The Rape Of The Lock By Alexander Pope

Since the beginning of time, women have been treated as second class citizens. Therefore, women were forced to face many problems. Because of this women were repressed. At that time, the Napoleonic Code stated that women were controlled by their husbands and cannot freely do their own will without the authority of their husband. This paper shows how this is evident in the "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and " A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. In both stories, the use of literary elements such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and significant meaning of the titles are essential in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion.

To begin, in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope uses satire to invoke a capricious, melancholy mood to illustrate the absurdity of fighting over the cutting of one's hair. Hidden inside this poem is a crafty criticism of the society that helps create the crisis over the stolen lock. A Society in which appearances ere more important to a person’s sense of identity, and treats the insignificant with utmost importance.

While on the way to venerate Saint Thomas Becket’s remains, the entertainment of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims falls upon the requiting of stories between the different estates. However, this requiting quickly turns malicious, the Host’s simple proposition evolving into an aggressive show of social dominance that includes the boasting of both literal and metaphorical rape. The normalization (or, borderline reverence) of aggressive manliness contributes to the creation of both rape culture and compulsory heterosexuality. Consequently, when a man does not dominate a woman—or, does not use his masculinity to humiliate another man—he is seen as weak or effeminate, subsequently placing his sexuality under scrutiny. Such is the motive behind John and Aleyn’s rape of the miller’s wife and daughter—to make Symkin seem weak, and to gain a reputation of superior masculinity. Thus,

Prior to and throughout the late middle ages, women have been portrayed in literature as vile and corrupt. During this time, Christine de Pizan became a well educated woman and counteracted the previous notions of men’s slander against women. With her literary works, Pizan illustrated to her readers and women that though education they can aspire to be something greater than what is written in history. Through the use of real historical examples, Christine de Pizan’s, The Book of the City of Ladies, acts as a defense against the commonly perceived notions of women as immoral.

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

The last sentence of the poem, ““There is still murder in your heart” (14), is a powerful claim that suggests that a routine consisting of prayer, communion, or hymn singing will not dissolve the sin of the heart. However, seeing this claim from a different standpoint, this can also suggest that this dull routine is convenient when it comes to preserving an appearance of purity and grace. There is an image in the middle of the poem, “light swords” (7), that possibly represents sharp members of the congregation trying to deceive the church authorities and God. Their comfort to the routine is remarkable because it does not really make a difference at the end; the only thing that truly matters is the masked life they are trying to keep hidden. Readers may consider the arguments presented in this poem as the truth reaching out to the contemporary church and its followers to improve their relationship with

Our modern world is parallel in some points to the world of Theseus and Hippolyta – the rules of behavior for man and woman, “But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid ”. Female tolerance can be noticed in the next lines, “Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, Though I alone do feel the injury”. Classical ideals are still appreciated even in the contemporary world.

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

In a surprise ending, the female slave lightly debates everyone’s morals coherently: “(Stand off!) we help not in our loss! / We are too heavy for our cross, / And fall and crush you and your seed” (243-245). Notably, this is the one time in the narrative that we find the female slave easy to understand and sensible.

Thus, the intent of Pope is not to be invective or bitter but rather to give insight to the comical nature of the event, to bring to light that the universe does not move to the cutting of one's hair and that to have such a mistaken belief is foolhardy. This mockery and satire of aristocratic society is revealed by Pope throughout the poem: Belinda is depicted as a heroine goddess whose beauty causes "The tortoise here and elephant unite, / Transformed to combs, the speckled and the white" (English,1113). Furthermore,her trinkets are depicted as being spoils and ornaments of war, as one would use to prepare for battle: "files of pins extend their shining rows, / Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, [and] billet-doux" (English,1113). This is comical in that such commoneveryday items suddenly have grave importance to the preservation and transformation of Belinda's beauty. They bring her from the mundane to God-like. Yet, the irony exists that these are just everyday items. The tortoises and elephants did not give

Patricia Lockwood’s The Rape Joke is a risky composition- not because it discloses information about Lockwood’s personal rape experience, but because it does so from a comedic stance, ridiculing the unfortunate event and the events leading up to and after it. While the creation of the poem was prompted due to the sexual assault she experienced, the content and subject are not centered around the incident or the assaulter but around rape culture and the sociological concept of victim blaming, from both society and oneself. There is no such thing as a rape joke-the joke is the incredulous ways society has guided people to respond to it.

When Belinda is in dire need of spiritual aides, Ariel calls out, “But what, or where, the Fates have wrapped in the night; Whether the humph shall break Diana’s law” (106-105). Diana is noted in the footnotes to be the goddess of chastity. However, she is also commonly known as the goddess of the hunt and of wild animals. Thus adding to the uncontrollable nature of humans and their psychological desires for sex that is often repressed by the Catholic churches emphasis on purity and virginity. He is indirectly ridiculing the authority of Roman Catholics and the heart of their beliefs, pressed upon them by the Vatican. Pope also includes the missing direction of the Fates as a motif to indicate the destiny of humans that is ultimately controlled by the individuals choices rather than spiritual protection. In saying that if the Fates break Diana’s law of chastity, Pope is emphasizing the lack of control these mythological creatures have over the protection of Belinda’s purity and

Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift in their respective poems, The Rape of the Lock and The Progress of Beauty, offer opposite representations of the nature and function of cosmetics in eighteenth century society. In The Rape of the Lock, Pope gives a positive representation of cosmetic's nature and function in eighteenth century society. On the other hand, Swift's representation takes a very negative tone. Both poets clearly appreciate and admire the natural beauty of a woman and their opposite opinions and therefore representation of the nature and function of cosmetics, springs from this admiration. Pope, whilst slightly ridiculing cosmetics through his use of satire, represents cosmetics in a positive light through portraying it as

The poem begins with a woman luxuriating in "complacencies of the peignoir, and late coffee and oranges in a sunny chair," while "the green freedom of a cockatoo" mingles with the coffee and oranges "to dissipate the holy hush of ancient sacrifice" (1247). The failure-or refusal-of the woman to attend church on a Sunday morning, but to instead stay home and enjoy the ordinary, yet somehow

In Isabella Whitney’s “I.W. To Her Unconstant Lover,” she adopted a female persona that attempted to rework the notion of constancy, or faithfulness, in failed male-female relationships of the Elizabethan era. Where women are often accused of being unfaithful, the speaker of the epistle “writes” to her unfaithful male lover and holds him accountable for their failed relationship. By analyzing Whitney’s “I.W. To Her Unconstant Lover,” this paper will argue that Whitney’s persona, I.W., challenges the misogynistic conception of female faithfulness because she uses rhetorical devices — like metaphors and allusions — to shift the blame onto dishonest male lovers, whose actions have a negative impact on the constancy of virtuous women. The speaker’s use of metaphors and Greek allusions fundamentally allows her to rework the idea of female inconstancy, which, in turn, absolves her of fault for being abandoned by her ex-lover and presents her as an intelligent and virtuous woman to her English audience.