The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope

There are several aspects to Alexander Pope 's poem , The Rape of the Lock which cement it as a unique and important work . Not only do Pope 's use of imagery and other literary tools create a landscape of the world which is represented here , but Pope also creates the feeling of emersion into the story for the reader

There are also many individual issues , within the work itself , which utilize their social standing to create emotion for the reader , such as the consumption of drugs throughout The Rape of the Lock . This creates

br an emotional bond with between the reader and the character within the poem by forcing the reader to make judgments on the characters . This judgment , then , becomes part of the reader 's vision of the world Pope created within the poem

While the poem itself was called to be written by Pope 's close friend to end the feud between two families , what Pope succeeds in creating was an epic of lust , debauchery and social posturing . This tale , spun by Alexander Pope , seems just as much a condemnation of the social stratification of his era , as it is a plea for well-born families to put aside their petty squabbles

The events leading up to the writing of the poem , as explained by Pope were

The stealing of Miss Belle Fermor 's hair , was taken too seriously , and caused an estrangement between the two families , though they had lived so long in great friendship before . A common acquaintance and well wisher to both desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it , and laugh them together again . It was with this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock (Pope

This partly explains the use of the term Rape ' in the title . The use of such a strong word to describe such an inane event illustrates Alexander Pope 's fondness of parody - as well as his ability to illustrate the strange and often humorous idiosyncrasies of the wealthy elite

As Pope begins his five act poem , his first line both questions and accuses the parties involved in the rivalry by asking what trivial things ' could have been seen as such a dire Offence . The assault which is spoken of by Pope in this first canto is described as being committed by a well-bred Lord ' upon a gentle Belle . This assault is also questioned , in that Pope asked how a Belle ' could refuse the advances of such a well-born man . It is the assumption , from this early exchange , that it was socially expected that these two individuals , most certainly due to their social standing , would have no choice but to form a physical union - completely ignoring any personal choice in the matter

Throughout the first canto , there are several examples of instances where Pope created a strange sense of reality through his use of word choice and . Calling to attention the vision of a birth-night beau , a very festive and happy image , Pope...