The Rape of Lock First Reading

            Unlike in the traditional epics where the hero has a purpose, in the poem The Rape of Lock the hero is Belinda, a vain woman with no purpose in life other than to be graced with luxury. The satire, The Rape of Lock, is utilized to portray a false heroic style in order to criticize a highly materialistic and shallow society.

            The speaker opens the poem by describing Belinda’s day. She wakes when “Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray” (13). Belinda, and those she lives with, including the dogs, cannot be bothered to wake up, instead; they wait until the sun shines in so brightly that they are signaled to begin their day. In addition, after Belinda is awake her day has little to no purpose; she simply plays cards and enjoys “gilded chariots” (55).  Belinda has no tasks that she must complete and everything that she does is superficial in one way or another.

            As a satire this poem is criticizing Belinda and the highly materialistic world that she lives in by exaggerating her carefree values and her inability to contribute to society because of her obsession with vanity.

My questions are what do you think the purpose of this poem was, what specifically during the time period it was written was happening to make the author create this, also why do you think the author used a woman as the “anti-hero” instead of a man.