Pope’s objectification in The Rape of The Lock and the Improper Transformation

November 11th, 2009

Pope’s objectification in The Rape of The Lock and the Improper Transformation


In Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, there is a unique approach in treating the external and the internal worlds of the characters in his poem. Pope presents his characters as representative of the society of England in the 18th century. Thus, his characters also serve as tools, which enable him to accomplish his critical view of his society. Moreover, Pope’s depiction of things and people is multi-dimensioned, which helps him communicate his critique of the society more effectively. Each component of Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, including motifs and themes, is transformed into its opposite, the opposite of the assumed meaning in its historical and cultural context. This very approach of Pope has different levels in the poem, which gives his poem deeper dimensions and various interpretations. In this paper, I want to explore how Pope’s usage of his transformative technique becomes problematic since the transformed object is different from the transformer object in its nature. Neither does Pope transform something internal to another internal thing, nor does he transform something external into another external thing. For example, Pope transforms the religious symbols and moral values (assumedly components of the internal world) in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, into consumed items (assumedly components of the external world). Instead of transforming those assumedly spiritual objects into other spiritual objects that relate to the internal world of the characters, we find Pope transforming spiritual objects into consumable materialistic ones and vice versa. This approach raises questions concerning the purpose of Pope’s usage of his transformative technique. I argue that neither does Pope use this technique unintentionally nor does he fail in communicating the right kind of transformation he had in mind. In fact, Pope uses this incorrect or improper kind of transformation in order to communicate the confusion about the external and the internal worlds to his readers to enforce his satirical critique of the society. In other words, Pope twists meanings, values, words, images and objects in his poem in order to support his view of the society as confused, indecisive about its priorities and immature.

In The Bible in the Poetry of Pope and Swift, Tichy notes that Pope is skillful in the way he uses ‘‘Biblical material’’ because he applies it to ‘‘a situation far removed from the original in every important way’’ (Tichy p.13). Pope never gives clear clues to what he means even when using religious material or symbols. Tichy’s suggestion can be noticed in Pope’s style in a broader sense, specifically in the way he uses words to mean different meanings far from their original meanings. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word rape means ‘‘the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse’’ (Oxford). Using the word rape, which is usually used for the forceful action of sexually penetrating a woman, accompanied with hair lock, suggests a sexual aspect of raping the hair lock since it implies a form of penetration. Nevertheless, the rape here is a different kind of rape. In fact, it is even a deeper because it is associated with Belinda’s reputation, which is as valuable as her own honor. Payne quotes James Turner when he talks about one of the sources of the ‘‘vertiginous pleasure’’ of The Rape of the Lock which is the way ‘‘a single word can serve as the pivot of the whole interpretation, the hinge between the most polite and the most scandalous meaning’’ (C.Payne p.5). Pope chooses his words very carefully to make them as effective as possible in contributing to the different interpretations he wants to give to his poem. Thus, a single word in his poem can turn the meaning upside down and mean the exact opposite.

Pope applies this approach of placing materials in situations that are ‘‘far removed from the original’’ throughout his poem especially with his images. For instance, the image of the Cross Necklace in Canto II suggests one of Pope’s approaches in treating exotic objects. Pope takes away the true spiritual and religious meaning from the Cross Necklace and makes it a decorative adornment women use to attract men. Pope uses this image to satirize the fact that people changed the meaning of the cross and not only did they change it but also did they make it meaningless and empty. In fact, the Cross Necklace not only did not have anything to do with religion but also did have a sexual implication, which made Belinda more attractive:

‘‘On her white breast a sparkling Cross she wore, which Jews and infidels adore’’ (Pope II,11,7-8) . Since Jews and infidels would not really care about the true value of a cross, Mentioning them here suggests that men adore Belinda’s breasts not because she has a cross dangling between them, but because of her ‘’white breast’’. Whiteness of skin was considered a very appealing characteristic that everyone, including men, sought after (Astell).Describing a breast as white not only does it have an aesthetic aspect to it, but also does it suggest a woman’s sexuality.

Since breasts is related to the concept of motherhood, it is important to know about the connection between breasts and femininity generally and motherhood specifically. In fact, the concept of motherhood was transformed in the early 18th century since it was associated with weakness towards children and lack of femininity for women. Most wives did not breastfeed their children because they did not want to lose the sexual dimension of their identity. They hired nurses to play that role in order to persevere their feminine attraction that assured has their power over their husbands. Thus, writers claimed that women had to choose between their sexual identity and their maternal identity since they thought both identities could not go together. Women who breastfed their infants were considered less attractive than other women. Later in the century, this view of motherhood had changed and mothers were highly appreciated for their motherly and domestic tasks. Moreover, motherhood became associated with purity and chastity. Alexander Pope seems to use this notion in his transformative technique. In The Dunciad in his portrait of the novelist Eliza Haywood, he depicts the character’s lustiness even though she is a mother who is supposed to be chaste according to the criterion of that time of the century. He tries to imply that motherhood did not reflect chastity in that time (Perry p.192).

In her A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, For the Advancement of their true and greatest Interest, Mary Astell depicts women giving value to things which ‘‘if obtain'd, are as flitting and fickle’’ instead of giving it to ‘‘a Proposition that comes attended with more certain and substantial Gain’’ . Astell claims that gaining this proposition can ‘‘improve your Charms and heighten your Value’’. Astell distinguishes between two values resulted from women beauty, a superficial fading value and a profound lasting one. In fact, she associates the fading value with the ‘‘outward’’ beauty and the permanent value with the ‘‘inward’’ beauty. She argues that the ‘‘inward’’ beauty is what survives sickness and old age and remains immortal.

Pope in Canto V expresses the same notion when he emphasizes the falsity and superficiality of the ‘‘outward’’ beauty of a woman’s face if it’s not accompanied with ‘‘good sense’’, for sensibility is true ‘‘Virtue’’.

‘‘How vain are all these Glories, all our pains,

Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains: 

That man may say, when we the Front-box grace, 

Behold the first in Virtue, as in Face! ’’ (Pope V,15-18)

In Anon’s Description of Wanton Women, he refers to some of the customs women of Pope’s The Rape of the Lock follow in their appearance like the locks’ curls, using cosmetics and the revealed breasts.

‘‘You paint your face, you curl your Locks, 

you let your Breasts go bare, 

So that a man may almost see,

what underneath you wear: ’’ (Anon.)

Anon addresses women and blames them for arousing men’s desires by wearing makeup, making their hair and wearing revealed clothing. The expression he uses when describing the way they dress up ‘‘let your breasts go bare’’ implies the carelessness of those women and the looseness of their manners. The next part of the poem confirms this implication ‘‘So that a man may almost see, what underneath you wear’’. Indeed, it communicates that women revealed their breasts on purpose to show ‘‘what underneath’’ which suggests the seductiveness of the women’s behavior. The most striking point comes when Anon criticizes women for dressing this way in church:

‘‘And in the Church you make such a shew, 

We cannot serve God for looking at you; 

O these women, wanton women, 

What do they mean to do?’’ (Anon.)

Anon juxtaposes the church with the bare breasts to convey people’s confusion about values, the same notion Pope communicates when juxtaposing the cross with the necklace. Anon accuses women for showing off their beauty in churches, which is supposed to be a scared and a spiritual place, and distracting men with their bare breasts, which are supposed to be revealed in intimate situations, from serving God. Placing the sensual where the spiritual or the virtuous should be, suggests the notion of confusion about the internal and the external values among the society, which is one of Pope’s major objectives in his literary career.

Moreover, another illustration from Thomas Cross’s New additions unto yovths behaviovr 1650, has two figures of women; one in which a woman wears a long-sleeved dress with straight hair entitled as Virtue, and the other in which a woman wears a dress that reveals her breasts wearing makeup and with curled hair entitled as Vice. This illustration suggests the 18th century overall social association of the way women dress and their moral status. Women who dressed up more conservatively were considered more virtuous than women who dressed up nastily. This assumption among the 18th century society suggests that people think that the external speaks the internal truth. This belief is problematic in a society that is obsessed with superficial appearance because this kind of view equates people’s essence and inner selves with what they wear and possess.

Literary works usually reflect the conflicts and the ways of life of the time in which they are written. The existence of the notion of confusion about the internal and the external values in more than one literary work in the 18th century England confirms the existence of that confusion among people in that time. Therefore, it is unsurprising that The Rape of the Lock is not a literary work that depicts people in or through themselves, but instead it depicts people through objects or through their possessions. I agree with what Christa Knellwolf notes that Pope objectifies his characters and that he ‘characterizes’ objects and makes his characters as a background for his objects. In fact, Pope seems to replace the role of characters by the roles of objects in his poem in order to communicate that confusion. Knellwolf confirms that ‘‘Much of Pope’s poetry is primarily a description of lifeless objects while human subjects are metonymically characterized by the countless objects which are described as background to their actions’’ (Chico p.2). Actually, Pope intentionally depicts objects as if they are speaking for his characters in order to contribute to his character’s confusion even more. This is my main key in exploring Pope’s approach in his treatment of materialistic objects, which is extremely helpful in examining Pope’s transformative technique.

In The Rape of the Lock, we find Pope transforming dead objects and making alive as if they were people whose voices we can hear.

‘‘Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground, 

And the pressed watch returned a silver sound.’’ (Pope I,)

Pope personalizes the sound resulted from the slipper which had been dropped on the floor, as if it were a human door -knocking sound. In fact, Pope seems to give that slipper a feast by which it knocks on the floor and declares its existence. In addition, he refers to the echo of the ‘‘the pressed watch’’ as if it were a person whom had given the sound and returning it back. Objects cannot return sounds because they cannot produce other sounds verbally in response to the original sounds. Furthermore, the act of returning something requires understanding of the act of giving that occurred beforehand and thus requires an act of will from a rational being. This linguistic analysis of the verb return asserts my suggestion that Pope personalizes the watch.

To know how Pope viewed materialistic objects in his time in comparison to other authors in his time, we should display some opinions concerning consumable objects in the 18th century. John Plotz in his article Discreet Jewels: Victorian Diamond Narratives and the Problem of Sentimental Value quotes A.de Barrera in her description of jewels as ‘’representative signs of wealth’’ and that they contain ‘‘the greatest amount within the smallest compass’’ (Plotz p.329) . Not only is Barrera referring to the monetary value of jewels in the 18th century, but also is she referring to the intangible and the cultural value of them in peoples’ minds. Thus, this quotation indicates the significance of jewels in determining the social classification of people. Women who wore jewels were seen as wealthy, were categorized with the aristocratic class and were treated according to the expectations of their class.

Hence, the economic value of jewels had been transformed in 18th century England into a social value which made Plotz think that ‘‘something more elusive, and perhaps more transcendent, resides in the objects or things’’ (Plotz 330). Some cultural studies on the early twentieth century suggested that ‘‘the notion of the boundary between thing and person’’ should to be taken into consideration (Plotz 330).This suggestion implies the confusion and the shifting of ‘‘conceptions of selfhood’’ and the world (the internal vs. the external) in the 18th century England (Plotz 330). The so-called ‘‘boundary’’ between things and people had been overlapped since the ‘‘location of selfhood’’ and what distinguished between one’s self and the external world was undetermined (Plotz 330) . People treated things more like persons in the sense that they saw things as representative of peoples’ inner selves. Therefore, this account of things suggests the problem the 18th century people had in regards of ‘‘the vexed boundary’’ between self and world (Plotz 331). People did not know what things have within themselves and whether their knowledge of those things came from their inner selves or from the actual world. Peter Galliston in his ‘‘Images of Self’’ describes a set of ‘‘Rorschach cards’’ and asserts that the way we describe those cards ‘‘is exactly to say who you are (on the inside)’’ (Plotz 331). As a result, we can conclude that the trend of people identifying themselves with materialistic or consumable objects was widespread. In fact, Galliston’s quote suggests the fact that materialistic objects were looked at more as means of self-expression.

If Pope thought of people’s usage as a means of self-expression, why would he satirize people’s obsession with their appearance that harshly? If he could see the positive side of personalizing objects, why would not he sympathize with people’s way of expressing themselves through objects? I think Pope in The Rape of The Lock both uses his objects to express his characters and objectifies his characters to emphasize his objects. Nevertheless, to reconcile these two literary objectives we should keep in mind that Pope accomplishes these objectives through his transformative technique, which serves his broader goal of communicating his critique of the immature confused society

In order to see how Pope uses his transformative technique in The Rape of the Lock to imply his view of society, we need to explore the different levels of Pope’s transformative technique in addition to displaying different ways in approaching that technique throughout the poem. Pope’s transformative technique in The Rape of the Lock has different complex levels, concerning both concrete things and abstract meanings. At a simple level and concerning concrete objects, we see Pope satirically giving value to objects that are superficial, materialistic and consumable, and taking away value from things that are truly meaningful and profound. Deborah C. Payne refers to Pope’s technique when mentioning ‘‘the poem’s indictment of misplaced values, decayed classicism, rampant consumerism, or even theological despair’’ (C.Payne p.4). This misplacement of values and meanings, which Pope uses throughout the poem, is what I refer to as the transformative technique. When you misplace something that means that, you misunderstand its essence and its function, which leads you to transforming its meaning.

At a more complex level and concerning abstract meanings, Pope by writing his poem on a trivial incident and giving it a serious significance ‘‘what mighty contests rise from trivial things’’ (Pope I,2) , he uses the same transformative technique. He does that in order to communicate his critique of what people cared about in that time and what they considered important to be read and written. Pope publicly discusses an incident that is supposed to be private, in order to transform the meaning of privacy into its opposite, publicity. By doing so, Pope duplicates his theme and flips his poem to make it an embodying tool of the luxury superficial society. ‘‘Pope made public what should have been kept private under normal conventions of courtesy and class; he was embarrassing his social superiors ,whom he did not know and probably never met, by publishing a poem that only furthered his own career’’ (Weinbrot p.316) .

Pope chose to write about a trivial social incident because he assumed that it would attract people’s attention more than any serious topic would. Actually, Pope thought people in general in England 18th century did not have serious interests and tended to care about shallow materialistic issues. Pope’s assumption is affirmed by some cultural studies on the 18th century readership, female readership specifically, which was mainly founded on ‘‘a bourgeois print industry of ladies’ magazines and advice manuals’’ (C.Payne p.5). As a poet who lived among such a society, Pope had to find a way to draw reader’s attention without ignoring his literary role in displaying a critique of the society. Choosing the topic of his poem, Pope proves his unique ingeniousness, because he makes that topic serve his poetic objective; satirizing the immature society.

Pope also uses the transformative technique to communicate the theme of exaggeration in the British society, which contributes to Pope’s critique of it. We can see that theme in Belinda’s reaction of the rape of locks of her hair. Belinda gets sick and thinks that she will lose her reputation. Here we see another example of the transformative technique whereby Pope uses the theme of reputation as an equivalent to the meaning of virtue.

Another example of Pope’s transformative technique is female roles in the poem were essential and more than complementary components which was uncommon in his time. This ‘‘‘‘elevates ’’ these female settings ’’, which contradicts their roles in most epic frameworks,’’ which are usually relegated to a ‘‘low’’ generic form such as the romance, through the simple act of inclusion in an epic framework’’ (C.Payne p.7). Moreover, Pope greatly handles his ‘transformational power’ that Payne refers to, in his description of Belinda who becomes ‘the site of aesthetic elevation’ (C.Payne p.7). Belinda’s beauty does not exist in the poem to characterize a female figure, but to be used as a complementary background to the fancy setting. Therefore, Pope satirizes the fact that Belinda’s lovely face in addition to her ‘‘graceful Ease’’ and ‘‘Sweetness’’ have the power to make us forget about all her faults.

‘‘Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride, 

Might hide her Faults, if Belles had Faults to hide: 

If to her share some Female Errors fall, 

Look on her Face, and you ‘‘forget ’em all.’’ (Pope II,p.15-18).

Belinda is objectified here as if she is a painting that no one cares if it has flaws in the back of it as long as the flaws do not appear in the front of it.

Pope transforms the meaning of themes and values in his poem as a way to embody a vivid depiction of his society and give a space to the reader to comment on it and criticize it with him as well. The poem does not function as a didactic or straightforward criticism regarding the social conditions. Instead, Pope implicitly criticizes the society by depicting the ironic paradoxes it holds within itself. He leaves the comment to readers to enable them to become active participant in giving the poem its multi dimensions.

To make his readers more involved, Pope uses juxtaposition to support his transformative technique. For example, the image of the Bible in Belinda’s dressing table represents the ironic contrast of religious symbols (the Bible) and exotic items (the dressing table and other exotic items on it). This juxtaposition serves as a supportive component to enforce the concept of transforming the Bible, which is supposed to be a sacred and a spiritual item, into an artificial and materialistic item. Tichy also mentions the fact that ‘‘Bible in his (Pope’s) non-religious poems are mainly three…1.) Characterization, 2.) Courtly compliment and 3.) Satire, wit and humor ’’ (Tichy, p.24). Tichy confirms that most of Pope’s allusions have the third kind of purposes in order to accomplish his critical views. Pope presents religious symbols satirically to criticize the society and their careless attitude towards profound values. The same thing can be seen in the image of the cross on Belinda’s charming breasts. The cross becomes a decorative adornment and the fact that is worn as necklace on revealed breasts gives it a strong sexual implication. Again, Pope satirically mocks how people take away the value of the cross and give it to the cold metal instead.

Other examples of Pope’s transformative technique can be seen in the roles of the characters of Belinda and the Baron who were supposed to be lovers. Instead, Pope transforms them into warriors who are fighting each other in a real war. The same thing can be said regarding the scissor that is transformed in the poem to be a weapon that the Baron uses to attack Belinda’s reputation by raping some locks of her hair. A scissor, which is a more feminine object because it is associated with feminine tasks, becomes a weapon and also is found in a female purse. Pope implies the irony of a female having a scissor in her purse instead of any other beauty or cosmetic items. Hence, even the supposedly cosmetic items have been transformed into a weapon, which is associated more with masculinity. Pope suggests the confusion between sexes and the difficulty in distinguishing their roles during that century.

Clarissa lends the Baron her scissor to which Pope refers by ‘two-edged weapon’:

‘‘Drew with tempting Grace  

A two-edged Weapon from her shining Case; 

So ladies in Romance assist their Knight 

Present the Spear, and arm him for the Fight. 

He takes the Gift with reverence, and extends 

The little Engine on his Fingers’ Ends. ’’ (Pope III,p.127-132)

Furthermore, Pope implicitly mocks the fact that even love in the 18th century society is not the romantic or the pure love with which we are familiar. It is a war between lovers to possess more of the other side (the locks in this case). A male lover is not a knight anymore, but a fighter in the war of love. Wolfgang E.H. Rudat talks about lovers being warriors and ‘the warrior becomes the lover’ (Rudat p.89).

The confusion among the 18th century society can also be seen in gender roles and gender identifications. Looking at some 18th century newspapers, we find some ads of beauty products for both males and females (e.g. The Only Delicate Beautifying Cream for Gentlemen and Ladies, which was for the face, neck and hands). Men took care of their appearance as much as women did. They sought those cosmetics products to keep their skin ‘‘soft, fine, white and smooth’’. Men were comfortable to seek these attributes or characteristics, which are usually associated with femininity; because of their confusion of what identified genders.

By using his transformative technique at all its levels, Alexander Pope succeeded in communicating his critique of the society as immature and unable to distinguish between the borders of the internal and the external worlds. Since The Rape of the Lock is a poem of objects more than anything, displaying Pope’s approaches in using his transformative technique with materialistic objects was extremely helpful in understanding how his technique works. Examining Pope’ attitude towards consumed objects enabled us to understand that Pope does not have a problem with people’s expressing themselves through their possessions. Nevertheless, he does criticize his society for being confused and unable to distinguish between the profound things that supposed to be valued and the superficial things that are supposed to be neglected. In other words, Pope does not find consumable objects bad in themselves, but he finds these objects bad when they limit people and possess people’s identities. Thus, Pope criticizes people in his society because he thinks they become tools to serve their vanities, instead of having their vanities serve them. Pope objectifies them in his poem in order to stimulate them to rebel against the boundaries of the objects in which they are confined. In fact, Pope objectifies his characters in order to free them from being slaves of their vanities.


Works Cited

Anon. "A Description of Wanton Women." Copy from: Bodleian Library (1690): 1 sheet ([1] p.).

Astell, Mary. "A serious proposal to the ladies, for the advancement of their true and greatest interest." Copy from: Yale University Library (1694): Wing / 9:06.

BROWN, DENNIS. "The Rape of the Loch Desire between Couple(t)s." Critical Survey 1-16.

C.Payne, Deborah. "Pope and the war against Coqettes or Femininism and The Rape of the Lock Reconsidered-Yet Again ." Eighteenth Century 1991: 3-24.

Chico, Tita. "The Arts of Beauty:Women’s Cosmetics and Pope’s Ekphrasis." Eighteenth-Century Life 24 05 2002: 1-22.

Cross, Thomas. "New additions unto yovths behaviovr 1650. Of some letters as also a discourse upon some innovations of habits and dressings; against powdering of hair, naked breasts, black-spots, and other unseemly customs." Early English books tract supplement interim guide (1672): Copy from: British Library.

Markley, Robert. "''Beyond Consensus : The Rape of Lock and the Fate of Reading Eighteenth-Century Literature.''." New Orleans Review (n.d.): 68-77.

Oxford, English Dictionary. lDictionary.com, LLC. 2009. <http://dictionary1.classic.reference.com/bookstore/oed.htm>.

Perry, Ruth. "Colonizing the Breast : Sexuality and Maternity in Eighteenth-Century England." Eighteenth Century Life 16 Feb 1992: 185-213.

Plotz, John. "Discreet Jewels : Victorian Diamond Narratives and the Problem of Sentimental Value ." Blackwell, Edited by Mark. The Secret Life of Things.Animals ,Objects, and It-Narratives in Eighteenth-Century England . Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2007. 329-354.

Pope, Alexander. The Rape of The Lock . Boston,New York : Bedford Books Edited by Cynthia Wall, 1998 by Bedford Books.

Rudat, Wolfgang E.H. "Pope's 'Agreeable Power of Self-Amusement ' and the Separate Narrative in The Rape of The Lock ." Wascana Review 1978: 89-97.

Tichy, H.J. ( Henrietta J.). The Bible in the Poetry of Pope and Swift. New York : New York University , 1947.

Weinbrot, Howard. "Fine Ladies ,Saints in Heaven and Pope's Rape of The Lock : Genealogy ,Catholicism,And The Irenic Muse." Augustan Subjects Issue : v.32 (2) 2000: 315-317.