The Rape of The lock

Hello readers! This blog is written  as our classroom task based on the poem  THE RAPE OF THE LOCK  written by Alexander Pope. Here answers are given to some questions about this particular poem.

I am giving to  YouTube video  about this particular poem you can understand easily  the story of poem.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

ACCORDING TO YOU WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE POEM CLARISSA OR BELINDA?  WHY?  GIVE YOUR  ANSWERS WITH LOGICAL REASONS. 

   "Beauties in vain their pretty eyes  may roll; charms strike the sight , but merit wins the soul." 

THE RAPE OF THE LOCK written by Alexander Pope. The first published in 1712. This is mock heroic narrative poem. The final form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of clarissa speech on good humour. The poem was much translated and contributed to the growing  popularity of mock -heroic in Europe. 

According to me the protagonist of the poem is Belinda.  She as a representative lady of the 18th century  England.  Pope has presented Belinda as a complex character. He has presented her in different roles and under different shades, some  are satirical  other ironical but all entertaining.  The character of Belinda has created much controversy since the publication of the poem. Some critics consider her treatment fair while others as unfair.

There are several aspects of the personality of Belinda as portrayed by Pope in The Rape of The lock.  It will be wrong to regard her purely as a goddess, or as a pretty spoiled child, or as a flirt. She is a combination of all three and yet much more than such a combination.  We see her as a vamp, an injured innocent, a sweet charmer, a society Belle, a rival of the sun, and a murderer of millions.  She  has a cleopatra like variety. However, the reality lies in between these two extremes we can discuss her character as blow.

Belinda is the heroine of the story.  It is her character around whom the story of the whole poem is woven. We see her sleeping till noon and her awakening by her lap dog Shock. Then we see her proceeding from the Thames River to the Hampton Court. Then her smiting looks upon the well dressed youths that crowds her. Pope compares Belinda to the sun and suggests that it recognized in Belinda a rival. Belinda is like the sun not only because of her bright eyes and not only because she dominates her special world. She was as beautiful as every eye was fixed on her alone. She is like the sun in another regard.

Belinda is a model arid more specifically represents the fashionable, aristocratic ladies of Pope's age. Such social butterflies in eighteenth century were regarded as petty trifles, having no serious concern with life, and engrossed in dance and gaiety. Belinda fall indicates the decadence of her class. Though her, describes the flippancy and depravity of the English society of his day.

Pope attitude to Belinda is very mixed and complicated; mocking and yet tender, admiring and yet critical. The paradoxical nature of Pope's attitude is intimately related to the paradox of Belinda situation. If Belinda is to find her role of woman, she must lose the role of a Virginia, and the more graceful her acceptance of loss the greater  the victory she achieved through it. Because Pope is dealing with this paradox, his altitude must be mixed and complicated. It is necessary for Pope to stress Belinda divinity. At the same time he does not let us forget Belinda mortality.  He qualifies her goddess ship by emphasizing human qualities. The scene at Belinda dressing table, where she is both mortal priestess and the goddess worshipped in the mirror, is an example of this device. The very frailty and transients of blushes and chastity emphasize this goddess  humanity.