The Rape of the Lock Term Paper

{c}Politics, Nature, and Man in The Rape of the Lock{c}

         Politics debase and contradict the nature of man. Man dreams of being carefree like “fish in streams, or birds delight[ing] in air,” (Pope 54). Yet circumstance forces man to spend time navigating politics to live. Work, society, and even man’s own mind detracts from nature, leaving man more vulnerable to the environment. When society or politics aren’t dictating to man, nature tends to remind him of his place in The Rape of the Lock. Awareness of vulnerability causes the Baron and man to react in defense. Man defending the politics beat into him over time parallels nature’s erosion over eons. When Belinda’s pride and the Baron’s conceit clash at Ombre, man reacts by controlling nature via displacement. The excess of make-up and the façade of pretense further pervert the game into erroneous first impressions of both characters. Therefore, The Rape of the Lock suggests man’s fleeting estimation of nature doesn’t account for the probability of his exploiting it as chance governs outcome.

         Nature’s mercy molds man, but politics manipulate man through time. When politics have finally contorted man from himself, man’s behavior amounts to;
         Thus when dispers’d a routed army runs,
         Of Asia’s troops and Afric’s sable sons,
         With like confusions different nations fly,
         Of various habit and of various dye:
         The pierc’d battalions disunited fall,
         In heaps on heaps; one fate overwhelms them all. (Pope 52).
Powerless and helpless though man is, he still likes to display and wield what little power he can. Nature as a result becomes “China’s earth receiv[ing] the smoking tide:” (Pope 52). Politics entrap man, and the immediate environment suffers displacement as a result, “The hungry Judges soon the sentence sign, / And wretches hang that Jury-men may dine;” (Pope 50). The wretch in this case happens to be Belinda the “Belle” (Pope 40), and the sentence includes more than simply getting her hairdo ruined in public. The duchess’ “silver Vase (Pope 44) […] receive[ing] a flaw” (Pope 48) results in part from “the Cosmetic pow’rs” (Pope 44) of despotism contorting public image of 18th century politics into a pretense of community.

         Although the nature of politics conditions man over time, nature’s politics spare no one. Their potent combination acts upon man in The Rape of the Lock through the Baron, “What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date,” (Pope 54). The Baron and Belinda are made out to be victims, yet their “haughty mien, and barb’rous pride:” (Pope 51) in The Rape of the Lock suggests otherwise. Or does it? Guilty is man’s fellow [hombres] for rigging the deck via makeshift living conditions, but man cannot predetermine what’s in the cards for the future. Belinda and the Baron’s true colors of “rage, resentment, and despair” (Pope 55) contradict the current card Pope plays via historical narrations. Belinda the “Goddess” (Pope 40) and the Baron “Lord” (Pope 40) cannot conceal intense reactions via politics of the Cosmetic pow’rs” (Pope 44) unlike chance and nature governing fate. In addition, Pope’s political and historical narrative strengthens the integrity of the story itself.

         Instinct wanting to be free “view[s] with scorn two Pages and a Chair,” (Pope 42). Pope sentiments reveal him to be a feminist in disguise also viewing books as indiscriminate marketing paraphernalia for man’s laws via “French Romances” (Pope 46) and “tomes of casuistry.” (Pope 63). Pope patronizes literature’s current card in The Rape of the Lock to suggest nature’s power over man. If people read books for reasons other than learning, little freedom is to be had, especially for the Baron and Belinda. Culture and law subtly chain books into man “bound[ing] thy narrow views to things below” (Pope 41), resulting in “thy own importance know” (Pope 41). Since life entails things below, tyrannical ruler’s opinions are bound to have an effect like “strik[ing] [man] to dust th’ imperial tow’rs of Troy;” (Pope 54). Pope implies man is mislead by books; however, man’s nature alone unleashes more annihilation upon the environment at an increasingly violent pace. Man pegged as “Sylphs prolong[ing] the balmy rest:” (Pope 41) detracts from The Rape of the Lock’s integrity because sylphs and fairies only exist in imagination. Either way, Pope is part of civilization patenting itself as “erring mortals” (Pope 41)…[enforcing]…“Honour […] [to be] the word with men below” (Pope 42).

         Death influences those in “[mourning]” (Pope 41) when their “eyes” (Pope 42) don’t coincide with man’s stipulations for fear of his neighboring [hombre]. One law is “[b]y love of Courts to num’rous ills betrayed” (Pope 59). Many artificially landscaped courts for princes and duchesses to tread upon during the 18th century is not Pope’s meaning of court. This passage is uglier with its internalization of man’s laws via the monarchy. The lexical ambiguity of court substantiates Pope’s fleeting innocence, even as his poem further dead-bolts man into a metal cage. The bias of 18th century politics freely accepts men as “lap-dogs” (Pope 41), whereas women in public would be shamed for the inclination of “giv[ing] themselves a rousing shake” (Pope 41). Distorting a person’s sense of dignity to that of circumstance allows Pope to innocently make accusations; but books and people are neither “good” nor “bad.” Pope’s poker face is revealed with the stagnant ethnocentrism in The Rape of the Lock.

         The Rape of the Lock compares nature against man’s violence. Notwithstanding society’s definition of rape, the title suggests a natural violence. Alexander Pope’s use of rape describes erosion from time and man. It is the degree of rape that varies when comparing civilization to nature. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock not only considers the limits of physical reality, but also supports nature because man and woman are a part of the environment, too. The Ombre card game is the context because nature’s outcome is random, decreasing man’s lawless predictability. Man’s increasing dependence upon the environment supports nature’s countless genetic variations allowing Pope and nature flexibility in a critical 18th century setting.

         Pope’s The Rape of the Lock reveals a telling history of man more critical than the socioeconomics of a silly card game one evening as fate supplements with static but timely passages. The significance of life’s mundane events are anything but trivialized via the hellish landscape of the “Baron” (Pope 46) and the “Belle” (Pope 45). Nature prevails with its reactions and actions via integrity of momentum thwarting the narrow views of monarchy android’s intruding like greedy casino regulars at a craps table. Yet, equal-opportunity is relative as Belinda’s pride and the Baron’s conceit discover the futility of competing for bragging rights. Man gambles away too many chances into obscurity risking nature to fix probability for a long life. Since nature is what it is, however, the crime doesn’t fit the punishment. It hardly ever does. In conclusion, man’s attempts to exist parallel with nature in The Rape of the Lock increase the need for those detested books, theories, and laws, because nature cannot be bottled up for man’s convenience, and neither can man quantify worth via the current fad.