The Rape of the Lock as A Social Satire

Introduction

The Rape of the Lock is not only a mock epic poem that explores
18th century England society but also a social satire. Alexander Pope
made it clear that initially he did not write the poem for this specific
purpose. Nonetheless, directly or indirectly it is an absurd
misrepresentation of aristocratic class; it is an imitation of the routine life of
people who belonged to feudalism. Aristotle mentions two types of poetry in
his book “Poetics”: tragedy and comedy. In his eyes, tragedy is better than
comedy; however, we cannot underestimate the powers of a comedy, the
primary purpose of which is to satirise the society to make reformations.

What is Satire?

Aristotle says that when a poet imitates nature, he presents it either

good or worse; from worse he means that a poet shows mirror to the
society by revealing their absurd behaviours and follies. It means that the
Greeks knew about the satire; however, the word “satire” was unknown to
them. It has been derived from the Latin word “satira” which means
“medley”. A writer uses this technique to show people their shortcomings
so that they can make improvements. It is very wrong to understand satire
merely as a synonym for humour. Humour may have many purposes;
laughing, excitement, interest of audience etc; satire on the other hand is
purely for the purpose of reformations. 

Satire in 18th Century

 In English literature, the technique of satire was much improved by
the end of the 17th century. Almost every poet of that era wrote at least one
satirical poem. In fact, the trend increased day by day and literature based
on this technique engaged more and more audiences. Clark Lecturer
James Sutherland expresses his views on usage of satire in 18th century
and says:-

In those days, a war between the witts was started. They attacked
each other in writing. Resultantly, literature was published a lot and satire
became common for everyone. Alexander Pope is also one of them who
gained fame in those days and made his name in witty satires. 

The Rape of the Lock as a Social Satire

The Rape of the Lock was a response to a request that John Caryll
made to Alexander Pope. He was his friend who requested him to write a
poem. Thus, the real purpose of The Rape of the Lock was not to satarize
the society. Alexander Pope once said:

“The stealing of Miss Belle Fermor’s hair, was taken too seriously, and
caused an estrangement between the two families, though they had lived
so long in great friendship before. A common acquaintance and well-wisher
to both, desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it, and laugh them
together again. It was with this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock.”

However, when the poem was published again in 1714 with an extended
version, it gained too much fame. It was a complete satire in itself.
Alexander Pope wrote this poem to make fun of a society that was wasting
time in useless activities. He mocked them in a way that they enjoyed
reading the poem without realising it. So, The Rape of The Lock is a Mirror
to the Eighteenth Century Aristocratic Society.

Satire on Vanity of 18th Century England Society

In The Rape of the Lock the poet explores the vanity of english
aristocratic society; he exposes their excessive beliefs in their own abilities
and attractiveness to others. On one hand, he talks about fashionable men
whereas on the other hand he also mentions that ladies were not different
from men in this regard. He creates war-like scenes in the poem to  ridicule
the society and to show them they make preparations for useless activities
as they are going to war. He does not target a single person nor does he
talks about any specific profession but as a whole; it is the beauty of The
Rape of the Lock that it is a complete social satire due to which it has a
universal appeal.

All the ladies of that era were fond of gilded chariots. The poet shows
their vanities. They considered themselves superior to others in beauty.
Although the poem has not been ever judged from psychological
perspectives yet it is a matter of fact that the poet shows mental psyche of
those people through social satire in his poem The Rape of the Lock. He
writes:

“With varying Vanities, from ev'ry Part,

They shift the moving Toyshop of their Heart"
Social Satire on Males and Females In The Rape of the Lock

In the poem, the poet creates a female character named Belinda.

Although in the complete poem, he talks only about her yet he means to
say every single female of that era who belonged to aristocratic class. On
the opposite, he creates a male character named Baron. He uses him to
show the routine life of gentlemen. England has been known for the people
with heroic deeds for many years; however, the lifestyle that the gentlemen
adopt in this poem is entirely opposite to the heroism. The poet laughs with
us on them.

In the very beginning of the poem, the poet starts showing the
laziness of the upper class. Belinda wakes up from sleep and sleeps again.
It means that she has nothing to worry about. The poet means to say that
plenty of money was there with those people, hence, they had no worries.
Subsequently, she prepares herself for a party just like a soldier prepares
for a battle. In an epic poem we see a poet give a detailed description of
armour and body of a hero. Similarly, Alexander Pope mentions in detail
Belinda’s combs and pins.

The poem also shows that people’s hobbies also change with the
passage of time. They were no more interested in courageous, heroic and
war stories; rather they were busy in making themselves look better to
others in a ball party.  Thus, there is a social satire on noble ladies of that
centaury in The Rape of the Lock.

There is no denying the fact that women were busy impressing men
and men were trying their best to make good impressions in front of the
ladies. Women’s curiosity has been shown towards puffing, make-up, using
cosmetics, dying their hairs, petting etc. whereas men on the other hand
are shown useless, idle, lazy, unwise, foolish and hollow minded who think
flirting with ladies as their primary moto.
Satire on Materialistic Relationships

Relationships between men and women were not real at all. The poet
sheds light on this issue too. Romeo and Juliet once lived there; however,
the poet does not portray any such relationship between anyone. He shows
that the people were busy in making affairs and they were apathetic to real
relationships. 

The Rape of the Lock in actual is the rape of honour and a social
satire that honour had no value in the eyes of those people. There was no
purity in those ladies. It seems that the Pope was living in the 21st century.
In these days, people are living in “living relationships”’ without marrying;
however, that was started many years ago though it was not usual for
everyone. The poet has shown this in his poem if we deeply study it with
symbolic meanings.

The poet targets every relationship. People do not like the friendship
of those people who are inferior to them. When Belinda’s lock was cut, her
friends left her alone; the incident is a social satire on emptiness in
relationships between the people of that era. 

Conclusion

Suffice is to say that the poet does not directly uses any word against the
standards of 18th century England society; rather he uses the technique of
social satire in his poem The Rape of the Lock to spread awareness about
the follies of their people. He covers almost everything in the poem. From
every angles, The Rape of the Lock seems a poem that best defines the
technique of social satire.