Materialism and the Moral Values in The Rape of the Lock - Book Report/Review Example

Materialism and the Moral values in Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock In his fantasy of enchantment and social satire, Pope by following mock- epic conventions, has constructed a psychodrama surrounding his protagonist Belinda, and her aristocratic society. The Rape of the Lock, is a reaction to the moral indignation of the Eighteenth century society that religiously followed the emerging Whig values. Pope eloquently shows how relations between people transformed into the relations between things. He paints a world where individuals are no longer capable of making conscious moral choices. To illustrate this elevated sense of reality, Pope adhered to the conventions of the mock- epic style. By following such style, Pope got an opportunity to describe a correspondingly artificial society and its ways of thought on a lower plane. As a result, Pope based his urbane satire on describing the impressive forms of behavior, influenced by the emerging Whig values that have been emptied of their spiritual or religious content without adapting to the proper modern values. For the faithful and complete representation of the Eighteenth century society, Pope elaborates upon the key to the rapid social developments of that age. The appearance of the private social clubs and the coffeehouses marked the refinement of the contemporary Eighteenth century society. Pope was keenly influenced by this rapid development, especially the importance of the matters that were discussed in these coffeehouses. In The Rape of the Lock, these social clubs not only form an important part of the aristocratic society but also provide Pope with a medium to delve into the social life of the upper class society. Through the gossips held in these social clubs, Pope directs the reader’s attention towards the political events of his times: the criminal trials and the executions along with the economic changes that marked the transitional state of the Eighteenth century society. To understand Pope’s epoch- making, one needs to consider The Rape of the Lock as an imperialist poem for it aestheticizes the products of mercantile capitalism. Here, it is important to undertake Marx’s concept of “Commodity Fetishism” in order to understand the concept of materialism that developed along with the Imperialism. Through the Toilette scene, Pope not only highlights the imperialist element of the society, but also the absence of labor, foregrounded with the satirical effect. What is actually evoked here is labor’s product rather than labor itself. By using the imperial products from India and Arabia in Belinda’s toilette, Pope echoes the values of frivolity and vanity, that not only marked the shallowness of the artistic society but also the mercantile values that people associated with Imperialism. According to Pope, such mercantile values gave rise to Commodity Fetishism and Materialism that had a profound impact on the human relations. In his poem, Pope uses social masks of elaborate codes, games, and conventions to hide the true human essence embedded in the spiritual and moral values. The leveling effect of the mercantile values on the social life is felt in the way religious rituals and symbols begin to look like mere “machinery” in the ritual of courtship between Belinda and Baron. For instance, the line, “Or stain her Honour, or her new Brocade”, is the perfect example of the precise realism of this materialistic society. Here her “Honour” is not only degraded to a materialistic level, its comparison with the “Brocade”, but also it emphasizes the importance of the word “Honour” which exists only when heard or seen. Another example of the degenerating values is “the cross” that Belinda wears around her neck, which serves more as an ornament than a religious symbol. Pope heightens this situation by recording the reactions of the men. It is unclear whether the men are applauding the cross or Belinda’s “white Breast”. These ambiguities eloquently illustrate the reflection of an epoch, that is, the importance of the materialistic values over the moral or religious values. Pope reflects this moral anarchy in his characterization of Belinda as the social and cultural product of her society. Through the characterization of Belinda, The Rape of the Lock, upholds a narcissistic aesthetic. For instance, Belinda’s love of her “A heav’nly image in the Glass”, is an act of vain, idolatrous love. According to Laura Brown, Belinda is a perfect embodiment of Cosmetic Narcissism, “her beauty can only be seen through the commodities that she wears; the question of whether there is a real beauty, or a real Belinda, behind those spoils remains unanswered” (1). The question of real Belinda and her values forms the key in understanding The Rape of the Lock as a satire on the mercantile values of the Eighteenth century aristocratic society, for they are embedded in Pope’s poetic representation of Belinda. However, Pope’s status on Belinda’s portrayal is quite ambiguous. At one point of time, he is admiring her with the tender tone, and on the other criticizing her in a mocking tone. He situates Belinda in a world where vanity takes the form of religious devotion. On the one hand, Pope makes Belinda in her non- conscience endorse every impulse towards coquetry and vanity, and on the other he evokes her beauty being powerful enough to interrupt the natural cycle of the sun- “Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the gazers strike, And like the Sun, they shine on all alike” (II, ii. 13- 14). In comparing the beauty of Belinda to natural change, Pope suggests that Belinda outdoes even the nature, giving her an epic status in his poetic universe. In this universe, Belinda is the supreme object of male desire, associated with the universal and the unchanging, yet she is quick, mobile, and prone to sudden devaluation. This devaluation is important to understand Pope’s reproach at the moral anarchy prevalent during his time. Pope deliberately makes Belinda guided by views that are beyond her natural limits, i.e., a temptation to pride, that ultimately leads her to her fall. In order to justify Belinda’s fallen status, Pope introduces “the Cave of Spleen”, to remind us that the terrors and apprehensions are not always kept at bay even in the gracious world of Belinda, prone to a battle of the Supernatural in which spleen and coquetry compete for her soul. Pope admires Belinda’s powers, but he also pokes fun at her failure to give them proper direction. For instance, he created “The Game of Ombre”, a climatic game where Belinda attributes life to empty forms, to elaborate Belinda’s status as a protector and conqueror of royalty; however, it also signals a sudden drop in her moral values. The battle of materialism and moral values is epitomized in the act of the final battle between Belinda and her admirer Baron, to recover the “lock”. The failure to recover the “lock” seals the fate of the materialistic society into the abyss of moral anarchy. Pope, through his poem, cleverly epitomizes his poetry like the protagonist Belinda in the form of the “lock”. In order to celebrate his creation, he makes the hair attribute a new “Glory” to the heavenly sphere. This might refer to Belinda’s wise adaptation to the changing social attitudes that according to Pope might lead men to adore, and not deplore her name. The concluding passages reveal the real intention of the poet, who appreciates not his protagonist as a person but his poetic representation of her. He wittingly converts the poem into an act of wit controlled by himself, for it is he, in the person of the muse, who sees the raped lock transformed from an artificial cycle to a natural one in the heavens. “But trust the Muse- she saw it upward rise, Tho’ mark’d by none but quick Poetic Eyes” (V, ii. 123- 124). Another important feature of The Rape of the Lock is the ambiguous gender identity and the reversal of the gender roles. Pope uses this theme of gender roles deliberately to echo the degenerated state of the Eighteenth century society. Identity is the curse of this world; it bodies forth a lumpish reality in which ideas and objects are interchangeable, in which images and their reflections are indistinguishable, and in which the use of words determines the fate of all. “A higher version of this principle of identity is what Ariel offers Belinda: a mock religion substituting changelessness for immortality, tribal protection for grace, universal identity for altered states, illusory self- images for angels, and homogeneity for analogy” (Brown, 10). Pope carefully uses sylphs to manipulate the concept of gender identity and humans to that of corresponding gender roles. Ariel’s gender identity is questionable. Being a sylph it belongs to the world of mythological spirits, where the sylphs switch gender after their death, that is why Ariel is characterized from a world which is no more than words- “Hear and believe!”. For Belinda likeness is the key to total identity; she awakens, fittingly, to her own image sensuously evoking the nearby objects. She stays self- contained and self- sufficient, and remains self- adorning till the end. Pope eloquently highlights the transformed state of his society by allotting opposite gender roles to men and women who do not act in accordance to their gender identity. He portrays Belinda as an epic hero, thus prescribing her a different gender role that denotes male attributes of heroism. Furthermore, to increase the ambiguity, Pope uses male terms to describe Belinda’s feelings and actions. This transformation of the gender roles is the key to Pope’s urbane satire, where women are shown embodying masculine characteristics whereas the men adhere to the feminine delicacy. In the character of Baron, Pope contrives the opposite characteristics that are expected out of a man. He is plotted in the game of courtship where Belinda, his lover, dominates him. He is shown fainting in the situation where men are expected to show courage and heroism. The only incident where Baron is seen with some power is the scene where Belinda gets raped of her lock. This incident, though trivial, is the central plot of the whole poem. Here, it is important to note that Baron performs the primary act of “raping” Belinda’s lock, but is shown impotent by Pope, for it is Clarissa who helps Baron by providing the weapon to him. Through the courtship of Belinda and Baron, Pope wants to highlight the key values of the society, i.e., love and passion based on the concern for the beauty and reputation. They are shown having no consideration for the real problems of the society because they are too busy chasing. Hence, through the behavior of Baron, Pope critiques upon the lost moral and traditional values of the society in the hands of Materialism. This behavior is the comment on the fictional values of the society that fails to conform itself in accordance to the rules of the traditional society. By his stroke of mock- epic treatment, Pope connects the real epic conventions with the beliefs of his own country, a connection required of an epic poet. He contrasted the artificial society of Belinda with that of the epic heroes, to create a society where even the natural acts become empty, even corrupted. In order to achieve his aim, Pope invented the world of supernatural, where the things are elevated to the heroic level, and this satirical effect is the key to the poem’s mock- heroic status. The poem opens with the mock- epic tone, invoking his muse, Pope introduces the theme of war and love. To elevate his theme to that of moral values, Pope introduces the epic creatures in the trivial concerns of the human life. The sylphs adorn the role of Greek Gods, intervening the lives of humans, causing problems with their supernatural powers. The special function of the sylphs is “to tend the Fair”. For this Pope itemizes the cosmetic arts in which these spirits excel, carefully allotting the routine of dress and make up, the materialism, in the sophisticated society world to creatures traditionally identified with the nature. To further this battle of materialism and moral values, Pope threads many supernatural events- Clarissa’s aid to Baron in carrying out the epic action of cutting the lock that “signifies a symbol of the war of the sexes”; Umbriel’s epic journey to the underworld of the “Cave of Spleen” evoking miscellaneous emotions and feelings that further highlighted the degenerated moral status of the society. Keeping with the epic conventions, Pope uses the “Game of Ombre” to provide his mock-epic poem a political dimension. It summarizes the disparity between natural and artificial social changes, between a socially appropriate society and one that has kept the forms but deprived them of relevance. This element of artificial values, is dexterously evoked by the poet through the use of the mock epic conventions that provided him a way of dealing with a faded past and a changing present, a change that could be natural or artificial. Pope has produced a poem that has a living value and relevance. In highlighting the fetishism of people with the materialism, Pope comments upon the degree to which the society appreciates the outward appearances in the place of the moral values. This materialistic essence of the society is penned down beautifully in the form of Belinda, who herself is portrayed little more than a moved object, epitomized in a lock of hair, a possession, that ultimately undermines her value from being intrinsic to social. To conclude, Pope has brilliantly used mock- epic style not only to suit his own purpose of satirizing emerging Whig values, but also to celebrate a society that can admire itself in its own ingenious, glittering products. Notes 1) Brown, Laura. Alexander Pope. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985) 14. WORKS CITED 1. Brown, Laura. Alexander Pope. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985. Read More