end-stopped lines, and the perfect rhymes lend the exact amount of manners
and gaiety to his work.

Writing for a society that values appearances and social frivolities, he uses these various modes of
behavior to call attention to the behavior itself. Pope compares and contrasts. He places significant life
factors (i.e., survival, death, etc.) side by side with the trivial (although not to Belinda and her friends:
love letters, accessories). Although Pope is definitely pointing to the "lightness" of the social life of the
privileged, he also recognizes their sincerity in attempting to be polite and well-mannered and pretend
to recognize where the true values lie.

Pope satirizes female vanity. He wrote the poem at the request of his friend, John Caryll, in an effort to
make peace between real-life lovers. The incident of the lock of hair was factual; Pope's intention was to
dilute with humor the ill feelings aroused by the affair. He was, in fact, putting a minor incident into
perspective, and to this end, chose a mock-heroic form, composing the poem as a "take-off" epic poetry,
particularly the work of Milton. He is inviting the individuals involved to laugh at themselves, to see how
emotion had inflated their response to what was really an event of no consequence. For the reader, the
incident becomes a statement about human folly, a lesson on female vanity, and a satire of the rituals of
courtship. Perhaps Pope also intended to comment on the meaningless lives of the upper classes. The
poem was published in 1712 and again in 1714; probably the satire is more biting in the later version
than in the one presented to Miss Fermor. Pope could hardly have hope to soothe the lady's wounded
pride by pointing out her vanity and empty-headedness.

In keeping with his choice of mock-heroic form, Pope employs a "high-toned" poetic diction and the
stately iambic pentameter of dignified epics like Paradise Lost. And of course, Pope's mastery of the
heroic couplet, and the balanced, measured rhythms of his lines, lend an even greater air of solemnity.
To achieve this effect, he inverts the syntax of ordinary speech, as in these lines: "Her lively looks a
spritely mind disclose" (ii, 9), ""Favors to none, to all she smiles extends" (II, 11), and "Bright as the sun,
her eyes the gazers strike" (ii, 13). The effect of this inversion is to add rhetorical weight to the end of the
line; the sentence feels particularly "complete." At the same time, the reader is always aware that the
poem is a joke. Pope comes right out and says so. For example, one epic tradition is to open with a
statement of purpose and an invocation to the Muse. Pope states his purpose as being to sing of the
"dire offense" that springs from "amorous causes" and the "mighty contests" that rise from "trivial
things" (1-2) -- hardly the lofty and weighty subjects of epic poetry -- and names his Muse "Caryll" (3) for
his friend John Caryll, the relative of the young lord who stole the lock of hair from Arabella Fermor --
not the proper sort of Muse for epic poetry. By way of mythological spirits hovering over earthly
concerns, Pope gives us sylphs that are really the spirits of young women like Belinda. Milton's Adam had
the angel Raphael looking out for him; Belinda has Ariel, one of the "light militia of the lower sky" (42).
He jokingly raises Belinda to the exalted stature proper to epic heroines by addressing her as "Fairest of
mortals, thou distinguished care/ Of thousands bright inhabitants of air" (27-28) and exorts her: "thy
own importance know" (35); but because Belinda is really only a "gentle belle" (8), a pampered and
privileged young woman, capable of mere "infant thought" (29), the effect is humorous.

The stakes in this mock-heroic epic are Belinda's maidenhood, and the convention of the epic warning
comes by way of Ariel's reading of bad omens: "Late as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,/ In the clear
mirror of thy ruling star/ I saw, alas! some dread event impend/ . . . Beware of all, but most beware of
Man!" (105-114). Belinda's performance of her toilette, assisted by Betty, her "inferior priestess" (127), is
described as the arming of the epic hero: "Now awful Beauty put on all its arms" (138), and the images
evoked in Pope's description of the various creams and perfumes on Belinda's vanity invests them with a
value and exoticism they don't deserve: "Unnumbered treasures," "glittering spoil," "India's glowing
gems," "all Arabia breathes from yonder box," "The tortoise here and elephant unite" (129-135) By
means of hyperbole, Pope manages to reveal the true worthlessness of these substances.

Pope advocates the use of concrete, Saxonate words over abstract, Latinate ones in poetry, and offers
numerous examples from eighteenth century poetry of how the effect of abstraction is to show a lack of
emotional engagement and possibly even a physical distance between the poet and his subject. Yet Pope
defends Miltonian "poetic diction," in "Rape," as sometimes being the most proper and natural style for
a particular poet to use. Certainly such a style is well-suited to "The Rape of the Lock," exactly because it
does strike the reader as "too much," as "too high" for the subject matter. "Not with more glories, in the
ethereal plain,/ The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,/ Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams/
Launched on the bosom of the silver Thames" (ii, 1-4). The use of such "high falutin'" rhetoric to describe
a young lady on her way to Hampton Court to play cards is witty and hilarious. Further, it allows the
reader a sense of satisfaction to be "in" on the joke. Besides, Pope balances such abstract, Miltonian
description with concrete images as well. He explains, for instance, that such female vanities as a "love of
ombre" survive after death (56), certainly a specific, concrete image, and shows us "lapdogs giv[ing]
themselves the rousing shake" (15). Particularly effective is when Pope combines the abstract with the
concrete in a single couplet, as in such lines as "Think what an equipage thou hast in air,/ And view with
scorn two pages and a chair"(45-46), or when he combines Miltonian style with upper class English
slang, as in "If to her sharesome female errors fall,/ Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all" (ii, 17-18).
This shows that just because the subject of Pope's writing is mere frivolity, it should not be concluded
that the writing itself is whimsical. Pope can brag that he wrote his timeless epic merely about two
quarreling Catholic families and a lock of hair, whereas Milton had Satan, God, Eve, Adam, and the entire
creation of the universe to ponder about.

In conclusion, Pope focuses on a particular woman and thus succeeds in creating a convincing portrait
that the reader accepts and applies to a general population of young women. Belinda may be superficial
and rather empty-headed , possessed of "a sprightly mind . . ./ Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as
those" (9-10), but she is charming and innocent, too. Many of the works that have been read in this class
depict Time as a destructive and baleful force. Time plays a significant role in Pope's underlying message
which is that all earthly things must succumb to the inevitable nature that is Time:
"But since, alas! Frail beauty must decay,

Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn gray;

Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,

And she who scorns a man must die a maid;" (V, 25-28)

"For, after all the murders of your eye,

When, after millions slain, yourself shall die:

When those fair suns shall set, as set they must,

And all those tresses shall be laid in dust," (V, 145-148)

Pope questions why a society with so much potential wastes its energy in trite behavior, thinking, and
judgment. She is the product of her culture, her social class and the times. At times, we can see that
Pope can relate with Belinda. Much of the blame for her can be pointed to the needless customs of her
society. When Pope says, "Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,/Might hide her faults, if belles
had faults to hide" (II, 15-16) the reader knows he's being generous; we've already seen her fault. Pope
elevates Belinda to the stature of a goddess, although the rest of the poem effectively strips her of this
undeserved title.

Pope seems to be pointing his critical and sarcastic finger at human nature. There is a sense of duality in
his style that praises his subjects on one level and criticizes them the next. That is why the ending is so
fitting. He addresses the duality of human beings as an animal capable of reason, but an animal
nevertheless. It is the internal human struggle that Pope wishes to address, and hopefully, bring to light.
By using a satirical and cynical approach to address the values and ideas of a maladjusted society, along
with a combination of such elements as sarcasm, wit, and humor, Pope complete a narrative worthy to
be ranked amongst the greatest literary works of all time.

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Sharma, K.N. "The Rape of the Lock as a Mock Heroic or Mock Epic Poem." BachelorandMaster, 2 Sep.
2014, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-rape-of-the-lock-mock-heroic-mock-
epic.html.

References:
“Http://Ljournal.ru/Wp-Content/Uploads/2016/08/d-2016-154.Pdf.” THE RAPE OF THE
LOCK-AS A MOCK-EPIC POEM , 2016, doi:10.18411/d-2016-15