In The Rape of the Lock Canto 1 and Canto 2, I noticed the
long explanation of why Belinda is so beautiful and why she needs to be
protected. She is so beautiful that a character named Baron wants to have her
beautiful hair for himself. Not only is that slightly weird in this day and
age, but it shows truly how beautiful she is, that others want to have her
beauty. But the main thing that I analyzed is how women we judged and values
for their beauty and how that is true even now.
She is described as “bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike…” and
“nourished two locks that which gratefully hung behind in equal curls…and
beauty draws us with a single hair” (p.1231 lines 20-21, 28).
Belinda was desired for her beauty, which included her
perfect hair, the cross that hangs around her neck, her sparkly eyes, and her
perfect face. In current society, people are judged by their outward appearance
and are judged and valued by that outward beauty solely; first impressions
usually happen at first glance. When Belinda looks in the mirror at herself she
is “a heavenly image in the glass” (p. 1230 line 125). This explanation and
fascination of her beauty in the first and second canto shows that emphasis on
beauty has been important even in the 1700’s. Since this entire story is based
upon danger to a beautiful woman, I believe that this could have been written
in current literature due to the similarities in emphasis. People care about
and envy beauty now as they did in the 1700’s.
Questions:
1.
Who is Belinda and why is she so important to
the story?
2.
What importance is Arabia in this story? She
must be Arabic, but why is that the race that they choose for the beautiful
woman to be?
This is a very interesting comparison! I had not compared the components of her beauty to the components that make up modern beauty. I agree that they are very similar. As to your questions, I believe I can answer the first. The Rape of the Lock is actually a response to a real situation. Pope was thought to have been trying to soothe the tempers of two feuding families. I think Belinda's importance will become evident as we continue to read the story. But if you take the title, The Rape of the Lock, you can assume that Belinda's coveted hair will play a large role.
ReplyDelete