Free Essays on The Rape Of The Lock

and armor. However despite the similarities of the subject matter there is a crucial difference between the two authors: the depiction of women Pope portrays women as shallow vapid creatures completely absorbed in the social trivialities of their upper crust world. Congreve on the other hand paints a kinder picture of the â€Å"gentler sex†. A woman, despite being a good herself, has certain resources at her disposal: wit (intellect), her sexuality, and wealth. The women in Congreve’s world all have some form of power and are distinctly aware that these are bargaining chips to â€Å"conquer† a man into a good marriage i.e. a marriage that provides wealth and respectability. Essentially Congreve portrays women similarly to men as creatures with real concerns, intellect, power but limited so that it is a struggle to achieve one’s goals while Pope portrays them as beautiful inconsequential ornaments. The pursuit of women, in Congreve’s it is the witty Millamant and in Pope’s it is the ravishing Belinda, drives the plots of both stories. In both texts these beautiful and virginal â€Å"prizes† can only be won through much verbal maneuvering and ambushes. In Congreve’s ... Free Essays on The Rape of the Lock Free Essays on The Rape of the Lock Dehumanizing Women Women are portrayed as commodities in both Alexander Pope’s â€Å"The Rape of the Lock† and in William Congreve’s â€Å"The Way of the World†. However in Congreve’s â€Å"Rape of the Lock† women play a more active and cognizant role wrangling a suitable marriage than in Pope’s poem. In both texts elite society is portrayed as a group that have complex social interactions. The stakes are quite high: marriage. Marriage in those days was not simply a matter of the heart, but it is an institution that defined people’s class status, wealth, and connections. This is a battlefield of affection and the spoils of marriage go to the victor. Here the weapons are verbal spars and witty parries replacing the clash of metallic swords and armor. However despite the similarities of the subject matter there is a crucial difference between the two authors: the depiction of women Pope portrays women as shallow vapid creatures completely abs orbed in the social trivialities of their upper crust world. Congreve on the other hand paints a kinder picture of the â€Å"gentler sex†. A woman, despite being a good herself, has certain resources at her disposal: wit (intellect), her sexuality, and wealth. The women in Congreve’s world all have some form of power and are distinctly aware that these are bargaining chips to â€Å"conquer† a man into a good marriage i.e. a marriage that provides wealth and respectability. Essentially Congreve portrays women similarly to men as creatures with real concerns, intellect, power but limited so that it is a struggle to achieve one’s goals while Pope portrays them as beautiful inconsequential ornaments. The pursuit of women, in Congreve’s it is the witty Millamant and in Pope’s it is the ravishing Belinda, drives the plots of both stories. In both texts these beautiful and virginal â€Å"prizes† can only be won through much verbal maneuvering and ambushes. In Congreve’s ... Free Essays on The Rape Of The Lock As the name indicates, the Mock-Epic is a literary form that ridicules the ‘classical epics.’ It does so by using characteristics of the classical epic; the invocation of a deity, a regular statement of theme, the division of the work into books and cantos, ostentatious speeches, battles and supernatural machinery; to reveal the absurdity of a certain subject. The main consequence of utilizing the style of an epic is, however, not so much to have fun with the epic, but to deflate a subject or characters that by contrast appear exceptionally insignificant. One of the best examples of a Mock Epic is Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. Pope uses highly refined verses, pungent satirical heroic couplets, and intelligence to satirize not only the irrepressible intricacy and solemnity of subject matters found within epic poems, but the commotion that results when a young lord cuts a small lock of hair from the head of an young beauty. In The Rape of the Lock, Pope exhausts much energy preparing the audience for a ‘battle’ (card game) that will shortly take place, that of English intrigue at Hampton Court. Pope treats the subject with gravity, portraying the story as a true epic. Pope's intent was perhaps to weaken, with pleasantry, the adverse feelings aroused by the trial of the episode. Pope is asking the reader to laugh, to see how an event of little significance has been filled with importance. Though its manner may be light, its purpose is completely earnest; it keeps the public conscience mindful, it exhibits absurdity for what it is, and makes those prone to embrace senseless or garish customs conscious that they are ludicrous. Thus, his work is ranked more accurately as a bemused satire. In other words, Pope aimed to show to society the absurdity of the subject, rather than to abhor them as wrong. The main subject that Pope mocks is beauty. Pope addresses beauty in a multitude of ways. The Rape of the Lock discloses...