In Alexander Pope’s The
Rape of the Lock, Pope uses anti-epic conventions to satirically make the
everyday ventures of humans seem epic or impressive; however, I believe Pope
includes a moral in the story, which can be found in Canto 5 in Clarissa’s
speech. In a grand speech, Clarissa asks why “beauties are praised and honored
most… [When] frail beauty must decay” (1242). Clarissa makes it clear that
beauty is somewhat short-lived. I interpreted this part of the speech as saying
that women need more than looks—something substantial or permanent—to fall back
on when looks are no longer an option to keep their spirits high. Furthermore,
Clarissa questions why women are “angels called, and angel-like adored” (1242).
Women are called angels, but they are not being compared to the morals or good
qualities angels possess; rather, they are simply “heavenly” by looks. Clarissa
questions why “good humor” or “good senses” are not as highly praised as
appearances, when those are the only qualities remaining once a woman turns
grey. This message to be more than what is seen on the outside is ignored by
Belinda in the anti-epic, who proceeds to “go to battle” over her hair. I
believe Pope did this to proceed with the satirical elements of the poem, while
still maintaining a moral to the story.
Would Pope’s description of Belinda’s beauty as “divine” and
“heavenly” be considered ironic if his message was similar to Clarissa’s? Was
Clarissa trying to find a way to make her message heard when she armed the Baron with the scissors?
Taylor, I think that Pope's message was the same as Clarissa's. Pope's purpose in writing "The Rape of the Lock" was to make fun of society's focus on outward appearances. Pope's description of Belinda's beauty could be considered ironic because Belinda was described as beautiful and he was making fun of society for basing their opinions of someone on beauty. I think that Clarissa was definitely trying to prove her message true when she gave the Baron the scissors. I'm sure that Clarissa wanted everyone to see that Belinda wasn't such a great person without her beauty. Clarissa thought part of her beauty could be taken away with the loss of part of her hair.
ReplyDeleteYou had a great post and I really like how you focused on Clarissa speech. He speech was my favorite part of the poem because it really tied in the reader to the main idea that society is too focused on appearances and there is way more to a human than their outside status and looks. I felt Pope's description of Belinda's beauty as heavenly would be very ironic to Clarissa's based on her viewpoint alone, she knows looks are just one thing, while the Pope makes the sound god-like. I love your second question and really feel that is an interesting way to look at that and that yes, without Clarissa's contribution of the loss of the lock her message would not have been told, or if told not as effectively heard.
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