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Before, we go in the details of a mock epic, I would prefer you to read the title of the poem that is, “The Rape of the lock” at least three times. When you read it for the first time, the first word, one would easily feel that this poem is based on a serious and intense issue, “Rape”. Have you ever heard that someone has written a whole poem on cutting of a lock of a girl’s hair? And naming it with such an intense and sensitive word? Maybe no. But, this is exactly what Pope did. He played with words using satire, treats an ordinary matter in full epic style. So, it would not be wrong to say that, it is a truly mock epic written by a genius. This poem can be named as a mock epic simply by reading its name as the object of desire is not a queen, princess, noble woman or even a peasant but hair. The Baron was infatuated with her locks. In my view, object of the poem is mockery, but is civilized. As a poet pens down, “Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire and approve my lays. Mock Epic has various names in poetry such as, heroi comical or mock heroic poetry. All the forms, serve the same purpose. They serve as a parody of serious and comic style of classical epics. In mock epic poetry, a very common, trivial, of less importance subject is highlighted in a very sublime and lofty manner. But, its main purpose is to ridicule, subject and the theme makes fun of the human follies. So, in short, “Mock epic is type of satire that treats petty humans or insignificant occurrences as if they were of high importance and are extra-ordinary”. So, a mock epic is basically a parody which mocks a typical epic. It mocks classical epic, by making action so outlandish to an extent that it sounds absurd. (Shah, 2019) History of The Rape of the lock The poem is based on a trivial incident. Lord Peter cut off a lock of hair from the head of Lady Arabella Fermor which led to quarrel between two families, so Pope was requested by John Caryll to make a jest of the incident. This occasion was the reason of the composition of the poem. And no doubt, it is a wonderful combination of wit and satire leading to one of the best mock-epic of English Literature. I really hope the families reconciled after this poem. (Openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au, 2019) Lets shed a little light on the rationale behind me, saying, “ Rape of lock is a mock epic. The structures prove it as such. The first two lines, set the tone of the whole poem. When I say, it is mock poem because it mock’s silly conventions of aristocracy. Pope mocks the society on various basis, like their moral values or rather we can say misplaced values. He uses sublime language. He is clever in using his words, at one moment, he lifts the person to heights and then suddenly, that person is not more than an insignificant part. He avoids saying directly, rather he alludes certain aspects It is a mock epic, both in its matter and spirit. As, its intention is to highlight hollowness and superficiality of that age. Pope intelligently combines elaborated formula and elevated style of epic poetry. Third important factor is opening of the poem which is mock-heroic epic. The scene where Belinda wakes up, she is portrayed as the goddess of beauty to an extent that it outshines the beauty of sun. Sun, peeps through the window, to see Belinda.

“Sol thro’ white curtains shot a tim’rous ray, And opened those eyes that must eclipse the day.” Fourth important element is comparison between Belinda’s dressing and the arming of a warrior like Achilles. Her cosmetics seem as her weapons. “Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, And keener lightning quicken in her eyes” Fifth important factor is, episodes. The rape of the lock, works on the epic of the game of Ombre. Mock epic is again used, when fans and snuff are used in battle instead of swords and spears.Sixth common feature is use of supernatural machinery which are used to control human affairs in epics. That is what Pope did. Usually, the gods or supernatural beings are huge, magnificent and great in epics, but in mock epic, Pope does the opposite (that was what he was supposed to do), that is use of tiny machinery. Pope defines his machinery that are his four creatures as, “the light militia of the lower sky.” The epic always uses the supernatural element. In The Iliad there are gods and goddesses; in The Rape of the Lock, there are the sylphs and gnomes. These aerial spirits are small and insignificant things, and are, therefore, exactly in keeping with the triviality of the theme. They guard the person of the heroine and when there is a fight between the followers of Belinda and those of the Baron; they take part in the fight, like the gods and goddesses in the Trojan War: "Propped on their bodkin spears, the spirits survey, The growing combat or assist the fray." Belinda's toilet is another engaging account in which Pope has attributed in a perfect mock-heroic manner, the solemnity of a religious observance to the luxurious toilet of a lady of fashion and frivolity. Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux, are all brought to the same table and the slight and the series are all strangely synthesized. As every epic starts with an invocation and muse, so does the rape of lock. The theme suggested in the invocation is as follows: “Say, what strange motive, Goddess! could compel A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?”

POPE MOCKS WHOM? Then the irony lies in the fact that all sylphs are guided by Ariel. Another mock element is the coffee party, which finds its way back to meals discussed in homer. After the cutting of lock, Belinda screams in the following words, “Restore the lock, restore the lock.” This scream again reminds us of Homeric heroes. Another interesting point, I was pondering upon was when Ariel finds out that an Earthly lover is

in Belinda’s heart, he retires with a sigh and gives everything in the hands of fate, this takes me somewhere in the epic “Paradise Lost” when after the fall of Adam and Eve, the angels retired like Ariel feeling helpless before man’s own will. “Sudden he view’d, in spite of all her art, An earthly lover lurking at her heart. Amaz’d, confus’d, he found his pow’r expir’d, Resign’d to fate, and with a sigh retir’d.” There is the mischievous gnome who, like Milton's Satan, is intent upon making Belinda miserable and thereby all her admirers. The gnome, addresses the wayward Queen who rules the sex from fifteen to fifty, thus "Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin, That single act gives half the world the spleen." Answer the Objections: Though with the above examples and explanations, one should have less doubt that about it being a mock-epic but certain people with different school of thoughts raise objections like, its length. They argue that, The Rape of the Lock is a short poem in comparison with other epics. Secondly, epics cover long periods of history while pope covers hours. Lastly, usage of inadequate machinery. In my point of view, the first objection might be true to some extent but the other two should be rejected as mock-epic does not require to cover long periods of history. Furthermore, the tiny machinery is responsible for the flavor of mock-epic. Conclusion: Pope’s mock epic poem, “ The Rape of the lock’s purpose is not to mock epic form but to display a comparison infront of us of triviality of mean things with great things. Pope is successful in making us feel the great as little and little as great. As Hazlitt says: “The balance between the concealed irony and the assumed gravity is nicely trimmed, the little is made great and the great made little. It is the triumph of insignificance, the apotheosis of foppery and folly. It is the perfection of mock-heroic.” The rape of the lock is a narrative poem, with all epic elements but the interesting factor is its subject which is of trivial nature. Mock epic is an inspiration of muse, some of its characters are humanely other divine. The language is stilted and grandiose, but subject is of commonplace nature. It belongs to burlesque, which is a parody on large scale. A whole type of style of literature is parodied, the language and thought proper to a serious theme reproduced in setting forth something ridiculous or trivial. Difference between an epic and a mock epic? Let’s make it a little interesting. In a normal epic, what would one expect. Grand passions and great fights between heroes accompanied by some divine spirits.

An age with Gods, semi gods and heroes. A whole adventurous film. Mock epic is contradictory to all of this.” The Rape of the lock “resides on a petty small quarrel assisted by spirits of air. It is set in a fashionable society revolving around a pretty girl,and the other characters are a rash youth, a foolish dandy and a few frivolous women. Instead of deep and genuine passions as found in ancient epics, we come across a succession of mock passions in The Rape of the Lock.

Rape of the lock and an epic, in both of these, themes are suggested in the invocation but what differentiates is the theme. In mock epic the theme is trivial, when seen in comparsion with a grand epic. The action opens up with awakening of a fragile Belinda, the heroine of the poem, goddess of beauty. The whole structure of the poem is that of the epic but in a satire, ironic and parody mode because the subject is so trivial. The poem is divided into Cantos as done in an epic and begins with an invocation too. "Say, what strange motive, Goddness! could compel A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?" As in epics, in The Rape of the Lock, too, divine beings are portrayed. Belinda is in the divine care of the sylphs "Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished 'care, Of thousand bright inhabitants of air". Again irony rises in the atmosphere where the sylphs are fragile, airy beings and they are helpless before the caprices of men. Despite their concern and powers, Belinda, her beautiful lock of hair is raped by the naughty Baron.

PURPOSE Pope wanted to use humor to heal an argument but also to show that the aristocrats and leaders of his day lacked the heroism of figures from classical literature. By poking gentle fun at them, he hoped to inspire them to worry about more important subjects than card-playing, hair, and flirtations. "The Rape of The Lock" is an excellent example of mock-epic or mock heroic poem in English Literature. The epic had always been considered as the most serious of literary forms; it had been used to cater the lofty subject matters of love and war. The grand style with which Milton applied the genre of epic to the intricacies of the Christian faith is evident of its heights. Pope, in a seemingly lofty manner of great epics, wants to expose the life of the nobility of his time. He does not want to mock the form of epic rather his aim is to mock his society in its very failure to rise to epic standards. He exposes the meanness of his age's nobility by contrasting it with the bravery and noble height of traditional noble heroes. He makes his purpose clear in the beginning of the mock epic: "What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing ...slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays". Where Milton used blank verse to suit his grand task, Alexander Pope has

used heroic couplet to "trivialize the grandeur". He has purposely involved such content that is trivial to suit his goals in writing a mock epic. His scope is purposefully narrow as well as his style purposefully light-hearted. Pope declares that his poem will treat "amorous causes" and "mighty contests," the usual subjects of epic poetry. His characters are no gods or of great sizes. He creates a world of miniatures whether it is in the form of degradation of human character or the aerials that aid Belinda. The subject of the poem is the Baron's love for Belinda's icon (her hair). Therefore, the poem's "mighty contests" arise from the theft of Belinda's hair, and not from the revolt of Satan in Heavens, his defeat or "man's first disobedience". "Say what strange motive, goddess! could compel A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle? O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored, Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?" BACKGROUND OF POEM It is an excellent example of a mock-epic. Taking the entire piece, itbecomes an epic poem in miniature, if every action is taken at face value. But if everything is conceptualizedthrough comedy, then the mocking aspect can be seen. Canto One includes many of the traditional elements of anepic, but the comic aspect is also present. By examining the various epic conventions and epic machinery thatPope uses in this canto, the poem can be assessed as a mock-epic.Epic conventions are known as such because they have been included in the works historically known as epics,such as Homer's The Iliad, Virgil'snAeneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost. All of these works had protagonists thatwere of historical significance: Achilles, Aeneas, and Adam and Eve. Pope's protagonist is notable for her beauty,but Belinda is of little historical note. Yet she is treated with the same reverence as the aforementioned characters.Another convention is the inclusion of supernatural beings. In The Iliad and Aeneid , these were the Greek gods; in Paradise Lost , God and the Devil. What is relation between the rape of lock and Paradise Lost: The Rape of the Lock has its own supernatural creatures, but these are by no means on the scale of Zeus and Poseidon, who ruled the heavens and the seas; instead, the sylphs, gnomes,nymphs, and salamanders that run the show are fairy-like incarnations of coquettish, prudish, yielding, andshrewish women, respectively. Rather than take charge of an entire sky or ocean, these creatures are chargedwith protecting Belinda's diamond earrings or petticoat. Yet another epic convention that Pope uses is thetraditional arming of the heroes. For Homer, this was a catalogue of ships and armor that comprised all of Book Two. Canto One includes this ritual as Belinda is given her combs and pins. The conventions used by Pope arethe traditional epic conventions, only inverted to produce a comedic effect.Pope uses epic machinery in much the same way. The very first two lines posit the epic argument and questions:"What dire offense from amorous causes springs,/ What mighty contests rise from trivial

things." This is akin toMilton's epic question at the beginning of Paradise Lost: "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit/ Of thatforbidden tree whose mortal taste/ Brought death into the world, and all our woe," because it alludes to the storythat is about to be told and even why the story is worth telling at all. Pope uses another typical machinery to make a comic reference to the epic in Canto One when he begins at thebeginning of the day, when Belinda is still asleep. Epics generally begin in medias res , and Pope's action to thecontrary once again draws attention to the differences between his poem and a real epic The features of a mock-epic would be almost same as the epic, but it should be clearly distinguished by its dissimilarity between subject and style. The features of The Rape of the Lock as a mock-epic, are depicted below: 1. The Title: A mock-heroic poetry must be beautified with a grand title. Rape is a serious moral violation which means the seizure of a lady against his consent. In this case, Pope brought such very word to describe the possession of Belinda’s hair lock by Baron, just to produce a mock-heroic sensation. 2. Variation of Style and Subject: Mock epic is a good example of ‘high-burlesque’. This means, the rhyme-scheme of a mock-epic would be grand, but the subject would be ridiculous. In this poem, Pope’s subject matter is insignificant but the style is very high like an epic saga. The rape of the lock is not so rich in content to fit with the epic rhythm. 3. Structural Form: Like an epic, this poem is also divided in several Cantos and episodes that filter The Rape of the Lock as a mock-heroic epic. Pope also began this poem with an invocation in the first stanza, that fits the style appropriately. 4. Supernatural Activities: Being an epic, The Rape of the Lock is presented with supernatural activities. As an epic feature, an explicit difference between heaven and hell is shown in this poem. Belinda plays the role of a divine ore from the celestial chastity of sylphs. In other hand, Baron is the spokesman of gnomes like Milton’s ‘Satan’. Read more at: https://www.risenotes.com/rape/Rape-of-the-Lock-As-a-Mock-Epic.php Copyright © RiseNotes.com Mock epic and Mock-heroic epic are often considered the same thing. Pope's subtitle is "An HeroiComical Poem." However, anthologies tend to call it a mock epic. But I think both terms apply. It mocks the epic style. There are gods (Ariel and Umbriel), there is a battle (with teacups), there is a descent into the underworld (the Cave of Spleen) and there are heroes (Belinda and the Baron specifically, but it is a war between the sexes). The apotheosis, a divine glorification of the hero or the hero's deeds, occurs when the lock of hair flies up, becoming a celestial body such as a star. Depending on your interpretation, you could say that Belinda and the Baron are heroes, similar (in mocking style) to Hector and Achilles in The Illiad. You might also consider Ariel a supernatural hero since it is his job to protect Belinda. But in epic style, Belinda fits the heroic role more than any other character because the act of putting on her makeup is actually symbolic of putting on armor. She "arms" herself at the end of Canto 1:Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-dout. Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; (137-39).

It is generally agreed that the sylphs are the gods and Belinda, the Baron and the other humans are the mock heroes. These heroes don't seem heroic but that is the point; they are being mocked. This is also called bathos; this means to present a common or trivial event in an exalted, epic style. The result is that the characters look ridiculous. I suppose if you wanted to differentiate between mock epic and mock-heroic epic, the former would focus most of its mocking on the epic style and the latter (mock-heroic) would focus most of its mocking on the characters: the "heroes." I think "The Rape of the Lock" does both, but since it is a criticism of early 18th century upper-class twits, the people themselves, you could say the focus leans toward criticism of the so-called heroes, so maybe it is slightly more mock-heroic. Heroic or epic poems are poems like Odyssey, the Aeneid and Paradise Lost, that deals with man's exalted aspects. Their action is powerful, their parsonages are dignified and their style is elevated. Following the traditions and devices of a serious epic, mock epic deals with situations and personage in a serious manner and style, but these situations and personage are trivial and petty. In the result, it produces humorous effect. “The Rape of the Lock'' is a mock-heroic epic poem, both in its matter and spirit. The intention is to reject the artificiality and hollowness of the Pop's age. Pope had intelligently used the formula and elevated style of epic poetry but has employed it to something very trivial. However, it is important to note that “The Rape of the Lock'' is a very complex mock epic. It is not limited only to comparison and parody; rather it has instructive purpose too. Mock- heroic effect is achieved at three levels; action, convention and style. At the surface level of the action, the mock-heroic effect is produced by contrastingBelinda's spending of day in trivial activities with heroic adventures and great achievements of heroes and heroines of serious epic. Mockery is also produced by comparing petty war of sexes— of Belinda and Lord Peter— with the bloody wars of nations. The desired aim is achieved when the reader find the war of sexes as that of nations. Similarly at the social level, the poem gives the picture of moral condition of people ofPope’s age. The world of coaches, snuff boxes, lap dogs, and lustful eyes is like the elevated world of Homer, Vergil and Milton. The mock-heroic effect is produced by placing side by side gigantic with very small and the heroic with non-heroic. Therefore, “The Rape of the Lock" is more than a mere parody of serious epic. It is also evident from the fact that actually this poem was written to reconcile the two families. It aims at moral reformation. This places “The Rape of the Lock” in the line of “Odyssey”, “Aenied” and “The Fairy Queen”. “The Rape of the Lock" revolves around a very serious theme like Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. But its theme is not only funny but trivial also. In the result, its action automatically becomes parody of pure epic. The weapons used in the war of sexes do not consist of shinning swords and mighty shields but hairpins, cosmetics and amorous looks. Pope creates the same serious atmosphere; which reader finds in Virgil’s “Aenied’. Like Homer and Milton, Pope also uses different similes. He compared Belinda's eyes with a radiant lighting sun. At another place he ironically compares her with “Queen Dido” and “Helen”. The funniest comparison is between Belinda’s petticoat and “Mighty shield” of epic heroes.

Lastly, Pope's elevated style is another source of mock-heroic effect. He uses number of poetic beauties like periphrases , alliteration, long vowel, sounds and elevated poetic diction. These all devices increase beauty, charm and mock-heroic effect of the poem. Besides, Popeuses rhetorical style just like serious epic. Then the use of high sounding words, signs of exclamation and interrogation throughout the poem makes its style grander. Then there are lengthy speeches like the serious epic. The destruction of the grand style of the epic is just what Pope was after in his mock epic, "The Rape of the Lock." Pope had no such universal goal, or moral pronouncements to make as did Milton. His purpose was merely to expose the life of the nobility of his time. While Milton chose blank verse to express the immensity of the landscape of his epic, Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize this grandeur. Pope's quick wit bounces the reader along his detailed description of his parlor-room epic. His content is purposefully trivial, his scope purposefully thin, his style purposefully light-hearted, and therefore his choice of form purposefully geared toward the smooth, natural rhythm of the heroic couplet. The caesura, the end-stopped lines, and the perfect rhymes lend the exact amount of manners and gaiety to his work. Writing for a society that values appearances and social frivolities, he uses these various modes of behavior to call attention to the behavior itself. Pope compares and contrasts. He places significant life factors (i.e., survival, death, etc.) side by side with the trivial (although not to Belinda and her friends: love letters, accessories). Although Pope is definitely pointing to the "lightness" of the social life of the privileged, he also recognizes their sincerity in attempting to be polite and well-mannered and pretend to recognize where the true values lie. Pope satirizes female vanity. He wrote the poem at the request of his friend, John Caryll, in an effort to make peace between real-life lovers. The incident of the lock of hair was factual; Pope's intention was to dilute with humor the ill feelings aroused by the affair. He was, in fact, putting a minor incident into perspective, and to this end, chose a mock-heroic form, composing the poem as a "take-off" epic poetry, particularly the work of Milton. He is inviting the individuals involved to laugh at themselves, to see how emotion had inflated their response to what was really an event of no consequence. For the reader, the incident becomes a statement about human folly, a lesson on female vanity, and a satire of the rituals of courtship. Perhaps Pope also intended to comment on the meaningless lives of the upper classes. The poem was published in 1712 and again in 1714; probably the satire is more biting in the later version than in the one presented to Miss Fermor. Pope could hardly have hope to soothe the lady's wounded pride by pointing out her vanity and empty-headedness. In keeping with his choice of mock-heroic form, Pope employs a "high-toned" poetic diction and the stately iambic pentameter of dignified epics like Paradise Lost. And of course, Pope's mastery of the heroic couplet, and the balanced, measured rhythms of his lines, lend an even greater air of solemnity. To achieve this effect, he inverts the syntax of ordinary speech, as in these lines: "Her lively looks a spritely mind disclose" (ii, 9), ""Favors to none, to all she smiles extends" (II, 11), and "Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike" (ii, 13). The effect of this inversion is to add rhetorical weight to the end of the line; the sentence feels particularly "complete." At the same time, the reader is always aware that the poem is a joke. Pope comes right out and says so. For example, one epic tradition is to open with a statement of purpose and an invocation to the Muse. Pope states his purpose as being to sing of the "dire offense" that springs from "amorous causes" and the "mighty contests" that rise from "trivial things" (1-2) -- hardly the lofty and weighty subjects of epic poetry -- and names his Muse "Caryll" (3) for

his friend John Caryll, the relative of the young lord who stole the lock of hair from Arabella Fermor -not the proper sort of Muse for epic poetry. By way of mythological spirits hovering over earthly concerns, Pope gives us sylphs that are really the spirits of young women like Belinda. Milton's Adam had the angel Raphael looking out for him; Belinda has Ariel, one of the "light militia of the lower sky" (42). He jokingly raises Belinda to the exalted stature proper to epic heroines by addressing her as "Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished care/ Of thousands bright inhabitants of air" (27-28) and exorts her: "thy own importance know" (35); but because Belinda is really only a "gentle belle" (8), a pampered and privileged young woman, capable of mere "infant thought" (29), the effect is humorous. The stakes in this mock-heroic epic are Belinda's maidenhood, and the convention of the epic warning comes by way of Ariel's reading of bad omens: "Late as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,/ In the clear mirror of thy ruling star/ I saw, alas! some dread event impend/ . . . Beware of all, but most beware of Man!" (105-114). Belinda's performance of her toilette, assisted by Betty, her "inferior priestess" (127), is described as the arming of the epic hero: "Now awful Beauty put on all its arms" (138), and the images evoked in Pope's description of the various creams and perfumes on Belinda's vanity invests them with a value and exoticism they don't deserve: "Unnumbered treasures," "glittering spoil," "India's glowing gems," "all Arabia breathes from yonder box," "The tortoise here and elephant unite" (129-135) By means of hyperbole, Pope manages to reveal the true worthlessness of these substances. Pope advocates the use of concrete, Saxonate words over abstract, Latinate ones in poetry, and offers numerous examples from eighteenth century poetry of how the effect of abstraction is to show a lack of emotional engagement and possibly even a physical distance between the poet and his subject. Yet Pope defends Miltonian "poetic diction," in "Rape," as sometimes being the most proper and natural style for a particular poet to use. Certainly such a style is well-suited to "The Rape of the Lock," exactly because it does strike the reader as "too much," as "too high" for the subject matter. "Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain,/ The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,/ Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams/ Launched on the bosom of the silver Thames" (ii, 1-4). The use of such "high falutin'" rhetoric to describe a young lady on her way to Hampton Court to play cards is witty and hilarious. Further, it allows the reader a sense of satisfaction to be "in" on the joke. Besides, Pope balances such abstract, Miltonian description with concrete images as well. He explains, for instance, that such female vanities as a "love of ombre" survive after death (56), certainly a specific, concrete image, and shows us "lapdogs giv[ing] themselves the rousing shake" (15). Particularly effective is when Pope combines the abstract with the concrete in a single couplet, as in such lines as "Think what an equipage thou hast in air,/ And view with scorn two pages and a chair"(45-46), or when he combines Miltonian style with upper class English slang, as in "If to her sharesome female errors fall,/ Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all" (ii, 17-18). This shows that just because the subject of Pope's writing is mere frivolity, it should not be concluded that the writing itself is whimsical. Pope can brag that he wrote his timeless epic merely about two quarreling Catholic families and a lock of hair, whereas Milton had Satan, God, Eve, Adam, and the entire creation of the universe to ponder about. In conclusion, Pope focuses on a particular woman and thus succeeds in creating a convincing portrait that the reader accepts and applies to a general population of young women. Belinda may be superficial and rather empty-headed , possessed of "a sprightly mind . . ./ Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as those" (9-10), but she is charming and innocent, too. Many of the works that have been read in this class depict Time as a destructive and baleful force. Time plays a significant role in Pope's underlying message which is that all earthly things must succumb to the inevitable nature that is Time:

"But since, alas! Frail beauty must decay, Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn gray; Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, And she who scorns a man must die a maid;" (V, 25-28) "For, after all the murders of your eye, When, after millions slain, yourself shall die: When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, And all those tresses shall be laid in dust," (V, 145-148) Pope questions why a society with so much potential wastes its energy in trite behavior, thinking, and judgment. She is the product of her culture, her social class and the times. At times, we can see that Pope can relate with Belinda. Much of the blame for her can be pointed to the needless customs of her society. When Pope says, "Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,/Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide" (II, 15-16) the reader knows he's being generous; we've already seen her fault. Pope elevates Belinda to the stature of a goddess, although the rest of the poem effectively strips her of this undeserved title. Pope seems to be pointing his critical and sarcastic finger at human nature. There is a sense of duality in his style that praises his subjects on one level and criticizes them the next. That is why the ending is so fitting. He addresses the duality of human beings as an animal capable of reason, but an animal nevertheless. It is the internal human struggle that Pope wishes to address, and hopefully, bring to light. By using a satirical and cynical approach to address the values and ideas of a maladjusted society, along with a combination of such elements as sarcasm, wit, and humor, Pope complete a narrative worthy to be ranked amongst the greatest literary works of all time.

Cite this Page! Sharma, K.N. "The Rape of the Lock as a Mock Heroic or Mock Epic Poem." BachelorandMaster, 2 Sep. 2014, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-rape-of-the-lock-mock-heroic-mockepic.html.

References: “Http://Ljournal.ru/Wp-Content/Uploads/2016/08/d-2016-154.Pdf.” THE RAPE OF THE LOCK-AS A MOCK-EPIC POEM , 2016, doi:10.18411/d-2016-15