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1. The Rape of the Lock
Notes
Submitted By: M Altaf
Class: BS (English)
Submitted to: Ma’am Mahwish
Department of English
The University of Lahore, Pakpattan

2. Alexander Pope: Life and Work
• Born on May 21 1688 in London, England
• Roman Catholic Family
• Life “As disease”
• Inspired by Greek writers specially Horace.
• Self taught
• Start to write when he was only 12 years old
• Poet of Society
• Most famous work is “The Rape of Lock”
• Translated the Greek writings.
• Died on May 30, 1744 in the age of 56
The Rape of the Lock
Alexander Pope wrote this particular poem with the sole purpose to satirize and
end an absurd quarrel between two families which centered around the obsession
of cutting off a lock of hair.
Definition of satire
Derived from the Latin word “satira” .
It is a literary attack on the follies and vices of an individual or society with a view
of correcting them through laughter and ridicule written either in prose or verse.
The Rape of Lock: General Introduction
Two aristocrat Roman Catholic Families in friendship
Lord Petre and Lady Arbela Fervor fall in love

3. Peter cut Arabella’s hair lock
Relationship between two families cooled down.
Mr. John Caryll asked Pope’s to write a poem
Pope accepted to do this job. He wrote “The Rape of Lock”
Epic:
“A long narrative poem about the
actions of a great person.”
Or
“A long narrative poem which deals in a grand diction with sublime themes and
tells heroic deeds.”
Mock Epic:
 “It is a parody of an epic.”
Or
 “A long narrative poem which deals in a grand diction with trivial/ordinary
themes and produces laughter.”
Characters
Belinda
Beautiful young lady with wondrous hair, two locks of which hang gracefully in
curls.
The Baron
Young admirer of Belinda who plots to cut off one of her locks.
Ariel
Belinda's guardian sylph (supernatural creature).
Clarissa
Young lady who gives the Baron scissors.
Umbriel
Sprite who enters the cave of the Queen of Spleen to seek help for Belinda.

4. Queen of Spleen
Underworld goddess who gives Umbriel gifts for Belinda.
Thalestris Friend of Belinda.
Thalestris urges Sir Plume to defend Belinda's honor.
Sir Plume Beauof Thalestris.
He scolds the Baron.
Sylphs, Fairies, Genies, Demons, Phantoms and Other Supernatural Creatures
Supernatural Machinery: In classical epics God, gods and goddesses were the
supernatural elements but here this part is performed by tiny spirits like; sylphs,
nymphs, gnomes, and salamanders etc
 Source: a Real-Life Incident
Canto 1
 Belinda awakes from sleeping
 The dream of Belinda
 Belinda prepares for the day’s social activities
Canto 2
 The travel on the Thames river
 The prayer of the young adventurer Baron
 The Sylphs’ mission to “tend the Fair”—to protect Belinda
Brillante—the earrings
Chrispissa—the locks
Ariel—Shock, Belinda’s lapdog
Momentilla—the watch
fifty chosen Sylphs—the petticoat
Canto 3

5.  The game of cards—ombre
 Omber: popular card game
 Matadore: a powerful card that could take a trick
 The rape of the lock
Canto 4
 Belinda’s Ill-Natured mood and Affection after the loss of the lock
 Umbriel, the earthy gnome, descends to the Cave of Spleen
 Thalestris’ speech rouses the rage of Belinda
 Sir Plume bids in vain the payment of the lock
Canto 5
 Clarissa’s speech
 The battle of belles and beaux
 The lock rises to the heaven and becomes a star
Epic, the Characteristics
 A long narrative poem
 Elevated, grand style
 Great heroes and heroines
 The setting is vast in geographical range
 Supernatural power
Epic Conventions
 The theme is usually the adventure of a hero or a war.
 Invocate the Muse’s aid. (Calliope)
 Ask epic question(s).

6.  Begin with in medias res.
 Use epithets and similes.
 Gods’ interference in human affairs.
Structure
 Heroic couplet
Rhymed in every two lines.
 Iambic pentameter
Ten syllables in each line
Alternate with stressed and unstressed syllables
Summary
: Pope’s ‘heroi-comic’ epic is a social satire. The action completes in one single
day in the life of fashionable recusants of London. Belinda gets up from bed at
about noon and spends a few hours in ‘denting and painting’. She has to take part
in a card game named ‘Ombre’ at Hampton Court Palace. She along with a number
of young men and ladies undertake a boat journey in the river Tames to reach the
destination in the north Bank. Ariel, the divine angel guesses some evil to happen
on Belinda and engages his troop of Sylphs to guard Belinda’s possessions and
honour. An adventurous youth Robert,Lord Petre is determined to steal Belinda’s
tempting ‘Locks’ of hair. In the card game Belinda wins. This makes the Baron
more adamant. Clarisse hands over a pair of scissors to the Baron. The Baron
stealthily cuts a lock from of hair from Belinda’s head.
Discovering the theft, Belinda becomes utterly sorry. Clarisse tries to mollify her
but fails. A gnome named Umbriel descends to the Underworld on Belinda’s
behalf and obtains a bag of sighs and a vial of tears from the Queen of Spleen.
With these magical gifts, he means to comfort poor Belinda. Grief overcomes her
as her eyes half-drown in tears and her head droops upon her bosom. She resolves
to fight against the Baron. She attacks the Baron with snuff and hair-pin etc. A

7. fearful combat ensues. During the fight, the Baron loses the Lock. So he fails to
return it.
The poem, however, ends with a note of consolation to Belinda that her golden
‘Lock’ must have formed a constellation in the sky.
Style and Rhyme: Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in heroic couplets. A heroic
couplet is a unit of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter. The entire poem
consists of one heroic couplet followed by another.
Figures of Speech
The main figure of speech in The Rape of the Lock is hyperbole. Pope uses it
throughout the poem to exaggerate the ordinary and the commonplace, making
them extraordinary and spectacular. In so doing, paradoxically, he makes them
seem as they really are, small and petty. Examples of hyperbole include the
following:
Sol through white Curtains shot a tim'rous Ray,
And ope'd thoseEyes that must eclipse the Day.
Hyberbole: Belinda's eyes are so bright that they outshine a ray of sunlight
Alliteration
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise (Canto I, line 5)
And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say (Canto I, line 26)
Some secret truths, from learned pride conceal'd (Canto I, line 37)
Where Wigs with Wigs, with Sword-knots Sword-knots strive,
Beaux banish Beaux, and Coaches Coaches drive. (Canto I, 101-102)
Anaphora
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things (Canto I, lines 1-2)
When kind occasionprompts their warm desires,
When music softens, and when dancing fires? (Canto I, 75-76)

8. Metaphor
They shift the moving Toyshop oftheir heart (Canto 1, line 100)
Comparison of the whims of a young woman to the Toyshop of the heart
Metonymy
And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. (Canto II, line 24)
Use of hearts to represent Belinda's male admirers
Personification
This Nymph, to the destruction of mankind,
Nourish'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind.....................
In equal curls, and well conspir'd to deck
With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. (Canto II, 19-22)
The two locks conspire.
Love in these Labyrinths his Slaves detains (Canto II, line 23)
Comparison of love to a master with slaves
Simile
Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. (Canto II, 13-14)
Comparisonof the brightness of Belinda's eyes to the brightness of the sun
Comparisonof Belinda's gaze to the shining sun
Objective Questions & Answers
i.Juvenalian satires are also called Menippean satire: True/False.
Ans. True
ii.‘The Rape of the lock’ was first published anonymously in Lintot’s
‘Miscellaneous Poems and Translations i. 1712 in two cantos(334) lines:
True
iii. How many versions of ‘The Rape of the Lock’ were published by Pope?
Ans.3
iv. What was the addition in final version of ‘The Rape of the Lock’?

9. Ans. Clarissa’s speech on good humour.
v. Who was Pope’s Muse in ‘The Rape of the Lock’?
Ans.John Carryl
xi.Who was to guard ‘Shock’?
Ans.Ariel
xii.Who was Ariel?
Ans.Ariel was the chief of the Sylphs.
xiii. How many Sylphs were engaged to guard Belinda’s body and petticoat?
Ans.50
xiv. Who was engaged to guard Belinda’s ‘Locks’?
Ans. Crispissa
xv. What was the usual time for the fashionable youths to get up from bed?
Ans. Noon
vi.Who were the protagonists in the poem?
Ans.Lord Petre and Belinda
vii.With which Belinda’s eyes were compared more than once in the poem?
Ans.The Sun
viii.Who was Shock?
Ans.The name of Belinda’s lapdog was Shock.
ix.Who was to guard Belinda’s ‘earring’?
Ans.Brillante
x.Who was to guard Belinda’s ‘wrist watch’?
Ans.Momentilla

10. xvi. What is a ‘Billet Doux’?
Ans. A love letter from the lady love.
xvii. What were Lord Petre’s earlier tokens of ‘Love’?
Ans. Half a pair of Gloves; three garters and a number of trophies from his
former loves.
xviii. What did Petre do with all his ‘Billet Doux’?
Ans. Petre lit a Pyre with all the love tokens that he got from his earlier
beloveds and prayed kneeling down before that ignited pyre.
xix. What did god grant to him?
Ans. God granted half of his prayer.
xx. Where did the youths go in a boat?
Ans.Hampton Castle Palace on the north Bank of the Tames.
xxi. What card game did they play?
Ans. Ombre
xxii. Who cut the ‘lock’ of Belinda?
Ans.The Baron ,on the third try ,cut off the coveted ‘lock’ of Belinda.
xxiii. Who was Belinda’s maid?
Ans.Betty
xxiv. What had happened to Belinda’s ‘Lock’ ultimately?
Ans. Belinda’s ‘Lock’ turned into a constellation.
xxv. Who according to Myth, becomes a Sylph after death?
Ans.A good lady like Belinda.