Guest Blogger: Kelly A.

So far, we’ve read satire as fiction in Candide, and now as verse in “The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope. What mainly makes ROTL a satire is that it’s parody of an epic story. We all fondly remember Homer’s The Odyssey, and cleverly, many of the epic characteristics represented in this story are present in ROTL, the main difference being one is a heroic fiction novel and one is a pathetic story of an overreaction between two families. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle, helps Odysseus out of many tough situations. In ROTL, Belinda’s guardian nymph, Ariel, comes to her in a dream and gathers many other spirits to guard her chastity. The scene where Odysseus murders countless suitors with a bow and arrow can be compared to the cutting of Belinda’s precious lock of hair by the Baron. Beginning with an invocation to the muse, then a premonition in a dream, followed by rites at the altar, and finally description of the “warfare,” The Rape of the Lock is clearly a mock epic. You might ask yourself grudgingly, so what?

Edward Lawrence said in Literary Criticism (1400-1800), “With sensitivity, exquisite taste, high-spirited wit, and gentle satire, the poem forces a continuous comparison between insignificant and significant things.” Pope intended his verses to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own foolishness. A form that suits a more heroic culture is not appropriate for the story of these people; it sounds silly to the reader, thus emphasizing the families’ idiocy. He just didn’t see what the big deal was. Yeah, the Baron was a jerk, but it’s just a lock of hair; it shouldn’t make a difference in how one looks after being in a “toilette” anyway. ;)