Meghan Utter
Prof. Garrett Sullivan
English 221
22 November 2013
What Goes Around Comes Around
In his poem The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope attempts to poke fun at the actual event involving his friend John Caryll and a lady named Arabella Fermor, in which
Caryll cut off a lock of Fermor’s hair. Pope wrote the poem in an attempt to make light of the situation and to smooth relations between the two families. To this end, Pope uses fanciful writing techniques and rhetoric to make the whole situation seem ridiculous. He uses bathos, zeugma, and epic conventions to try and achieve this effect. However, by using such elevated language, Pope may have unwittingly had the opposite outcome. His uses of these techniques, while meant to lessen the importance of the events and beliefs in the poem, may actually have made them seem more important.
Pope uses bathos to poke fun at the seriousness with which the characters regard and react to trivial objects. He describes what would ordinarily be commonplace or unimportant objects with lofty, flowery language, attempting to lend the portrayals an air of ridiculousness. For example, when describing Belinda’s toilet, Pope uses expressions such as “mystic orders” and “cosmetic powers” (122, 124). This gives the toilet a sense of magical or almost holy attributes. Pope gives the same sense of holiness and virtue to
Belinda herself. He has a host of supernatural, almost celestial, creatures, the sylphs, attend to her with the sole purpose of protecting her beauty. To many people, these portrayals may seem ridiculous, which is undoubtedly what Pope is attempting to convey.
However, it may have the opposite affect.
Pope’s use of bathos, though likely meant to ridicule the importance the characters put on trifles, may produce a paradoxical view. By using such elevated language, Pope may be giving the reader the idea that the trivialities that he is trying to make fun of are truly elevated. For instance, the Baron’s preoccupation with and strife for the lock of Belinda’s hair seem entirely sincere within the poem. This may give the reader the idea that it is actually a legitimate pursuit, and that Belinda’s hair really does have the mystical quality that Pope describes it as having. Instead of turning the objects he is describing into mockeries of themselves, Pope’s use of bathos may have the opposite effect of elevating them to seem much more important.
Pope also often uses zeugma to play with the significance of different objects. He frequently uses zeugma to connect two unequal concepts, usually with ridiculous effect.
For example, he speaks of breaking “Diana’s law, / Or some frail china jar” or staining
“her honor, or her new brocade” (105-6, 107). Obviously, these things are not of equal value. It is much more serious for a woman to lose her virginity than break a jar. Pope attempts to use the zeugmatic phrases to humorous affect, making fun of the characters for making these things of equal importance. By connecting these concepts, however,
Pope may be creating the opposite view.
By putting seemingly unequal notions together, Pope may in fact be putting them equal footing. In his zeugmatic phrases, one of the concepts is noticeably more meaningful than the others. A ladies virginity, honor, and heart are obviously more important than a jar, dress, or necklace. However, by placing these things side by side, Pope may accidentally be raising the importance of the lesser things to equal that of the more serious concepts.
Pope’s use of an epic form also is meant to make fun of the importance the characters place on trivial things. Usually, epics are concerned with figures of great importance, historically, culturally, or even cosmically. They often include supernatural forces. The style of writing is elevated. The way that Pope writes The Rape of the Lock includes all these things. He even opens the poem by invoking a Muse, as many classical epics did. Belinda takes the place of an epic hero, and is portrayed as an important character within the court in the poem. However, this is mostly because of her beauty, not because of any deeds that she did. There are supernatural forces, the sylphs, but again they are only concerned wit Belinda’s beauty. The writing style is elevated, but in a highly ironic way. In fact, Pope means for all the connections to classic epic conventions to be ironic. He is poking fun at Belinda’s importance, because it is pinned to something as petty as her looks. Pope is using these conventions as a way to ridicule the way that such a superfluous thing is seen as an achievement. In fact, though, he may be elevating these seemingly silly objects.
Although he means to put down the characters with his use of epic conventions,
Pope my actually be doing the opposite. By putting Desdemona in the place of the epic hero, Pope may be giving the idea that she should be seen as one herself. By putting her in this elevated position, the reader may believe that Pope is saying she should be seriously held up to the standards that usually accompany a hero. The reader may view
Desdemona as a figure to be looked up to and emulated instead of laughed at. Pope’s use of epic conventions also makes it seem like Desdemona’s beauty should be seen as a legitimate heroic accomplishment, and the theft of the lock of her hair a serious loss. By portraying the events of the poem in terms of epic forms, Pope may unintentionally be elevating them instead of poking fun at them.
In The Rape of the Lock, Pope means to make fun of the importance members of the court place on trifling things such as beauty. He does this by parodying high styles of writing, attempting to make the whole thing seem ludicrous. He uses bathos, zeugma, and epic conventions to try to accomplish this. However, by using these devices, Pope may have created the opposite effect. Instead of deflating the importance of the events and issues of the poem, he may have inflated them. By attempting to poke fun with elevated language and unequal comparisons, Pope may have accidentally made the frivolous issues of the poem more important, rather than less.