THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POPE’S DEPICTION OF SOCIETY

The rape of lock is a classic heroic style narrative poem written by Alexander pope it is
written in five beautiful cantos. It was based on a actual story recounted by the poet’s
by pope’s friend. Pope pokes fun at the superficial character of aristocratic society, he
seems to particularly focus on the rituals of womanhood and is highly condescending
towards women. First of all, the poems main focus is Belinda. She is presented as an
upper class aristocratic woman with no real duties or concerns. She is constantly
surrounded by Sylphs who’s only purpose is to protect and pamper her. This is one
example of her importance, the fact that she requires such protection suggests a certain
level of importance to begin with. As she goes about her day, she sleeps in quite late,
takes her time getting ready and being pampered, then she sets out to enjoy her
afternoon with friends. Not once does she have to ask permission from anyone or
answer to any man. For a woman in this time, this is a big deal, women were usually
seen as dependent upon their husbands, but here Belinda can do as she pleases. She
also gets into a heated argument with the Baron, “See, fierce Belinda on the Baron flies,
With more than usual Lightning in her Eyes. Another important female character in this
story is Thalestris, one of Belinda's friends. She is also portrayed as rather middle of
paper dence that he believes women can in fact have a power similar or even greater
than men. It is important to note that Pope was writing in a time when women were
generally believed to be the intellectual and moral inferiors of men, and on the one hand
the poem seems to support the idea that Belinda’s only real value stems from her
beauty. For example, in Canto II, when Belinda’s beauty is adored by all around her,
This not only suggests that any moral failings she might have are on account of the fact
that she is “female,” but also that society judges her worth not through her morality but
her beauty, as these “female errors” are forgotten as soon as you “Look on her face.”
The implication here is that society expects women to be beautiful to compensate for
their perceived inability to be as virtuous as their male counterparts. Traditionally, the
protagonists of epic are male, with women as secondary figures who exist only to
support or impede the men. So Pope’s treatment of Belinda as a kind of epic hero in her
own right, relegating the male characters to secondary figures, in itself can be read as a
radical interest in female concerns. Pope also perhaps implicitly acknowledges that,
while Belinda’s focus on her appearance isn’t exactly virtuous, it’s at least
understandable. Furthermore, Clarissa’s speech at the end of the poem is an excellent
example of how Pope is able to subvert contemporary expectations of women. Countering
the idea that women lack intellectual and moral authority, Clarissa, a woman, gives the
most lucid speech in the poem which counters the idea that all women have to offer is
their beauty. In the end, a story that appears to poke fun at the carefree lives of upper
class women actually gives great appreciation to the subtle powers women hold over
men. It could be argued that one of the most important powers of women is that of
controlling men with their trivial problems and needs. Perhaps Pope was demonstrating
women’s skill in controlling men by simply playing the part of the vain shallow
debutant. Whatever his intentions were it is clear that Alexander Pope did not in fact
find the women of his time to be completely powerless, instead they were the driving
forces of the household and of society.