The Portrayal Of Womanish Character In Alexander Pope’s Rape Of The Lock
Alexander Pope's Rape of the lock, the story of lock violation is a satirical and often degrading vision of women's roles in 17th century English society. While Pope derides the superficial character of the aristocratic society, he seems to focus in particular on the rituals of femininity and is very condescending to women. His humor is often offensive and indicates a more widespread view and interpretation of the value of women in society. Focusing on a particular negative episode, not too serious in many respects, Pope rejects the anger that the young woman should rightly feel and turns the whole episode into a ridiculous farce.
Pope manages to marginalize women, in particular Belinda, transforming this incident, the unblocking, into a simulated epic, mocking Belinda and discounting its value. The traditional interpretation emphasized that Pope wrote this story in the hope that a little laugh will calm downafter a real-life accident involving a lock of stolen hair. The editors of the Norton Anthology of English Literature suggest that because of the ant through the heroic epic simulated style of Pope, the reader is forced to 'compare the small things with the big ones'. It is said that even if Pope 'laughs at this world and its creatures and remembers that a darker and darker world surrounds it, it makes us very aware of its beauty and its charm'.
Unfortunately, Pope does not seem to take this incident seriously. Instead, it uses it as an opportunity to criticize women and make fun of traditional feminine thinking and practices. It really saw some moments when the superiority of masculinity was somehow threatened or ridiculed. Pope writes an epigraph, addressed to the lady involved, Mrs. Arabella Fermor, who suggests that the poem was published at her request, although in reality the writing of this poem was suggested to Pope by one of his male friends. Insinuating otherwise, Pope makes it appear that Fermor enjoyed himself and even asked to be mocked. Pope's intention was to unite the two enemy families Lord Petre and the Fermor by providing a story on which the two could laugh together, it would be very disappointing. It is unclear whether Ms. Fermor appreciated this story and put an end to her anger, but from the point of view of the late twentieth century, it is very unlikely that insulting someone with such strength could have a positive impact.
From history, we can deduce that the aristocracy at that time lived a rather frivolous life. Women spent most of the day preparing for social functions. Beauty becomes very important in the life as do appearances, both in physical as well as in social. The virtue of beauty in this poem cannot be overstated. Pope writes: 'If you miss some female errors, look them in the face and forget them all'.
The beautiful woman Belinda is seen as more virtuous than others simply because of her physical characteristics. Showing grace and social appeal is more important to women than anything else. The self-esteem of a woman and the means of social freedom are found through the fulfillment of a culturally desirable social life, full of rituals and customs for the behavior of the sexes. In describing Belinda's beauty routine, Pope writes: 'The lower priestess, next to her altar, / Tremendous begins the sacred rites of pride'. For women, pride is achieved through beauty rituals.
When Belinda is forced to face her sudden hair loss, she feels great shame and public humiliation. She exclaims: 'Oh, if I had remained without being admired / In some loving island, or in a distant land of the north ... I kept my amulets hidden from the mortal eye / Like roses that bloom and die in deserts'. She wants to be hidden from society and wants to hide her embarrassed face.
Belinda's priorities may not be the same as in today's society. However, the fact is that this type of lifestyle has been granted by your state. As a woman, polite lifestyle was the best opportunity for a happy life. Of course, Belinda would and should be angry about such a trivial problem. His only means of sustenance and success was broken by the breach of the lock. Like many victims of rape and socialized women in today's society, Belinda tries to rationalize this incident by blaming herself. He remembers how he was warned of his fairies, but decided to ignore the reason.
The woman not only blames herself, but professes her internalized stupidity and implies her lower status. He shouts for the pain he feels and shouts: 'Oh, you, cruel! You are content to grab / Hair less visible, or any other hair except these!'. Sexual nuances here are not very difficult to see. It seems that Belinda would have preferred to be sexually abused, where she would have suffered only a private humiliation, instead of publicly cutting a beautiful lock of hair. Because of this incident, Belinda is disfigured not only in private but also in public. Everyone can clearly see that Belinda has this serious defect. It is as if Scarlet ‘A’ were marked on his chest. His defect has become obvious to everyone; therefore, the victim is again the victim of the company.
For these reasons, it is an unjust portrait of Pope to paint this disgusting and one-sided image of Belinda and this incident. On Pope's side, we do not see any development of the female character and all mentions of Belinda's personality are negative. The picture of a blind man with un-requited love for a seemingly flirtatious woman. Evil in this story is represented as a rapist, as the title of the poem would suggest, but as a victim of Belinda's loving insect and penetrating eyes.
Like the tendency to shyness and cruel naivety. It's his fault that men can't control themselves around him. She is too beautiful and full of seduction. Women should remain chaste and even to remain honorable, however, those who reject men are seen as prudent and deserving of intellectual evil intentions, they might say. Despite our desire to liquidate this life as useless and useless, it was possible to see them very seriously. It is quite obvious that this type of behavior should be a non-compliant woman. For example, the Sylphs are ready to go to war against Belinda to preserve their beauty and chastity, and are threatened with great punishment for any fairy that does not protect these virtues.
In more general terms, Pope is a problem in the battle of the sexes due to his strongly implicit inferiority. Pope focuses on the defects and weaknesses of women and uses it as an explanation and justification of the secondary status of women in society. Pope's attitude towards women is evident even before poetry begins. In his letter to Arabella Fermor, he writes: 'I can disgrace to use harsh words in front of a lady ...'. It is in the nature of modern women. To give men a free reign in society to abuse and affirm the person of the man woman. Unfortunately, Pope does not feel the same. In describing Belinda's anger, the author makes every effort to paint.
Pope uses the Grotta della Milza, between Belinda and the Par. He speaks in detail about Thaletris, an Amazonian woman who loves to fight. It is interesting that Thallais also has doubts about whether or not to help Belinda, who 'burns with more than deadly liras'. Thaletris exclaims he can already see that Belinda's honor is lost and that this act defames it and instantly deflates it. To preserve their social appearances, their friends must abandon it or face this same type of degradation. Thaletris must examine whether Belinda is worth helping. Thaletris tends to have bad characteristics and to adhere to some rules dictated by evil, while rejecting men and other customs determined by men; therefore, it is the most feared and despised form of women.
Thaletris, although not presented as such, represents a truly free woman and is a primitive feminist character. Thatletris personality is divided among the other female characters and is simply that of representing the alleged vengeful, spiteful and totally illogical character of women. His feminist standards can be rejected today, as he seems to reject femininity and despise feminine women. However, it represents the strong female role of the sun in history. The militaristic notions of Thaletris on life and its unbridled sexuality lead her to consider Belinda a prude. He cannot accept Belinda as his sister's companion, free to make his own personal decisions, but he must still reject them for certain reasons.
In general, the characterization of women by Pope and his satirical narrative of this incident Women prove to be intriguing, unreliable, illogical and, above all, inferior to men. Pope ridicules Belinda, who is none other than Mrs. Fermor does not seem to understand why women can get angry over such a trivial issue. It does not respect female autonomy and acquires in the perception of the virgin woman / whore. The violation of the lock is a great injustice for women and serves only to perpetuate negative stereotypes and generalizations about the female characters.
