Title: Pope’s Jest: or the Inscription of Beauty in Social Exchange

Social and Biographical Background the Poem
Arabella Fermor Belinda
Lord Petrie the Baron
action: cutting off a lock "the rape of the lock"
result: estrangment of two families, engagement possibility is dropped Belinda and the Baron battle for the lock
John Caryll suggest to Pope that he write a poem "to make a jest of it, and laugh the families together." neither wins the lock because it turns into a comet
1711 Pope writes a short 2 Canto (334 line) version of the poem and sends the manuscript to both parties outside the poem Pope publishes the 2 Canto version in 1712
1714 Pope publishes the 5 Canto (794 line) version of the poem: 3,000 copies sold in 4 days the addition of the mock epic "machinery" of Sylphs and Gnomes, and the dedicatory letter to Arabella Fermor
Problem: how do you get friends to "hear" criticism? The fine balance of Pope's satiric indirection: the dedicatory letter to Arabella Fermor implicitly concedes that The Rape of the Lock represents an episode from real life of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petri, and is "intended only to divert a few young Ladies, who have good Sense and good Humour enough, to laugh not only at their Sex's little unguarded Follies, but at their own;" BUT, it also claims "The Human Persons are as Fictitious as the Airy ones; and the Character of Belinda, as it is now manag'd, resembles You in nothing but in Beauty." In other words, the aptness of the application of the satiric critique is left to the reader.
1717 edition: Clarissa's speech is added, "to open more clearly the MORAL of the Poem...." Aims to clarify the ambiguity about the poem's intended meaning

 

Mapping the Structure of The Rape of the Lock

Canto I: Belinda's rising from bed and being made up

Ariel's speech to Belinda in her dream:

  • "hear and believe! thy own importance know" (35)

  • Ariel's explanation of the 4 types of spirits

  • his warning: "in the clear mirror of thy ruling star/ I saw, alas, some dread event impend"

Belinda's "sacred rites of pride":

  • beauty as an effect of art
  • as Priestess and Godess
 

Canto V: the battle and the metamorphosis of the lock

Clarissa’s speech of moral wisdom:

  • Beauty inscribed in social
  • "keep good humor still whate’er we lose"

After battle: the lock is lost as object, but gained as art: metamorphosis into comet

  • lose mortal lock à win immoral poem
  • loss of beauty à accept beautiful poem

Poem offered as a consolation to Arabella, a person outside the poem...

Canto II: gliding down Thames

Belinda's beauty appears as a natural power: Belinda ~ Sun every gazer strikes

The Baron plots to rape (steal) the lock and deface or unperfect Belinda's beauty.

Ariel's speech to "the light militia of the lower sky" mobilizing protection for Belinda

 

  

Canto IV: Belinda’s sorrow and rage

Belinda's brooding melancholy

Umbriel's journey into the cave of spleen

Thalestris's speech of indignation and demand for the lock

The Baron's refusal to return the lock

Belinda's speech of rage: "any hairs but these"

Canto III: the Baron's "rape" of Belinda's lock

Belinda plays Ombre against the Baron: her immoderate triumph

The Sylphs try to save her lock from attack by Baron, assisted by Clarissa: but, "an earthly lover" is lurking in her heart.

The "rape of the lock"; it's effects:

  • violates the aura, the self-completeness and unity of Belinda’s beauty
  • breaks Belinda out of her narcissistic self-enclosure, and compels her entrance into social exchange

 

 

The visual magic and moral implications of Belinda's make over: I: 121-148
Belinda and her maid Betty ("the inferior priestess") begin their labors
And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd,
Each Silver Vase in mystic Order laid.
First, rob'd in White, the Nymph intent adores
With Head uncover'd, the Cosmetic Pow'rs.
A heav'nly Image in the Glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her Eyes she rears;
Th' inferior Priestess, at her Altar's side,
Trembling, begins the sacred Rites of Pride.
  • What are the moral implications of Belinda serving as both priestess and heavenly image?
Offerings from the whole world are brought to this altar
Unnumber'd Treasures ope at once, and here
The various Off'rings of the World appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious* Toil, (*careful)
And decks the Goddess with the glitt'ring Spoil.
This casket India's glowing Gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder Box.
The Tortoise here and Elephant unite,
Transform'd to Combs, the speckled and the white.
  • What do you make of the way the rich objects seem to be magically offering themselves?
  • What lies behind the woman of beauty?
Belinda's make-over: the metamorphosis of the Belinda into a beauty
Here Files of Pins extend their shining Rows,
Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux.
Now awful Beauty puts on all its Arms;
The Fair each moment rises in her Charms,
Repairs her Smiles, awakens ev'ry Grace,
And calls forth all the Wonders of her Face;
Sees by Degrees a purer Blush arise,
And keener Lightnings quicken in her Eyes.
  • What are the moral implications of the series of things on her table?
  • Through her make-over what does Belinda become?

 

Ariel's failure to prevent the rape III: 126-146
The arming of the hero
Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting Grace
A two-edg'd Weapon from her shining Case;
So Ladies in Romance assist their Knight,
Present the Spear, and arm him for the Fight.
He takes the Gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little Engine on his Fingers' Ends;
Why do you suppose Clarissa arms the Baron?
The failure of Belinda's defenders
This just behind Belinda's Neck he spread
As o'er the fragrant Steams she bends her Head:
Swift to the Lock a thousand Sprights repair,
A thousand Wings, by turns, blow back the Hair;
And thrice they twitch'd the Diamond in her Ear,
Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the Foe drew near.
Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought
The close Recesses of the Virgin's thought;
As on the Nosegay in her Breast reclin'd,
He watch'd th' Ideas rising in her Mind,
Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her Art,
An Earthly Lover lurking at her Heart.
Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his
Power expir'd, Resign'd to Fate, and with a Sigh retir'd.
Why can't Ariel defend Belinda?

 

Belinda's rage at the loss of her lock
O had I stay'd, and said my Pray'rs at home!
'Twas this the Morning Omens did foretel; ...
A Sylph too warn'd me of the Threats of Fate,
In mystic Visions, now believ'd too late!
See the poor Remnants of these slighted Hairs!
My Hands shall rend what ev'n thy Rapine spares.
These, in two sable Ringlets taught to break,
Once gave new Beauties to the snowy Neck.
The Sister-Lock now sits uncouth, alone,
And in its Fellow's Fate foresees its own;
Uncurl'd it hangs, the fatal Sheers demands;
And tempts once more thy sacrilegious Hands.
Oh hadst thou, Cruel! been content to seize
Hairs less in sight, or any Hairs but these!
Why is this lock so important?

 

Clarissa's speech of moral wisdom
Opening question
Then grave Clarissa graceful wav'd her Fan;
Silence ensu'd, and thus the Nymph began.
Say, why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most,
The Wise Man's Passion, and the Vain Man's Toast?
Why deck'd with all that Land and Sea afford,
Why Angels call'd, and Angel-like ador'd?
Why round our Coaches crowd the white-gloved Beaux,* (*handsome men)
Why bows the Side-box from its inmost Rows?
What sorts of priority are given women of beauty?
The ideal balance of beauty and sense
How vain are all these Glories, all our Pains,
Unless good Sense preserve what Beauty gains:
That Men may say, when we the Front-box* grace, (*at the theater)
Behold the first in Virtue as in Face!
Vanity, vanity
Oh! if to dance all Night, and dress all Day,
Charm'd the Small-pox, or chas'd old Age away;
Who would not scorn what Housewife's Cares produce,
Or who would learn one earthly Thing of Use?
To patch, nay ogle*, might become a Saint, (*girl-watch)
Nor could it sure be such a Sin to paint.
But since, alas! frail Beauty must decay,
Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey;
Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,
And she who scorns a Man, must die a Maid,
The superior strategy for Belinda: good humour
What then remains but well our Pow'r to use,
And keep good Humour still whate'er we lose?
And trust me, dear! good Humour can prevail,
When Airs, and Flights, and Screams, and Scolding fail.
the final moral:
Beauties in vain their pretty Eyes may roll;
Charms strike the Sight, but Merit wins the Soul.
Final critical question: in what ways is this speech ineffective, misleading, or unfair?

 

Lock lost in battle, its metamorphosis, and the poet's final consolation
What happens to the lock?
The Lock, obtain'd with Guilt, and kept with Pain,
In ev'ry place is sought, but sought in vain: ...
But trust the Muse-she saw it upward rise,
Tho' marked by none but quick Poetic eyes: ...
A sudden Star, it shot through liquid Air,
New Star And drew behind a radiant Trail of Hair. ...
What is the poet's consolation to Belinda/Arabella?
Then cease, bright Nymph! to mourn the ravish'd Hair
Which adds new Glory to the shining Sphere!
Not all the Tresses that fair Head can boast
Shall draw such Envy as the Lock you lost.
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;
This Lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame,
And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's Name!
Is the poet, and Pope, right about Belinda's immortality?

 

My favorite passage about the power of art, like Pope's, to overcome our grave seriousness.

"As an aesthetic phenomenon existence is still bearable for us...Precisely because we are at bottom grave and serious human beings...nothing does us as much good as a fool’s cap: we need it in relation to ourselves—we need all exuberant, floating, dancing, mocking, childish, and blissful art lest we lose the freedom above things that our ideal demands of us."

--Nietzsche, "Our Ultimate Gratitude to Art" The Gay Science, No. 107