Upon reading this, I instantly thought of the quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox: "Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone." Pope's purpose in writing The Rape of the Locke was to discourage quick, reckless tempers by reminding readers to laugh at their own mishaps. Of that time, it was one of the first poems to actually be considered what is a mock-epic, about a woman called Belinda who gets a lock of her hair snipped against her will. In it, Pope pokes fun at a society that has lost all sight of what's truly valuable and makes the major minor and the minor major, using Belinda's appalled response to her cut lock as illustration to this.
While all three chapters were great, I have the most to say about Chapter 1, when it reminded me all too much of a recent read we had, The Vindication of the Rights of Women. I could almost hear Wollstonecraft's voice in some parts. It begins with Pope presenting us the "inner workings" of his poem in Belinda's dream-the paranormal powers that sway the actions of the characters from behind the scenes and are meant to represent Roman/Greek gods. Because Belinda is supposed to be an air sylph when she dies, this particular sprite watches over her closely. The descriptions of what the coquettes enjoy suggests that she is of a very social class. "The joy of gilded chariots" leads me to think these women only cared about glamor and looks while "love of Ombre"-a card game-hints that they also were superficial. In his poem, Pope is giving readers examples of what women should not be like. They should not be governed by the "social norm", but disciplined by morality, true morality. But Pope didn't just pick on girls. He hit the men with some hard truth too when he described their wigs and sword knots, revealing a battle of vanity and competition for the ladies.
While I feel Pope was way more lighthearted and humorous than Wollstonecraft's hard-hitting warnings (his purpose was more to entertain, hers was to inform), I felt like they were beating the same horse: people nowadays are using honor as just another social custom, an act to please and win approval, something to be taken off at the end of day like clothes. Though it appears to be there, it's not actually there, and that's what I feel bothered Pope and Wollstonecraft immensely.
I commented on posts by Drew Hedden and Rebecca Belew.
While all three chapters were great, I have the most to say about Chapter 1, when it reminded me all too much of a recent read we had, The Vindication of the Rights of Women. I could almost hear Wollstonecraft's voice in some parts. It begins with Pope presenting us the "inner workings" of his poem in Belinda's dream-the paranormal powers that sway the actions of the characters from behind the scenes and are meant to represent Roman/Greek gods. Because Belinda is supposed to be an air sylph when she dies, this particular sprite watches over her closely. The descriptions of what the coquettes enjoy suggests that she is of a very social class. "The joy of gilded chariots" leads me to think these women only cared about glamor and looks while "love of Ombre"-a card game-hints that they also were superficial. In his poem, Pope is giving readers examples of what women should not be like. They should not be governed by the "social norm", but disciplined by morality, true morality. But Pope didn't just pick on girls. He hit the men with some hard truth too when he described their wigs and sword knots, revealing a battle of vanity and competition for the ladies.
While I feel Pope was way more lighthearted and humorous than Wollstonecraft's hard-hitting warnings (his purpose was more to entertain, hers was to inform), I felt like they were beating the same horse: people nowadays are using honor as just another social custom, an act to please and win approval, something to be taken off at the end of day like clothes. Though it appears to be there, it's not actually there, and that's what I feel bothered Pope and Wollstonecraft immensely.
I commented on posts by Drew Hedden and Rebecca Belew.
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