Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hamm

Pope’s Powerless Princess: The Role of Women in “Rape of the Lock”

In Canto III of Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock,” Pope describes Belinda’s

overseeing of a battle of not-so-epic proportions: “Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, /

Burns to encounter two advent'rous Knights, / At Ombre singly to decide their doom;  / And

swells her breast with conquests yet to come” (III. 25-8). Pope has given Belinda the authority to

command the troops…to dictate the actions of a battle royale between subjects of a deck of

playing cards. If we read this passage as an instance of womanly power and control, we cannot

overlook the actual lack of importance of what is occurring. Author Valerie Rumbold says, “It is

natural to Pope to couple women and fools to denote the unthinking part of mankind” (21).

While Pope does not assume that all women are foolish and incapable of performing tasks, his

overall view of women presents itself in “The Rape of the Lock” as negative . Pope’s

understanding of the role of women was greatly influenced by societal perceptions that women

were inferior tools of men. While it is clear that “The Rape of the Lock” is meant to be a mock-

epic, it is not completely clear if Pope intended to reflect a submissive view of women based on

society’s views. Regardless, Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” explores the power of women by

using Belinda as mock hero who can do nothing by herself; she constantly depends on others to

perform tasks. By portraying Belinda as a powerful woman as the leader in a mock battle, Pope

effectively exaggerates any sense of true power that Belinda possesses. Ultimately, Pope, the

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hammman/poet, exerts his final act of power over Belinda, the woman, by immortalizing not Belinda

but his very own work.

During the eighteenth century, England was a country strictly divided into classes based

on income. Aside from monetary divisions, a strict line between the roles of men and women

existed also. The men of this time typically made most of the money in the household, while

women performed most of the housework. “Married women’s lives revolved to a large extent

around managing the household, a role which in many cases included partnership in running

farms or home businesses” (Turberville 35). Middle class women were expected to apply

themselves to cooking to satisfy a “newly attainable appetite for ‘sensual pleasure’” (Simpson

10). The eighteenth century was marked with a tendency toward more comfort in the home . This

is evidenced by the increase in buying of goods for the household. As these comforts expanded,

Simpson says, so did the direct connection with the demand for women’s works at home, for the

more items one acquired, the more cleaning needed to be done (13). All of these responsibilities

fell on the shoulders of the housewife. Women were submissive tools of care-giving.

While the eighteenth century was not necessarily a period of prominent conflicting

societal views of women and their roles, there was discussion over whether or not women were

naturally submissive or just bred to behave as tools of men. In “Rights of Women,” feminist

Mary Wollstonecraft felt that women had weak minds and bodies and blamed this condition on a

“false sense of education” (Simpson). She believed it was through culture, not biology, that

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hammwomen became submissive tools and that “women’s conduct and manners would improve if they

were educated to reason” (Barker-Benfield 68). Jean Jacques Rousseau, on the other hand,

believed that it was vital to educate women according to the needs of men. In his book Emile,

Rousseau outlines ways to make sure women are confined to a private, domesticate world and

how to create an orderly domestic and familial life (Caine 89). Rousseau believed women should

be educated directly in respect to their relations with men. They would learn skills such as how

to please men, how to be useful to men, how to win men’s love and esteem, and how to make life

sweet and agreeable to men (104). Rousseau believed women should be passive and weak,

describing “the modesty and sense of shame with which nature has armed the weak for the

subjugation of the strong” (Boyd 16). Clearly, conflicting discussions on the roles and

expectations of women existed, and Pope’s “Rape of the Lock” does little to clarify the matter.

Pope's work creates a dilemma for readers and critics alike. While it is an enduring work

of art, encompassing mastery of the heroic couplet with humor, satire and insight, it still lacks

true compassion for women. While on one level sympathetic toward the lack of women's

opportunities in a patriarchal society, “Rape” also perpetuates portraying women as

commodities. He is aware of the culturally limited parameters placed around women and is, in

one sense, sympathetic (Simpson). He is aware that “she who scorns a Man, must die a Maid”

(V. 28). While men are not treated especially well in the poem, such as the “barren”-minded

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert HammBaron or the idiotic Sir Plume, women in the text seem to remain the object of both ridicule and

criticism.

As mentioned, Pope is not deliberately trying to side with contemporary society by

portraying women as tools of men because he does include instances of women in control. We

also see this lack of conformity with a lack of following the genre guidelines of his literary era.

Although not the first writer to produce a mock-epic, Pope is innovative because of the

groundbreaking appeal of “Rape of the Lock.” Bloom says, “Poetry of the Restoration with most

life in it suffers from a certain formal laxity; there is brilliance of detail but often a shambling

structure” (Bloom 14). Clearly, Pope has abandoned the carelessness or negligence by producing

a well-structured, satirical, symbolic work. By organizing his work into five cantos and by

making numerous allusions to the great literary epics of the past, Pope is able to expand his

creative appeal. “The mock-heroic gave the poet the possibility of making an ‘extended

metaphor,’ a powerful instrument for poetic thought – as opposed to thought of more rationally

discursive kinds. It allowed him entry into an imaginative space” (15). Rationale is abandoned

for creative ingenuity, as evidenced by the numerous allusions to other great works.

In “Rape of the Lock,” Pope takes an everyday occurrence (such as cutting someone’s

hair) and turns it into an epic episode with drama and profound consequences. In many great

works of the past, gods or angels aid humans in their endeavors. In Pope’s work, however, “the

principal symbol of the triviality of Belinda’s world is the machinery of sylphs and gnomes . The

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hamm‘light militia of the lower sky’ are a travesty of both Homeric deities and Miltonic guardian

angels” (Bloom 8). Clearly, the sylphs serve the purpose of representing something larger and

more vital. “Pope’s sylphs are but one class of a gradated divine corporation” (Keener 41). The

sylphs represent divine intervention. By establishing this connection with other great epic works,

Pope effectively forces the reader to read his work as something serious and poignant.

It is crucial that Pope establishes that Pope establishes his work as a mock epic . To make

sure that his allusions assist in revealing and exposing the power (or lack of power) that women

possess, Pope must make Belinda his epic hero. In the game of ombre, “Belinda becomes the

epic hero…The pack of cards is transformed into a miniature version of the European war which

had just come to an end” (Baines 69). In Canto III, Pope describes the card game as a battle of

epic proportions, with Belinda as the commander in charge:

Now move to War her Sable Matadores,

In Show like Leaders of the swarthy Moors,

Spadillo first, unconquerable Lord!

Led off two captive Trumps, and swept the board.

As many more Manillio forc’d to yield,

And march’d a Victor from the verdant field. (47-52)

The “verdant field” is nothing more than a table covered with green felt. The “War” is nothing

more than a card game. The “Lords” are nothing more than face cards. If we are aware of the

exaggerated meanings of the material objects in this passage, we cannot help but question

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert HammBelinda’s power and authority and something embellished. “At every point in the poem, grace

and charm supplant depth of feeling or heroic action; the only direct survivors of the old heroic

virtues are the miniature playing cards” (Bloom 8). Belinda’s heroic action has no depth. “When

Belinda wins ombre,…her entire persona agency has become transferred to and embodied in a

playing card” (Baines 69). Belinda has simply won a card game. She has not literally conquered

a far-away land. Her power only goes as far as the cards, meaningless paper objects that are the

true survivors of the “old heroic virtues.” Belinda’s true strength or valor is greatly diminished.

By exaggerating the trivial and unimportant event as something grand and elaborate,

Pope mocks the true epic and forces the reader to examine the idea of a society that thrives on

the imagination. David Fairer says, “Imagination is inevitably falsifying, a coloring which can

distort the truth by blurring its outline and dimensions, and substituting the beautiful, though

secondary, qualities from within our own minds” (Bloom 99). Indeed, it seems easy to lose focus

when reading the battle scene. The wording is appropriate for a full-fledged battle. Pope’s use of

words like “mourn’d,” “captive,” “Vengeance,” “falls,” and “shouts” beckons ideas of a true war

scene for the reader. The reader is forced to use his imagination, however, if he wants to make

sense of the fictionalized war. Pope decribes:

An Ace of Hearts steps forth: The King unseen    

Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen:  

He springs to Vengeance with an eager pace,  

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert HammAnd falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace.  

The nymph exulting fills with shouts the sky;  

The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. (Black III. 95-100)

The very fact that Belinda is in control of a fictionalized, pointless encounter removes any

validity that she is a genuine leader.

Other important fictionalized figures in “Rape” are the sylphs which aid Belinda in her

day-to-day tasks. The sylphs are not physical beings. “They are light and color” (Bloom 100).

Pope calls them “Transparent forms, Too fine for mortal sight” (Black II.61). Because they are

transparent, they lack any substance. Without substance, they lack a true vitality. “Perverse or at

least self-centered, the sylphs distort human life by making people attend only to material things;

worse, things seen not as they are but either superficially or figuratively” (Keener 43). If Belinda

is being aided by substance-free creatures, what does that say about her actions? Is there any true

intelligent, beneficial assistance and advice being provided? While critics such as Elizabeth Gurr

argue that “the function of the sylphs is to define the bounds of acceptable behavior” (Bloom

69), the fact remains that the sylphs are the spirits of dead coquettes and are pale mirror images

(and ineffectual at that) of women. The sylphs rally to Belinda's aid, guard and watch over her,

and attempt to ensure that she will stay within the acceptable parameters of chastity. Yet the

Sylphs are literally called non-entities. They are mere wisps of what women should be.

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert HammIf Belinda’s immediate assistance lacks true substance, so too do Belinda’s actions and

possessions. Because her actions lack true meaning, we can only assume that, for the most part,

Belinda acts under superficial pretenses. When Pope describes Belinda’s toilet scene, he mixes

powders and perfumes with the Bible, never once signifying that the Bible has more importance:

“Here files of pins extend their shining rows, / Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux”

(Black I.37-8).  Because the Bible is not referenced as being important to Belinda, “[she] is close

to blasphemy – through her self-devotion and her casual arrangement of bibles, among similarly

plural objects of merely cosmetic importance” (Baines 67). We later see a sacred symbol

superficially adorn Belinda. In Canto II, lines 7-8, Pope describes Belinda’s necklace: “On her

white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore, / Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore.” Like the

sylphs, these relics are nothing more than hollow casts of something else. In this case, the Bible

and cross represent a hollow faith. “Belinda’s commitment to religion is ornamental and attracts

primarily sexual attention” (Baines 67). There is no substance to Belinda’s belongings; such a

pitiful link with such solemn possessions forces the reader to question Belinda’s substance, soul,

and good-hearted intentions.

If “Belinda’s commitment to religion is ornamental and attracts primarily sexual

attention,” then we should assume that the very idea of Belinda’s chastity and innocence is

ornamental and superficial. Baines tells us that “Pope gives us the locks of hair as small but

commanding engines of sexual power” (Baines 67). Belinda takes the time to curl her hair so that

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hammit is appealing to men. Pope describes, “This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind, / Nourish’d

two Locks, which graceful hung behind / In equal Curls… / With shining Ringlets the smooth

Iv’ry Neck” (Black II. 19-24). Taking the time to fix her hair is not a crime, nor is it one that is

punishable by rape. By putting so much emphasis on hair, however, Belinda has taken the

emphasis off of her actual chastity and faith. “‘Rape’ comes from the Latin verb ‘to seize’ and

does not etymologically imply sexual possession; but in terms of sexual politics, the Baron

clearly conceives that if Belinda has turned her sexuality into an object, she can be possessed”

(Baines 68). If Belinda’s Bible, cross necklace, and hair are mere objects, so too is her chastity.

By looking at Belinda’s chastity as an object, we also must consider Pope’s implication

that we should look at Belinda herself as object. As mentioned, women were seen as tools of

men. “In canto 2, the ‘beauteous Mold’ is transformed into a ‘painted Vessel’- it is left up to us

either to look at Belinda as the gorgeous battleship decked out in Beauty’s arm…or to take the

broader interpretation, the idea of woman as a contained, empty but beautiful” (Bloom 87) . Is

Belinda an empty, beautiful vessel for people to admire? Does she have substance? Bloom says

that “her greatest power arises from the fact that she is not really aware of what she is leading the

Baron to do or of what disaster may befall her” (10). Belinda is not guided by her own decisions.

Instead, the sylphs tend to her, both physically and mentally. “This erring mortals Levity may

call; / Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all” (Black I.104-5). Belinda cannot contrive her

own ideas or perform her own tasks because she is constantly aided by the sylphs. Without an

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hammopportunity to perform her own acts, Belinda is seemingly suppressed. Pope does not inherently

discuss this suppression as a societal one, but as Keener points out, “the sylphs guard women,

[while] men are on their own” (42). In this society, men do not need to rely on imaginary

flutterers. By putting Belinda in the care of such wispy creatures, Pope implicitly points out a

woman’s inherent dependence on something or someone else.

By the poem’s end, Belinda’s lock has been removed, against her will, by a man who

assumes control over her. While we can sympathize with Belinda for her loss, we cannot

overlook Pope’s true intentions in the poem. “Pope’s poetry reminds us that the systems which

structured public life operated for the most part on the assumption that all full members of

society were male” (Rumbold 17). During the eighteenth century, middle- and lower-class

women were becoming more literate in the households, but men were still the scholarly masters

of Pope’s time (Simpson 21). “From an ultimate vantage point far removed above Belinda’s, the

narrator has made a world that moves, as he wishes it to, by itself, beneath him” (Keener 48) .

Pope is the ultimate authority of his own work. Unlike Belinda, who needs the sylphs to help her

achieve her tasks, Pope succeeds because of his own pen. The real hero, the real remembered

character, will be Pope, the author.

Pope ends the poem by implying that Belinda and her lock will live forever.

“Inexplicably, according to Belinda or the Baron’s way of reasoning, the lock is gone, to become

a comet or a shooting star” (Keener 46). Pope writes, “A sudden Star, it shot thro’ liquid Air…”

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hamm(Black V.127). Although the lock is gone, “Belinda will have fame. People will remember her.”

But will people really remember Belinda? Will the world remember a woman who gets a haircut

against her own will? Pope’s final words are: “When those fair suns shall set, as set they

must… / This Lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame / And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's

name” (V.147, 149-50). Even though Pope writes that Belinda’s name will always be

remembered, we cannot forget his previous statement when describing Belinda’s locks: “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” (V.25-7). The idea of Belinda could very well be

“consecrated to fame,” but the lock will be lost in space or the realm of another time . The

symbol of chastity, innocence, and womanhood is surpassed by Pope’s actual textual work. By

juxtaposing the mortal nature of Belinda’s lock with the immortal aspect of his poem, Pope

asserts, for the last time, man’s power over a woman.

In “The Rape of the Lock,” Pope has given Belinda the authority to showcase instances

of command and authority. This is interesting because during Pope’s literary era, women were

considered mere tools of men and lacked any sense of power. Any time Pope presents Belinda as

a powerful figure, that authority is quickly undermined and questioned by what she actually

controls. Belinda is constantly assisted by wispy sylphs and can effectively do nothing on her

own; such a presentation leads the reader to question if Pope agrees with the societal perception

that women were inferior to men. As Keener says, although “Belinda will have fame, [and]

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert Hammpeople will remember her,” (46) it is ultimately Pope the man/poet who exerts the final act of

male dominance by immortalizing not Belinda but his own poem.

Works Cited

Baines, Paul. The Complete Critical Guide to Alexander Pope. London: Routledge, 2000.

Barker-Benfield, GJ. The Culture of Sensibility: Sex and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain.

Chicago, Univeristy of Chicago Press, 1992.

Black, Joseph, ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Edition, Vol . A .

Toronto: Broadview Press, 2007.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. New York: Chelsea House

Publishers, 1988.

Boyd, William. “Emile for Today: The Emile of Jean Jacques Rousseau.” London: Henemann

Educational Books, Ltd., 1956.

Brower, Reuben Arthur. Alexander Pope: The Poetry of Allusion. London: Oxford University

Press, 1959.

Caine, Barbar. “English Feminism 1780-1980.” New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Hammond, Brean S. Pope. Sussex: The Harvester Press Unlimited, 1986.

Keener, Frederick M. An Essay on Pope. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974.

Mark Ebarb

26 November 2007

ENGL 3020

Prof. Robert HammMackail, John William. Pope. London: Cambridge University Press, 1919.

Rumbold, Valerie. Women’s Place in Pope’s World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1989.

Simpson, Mary Beth. Rise of the Novel. Course home page. 22 April 2002. Dept. of English, U

of Michigan. 24 November 2007. <http://www.umich.edu/~ece/ student_projects/

emotions/credits.html>.

Turberville, A.S. English Men and Manners in the Eighteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1926.