INTRODUCTION:-
In this blog I am going to throw light upon some questions related to Rape Of The Lock by Alexander Pope . The Rape Of The Lock is a mock-epic.
For the full poem click below:-
To understand the poem more deeply you can also watch this YouTube video by Dr. Debasree Basu.
1 - WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE POEM CLARISSA OR BELINDA ? WHY ?
If we see technically Belinda consider as a protagonist of the poem. Someone considered Clarissa as a protagonist of the poem. But it's a known fact that Clarissa's thaught in the end of the canto 5 it's totally like Alexander's personality. When Clarissa gave Scissors to the Byron for cut the hair of Belinda, in our mind Clarissa potrait as a antagonist of the poem that how can she do that as a girl to the other girl. The hair is the identity of the girl in a sense. Not only like girls love their hairs boy's alos love theirs. In this poem it is describe that Byron love the hairs of Belinda and that's why he want to cut her hair and says that I love your hair, so let me cut your lock of the hair. And so for this Clarissa gave Scissors to Mr. Byron. And Mr. Byron also cut Belinda's lock of hair. We can signify lock in a many sense but here lock means a perticular tuft of the hair.
When after Mr. Byron cut the hair of Belinda, Belinda seems so sad for that and Clarissa don't felt guilty for that. So, we can say that she is totally like antagonist. But we can't say that Belinda is the protagonist of the poem. The qualities which a protagonist should have been in their personality Belinda doesn't have any. So, according to me there is no protagonist of the poem but situation and events which happens with the characters.
2 - WHAT IS BEAUTY?
Beauty, this word have different meanings to person to person. But if ask me that what is Beauty according to me i clearly can say there are so many meanings of beauty like inner beauty, outer beauty, beauty in the nature, beauty in our sight, beauty in our thaughts and everything which delight our soul is beautiful.
"Beauty is power, a smile is its sword."
- John Ray
"Let us live for the beauty of our own reality."
- Charles Lamb
"Beauty is truth's smile when she Beholds her on face in a perfect mirror."
- Rabindranath Tagore
"If the path be beautiful, lat us not ask where it leads."
- Anatole France
"Beauty awakens the soul to act."
- Dante Alighieri
"Things are beautiful if you love them."
- Jean Anouilh
"The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express. "
- Francis Bacon
"Personal beauty is a greatest recommendation than any letter of reference."
- Aristotle
Through all this quotes by great writers, philosophers and others, we can clearly see that how the standard of beauty and meaning of beauty changes from person to person.
3 - SIGNIFICANCE OF HAIR. IS IT SYMBOLIC?
The hair means Lock of the hair. In this poem hair is like everything for Belinda and Byron cuts it cause he likes it. Here it sounds wrong but it is true that if we love anything means let's destroy that thing. But here lock of the hair symbolises as chains. Pope initially introduces the locks, he says they have been nourished "to the destruction of mankind," meaning they have great power and have been groomed in such a way as to have even more power.
From childhood to now age Belinda cares for her hair and grew them with full notic and make it so beautiful like anyone see and suddenly falls in love with them. Pope here said that it is also a same thing that women are the only who make themselves so beautiful and charming that men falls in love with them and in the end women being the reason for destroying of the mankind.
4 - ARTICLE ON THE RAPE OF THE LOCK:-
To see the original site click here to ResearchGate.
This article is by Dr. George Kolanchery. Normally works or any blog starts with the introduction but we can see the difference between artical and blog that article start with the abstract. In this abstract he uses the line “No writer”, says Leslie Stephen, “reflects so clearly and completely the spirit of his own day as Pope does.” It is the epic of trifling; a page torn from the petty, pleasure-seeking life of fashionable beauty. Than he uses the keywords like Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Contemporary life, fashionable society.
In introduction he start with his point of way for justifying and told us to imagine that we are somewhere sitting alone and someone suddenly cut our hair what we do in that situation? In introduction he also included the age know by whom or for what reason, Alexander Pope is as representative of his age as Chaucer was of the late fourteenth century and Tennyson of the Victorian Age that his age is known as the Age of Pope speaks of the sovereign position in his age. It was an age of spiritual hollowness.
He leads towards his article by saying that ‘The Rape of the Lock’ – a Mirror of the Age. In The Frivolities of Womenfolk he used this line, This lady Favours to none, to all she smiles extends off she rejects, but never she offends. He started Hollowness of the Gentlemen of the Day with the line, The gentlemen are as frivolous as the ladies.
In conclusion he said that, No English poem is at once so brilliant and so empty as ‘The Rape of the Lock’. It reflects the artificial age with splendour and inward emptiness. And in end he gave refrence of Shampoo.
For the original text of the Rape of the Lock click here - Scholar.
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