Hello i am Himanshi Parmar, as a task of Thinking activity, about the very famous poem of Alexander Pope named "The rape of the lock", here i write a blog. And answered various questions. But before this let me put a Trailer Video of the poem "The Rape of the lock".
1] According to you, Who is the protagonist of the play clarissa or Belinda?Why?
According to me, Belinda is the protagonist of the poem. Because the entire poem revolves around her. And her dream. She is the central character or we can say heroin of the Mock epic. The poem starts with Belinda, who is wealthy and young woman, who travels to Hampton Court for a day of socializing and leisure. Her remarkable beauty attracts the attention of the Baron, who snips off a lock of her hair and this thing turns into the big matter.
It is difficult to regard her purely as a goddess, or as a pretty spoiled child, or as a flirt. She is combination of all these three. This thing we also found in her character.
In the starting, we see her sleeping till noon and her awakening by he lape dog "Shock". Then we see her proceeding from the Thames River to the Hampton Court. Pope Compares Belinda to the sun and suggests that it recognizes in Belinda a Rival. Belinda is like the sun not only because of her bright eyes and not only because she dominates her special world. She was as beautiful as every eye was fixed on her alone. She is like the sun in another regard:
“Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike.
And, like the sun, the shines on all alike.”
Second thing is, she is like a model, represented the fashionable, aristocratic Ladies of Pope's Age. Such social butterflies in eighteenth century. Who does not have any serious concern with life. And as further as we read the poem, we find that there is a Belinda who is in the center of the poem. She is present throughout the whole poem, while clarissa came into the last part.
Another thing is that what action is belinda taking or what she speaking is she did according to Belinda's action or speech. So if there is no Belinda then the poem has no meaning or virtues. Even Clarissa's speech or a lines also have not stay meaningful. So according to me, Belinda is the protagonist of the poem.
2] What is beauty? Write your view about it.
People can be beautiful in two ways. he/she beautiful is in inner way and in outer way. But i believe that inner beauty is more important and worthy. Inner beauty refers to the personality of a person including his/her mind and character. Where as outer beauty simply refers to the looks of a person. It can easily be faked and changed through makeup, dressing, surgery etc.But it takes a whole lot of effort and a true heart to maintain your inner beauty in this modern age.Beauty isn’t about the matching earrings or expensive bracelets, it is always about carrying the smile and a whole lot of confidence on your face.Beauty is about simplicity, elegance and grace. We need to be comfortable in our own skin.
Outer beauty is transient, it fades with time and so does the looks but your soul, knowledge and heart is something that will stay. In today it is our biggest belief that we are not good looking and if we do not wear fashionable clothes than we will not look beautiful.but in my opinion it is our skill and talent that makes us at par with others. We see this in Belinda's example also, she don't have any specific skills or any talent, she just have a beauty and still people used to impressed by her always. And also the faeries and good spirits are always roaming around her to take care of her safety. So this is the mentality of society we see that how they give much importance to outer look. But i found that inner beauty is more important than outer.
Let me put here one quote which reflect the importance of inner beauty.
. “Why try to be an attractive oyster when you can be the precious pearl inside it.”
To prove my point, that how concept of outer beauty over powered us. here i am sharing one video related this.
3] Find out a research paper on "The Rape of the lock". Give the details of the paper and write down in brief what does it say about the poem by Alexander Pope?
This is the link of the research paper by DR. MEETA MATHUR, Associated professor Department of English University of Delhi, Delhi, India. Click here to download the research paper.
Here i am discussing about the research paper is in brief :-
According to research paper named "The Rape of the lock : A complex Mock Epic". By Meeta Mathur. Pope here combined two forms of writing together. First is epic and satire. And the technical brilliance of the poem is just because of pope. Because he studied great epics very carefully. Along with the point of view of critics also. And keep it in mind while writing his own epics. In this mock epic, the dignified gener is put as to witty. Use according to Meeta Mathur. "A mock heroic epic and not the ridicule of a literary form as some critics believe it to be.
Another thing she mentioned in her research paper is, English poetry no more beautiful and exquisite description than that of the sylphs in cant two of "The Rape of the lock". Pope's mock heroic epic dealing with sylphs and their elemental colleagues. Mock heroic epic describes a quarrel, Pope is also mentioned quarrel in a beautiful way. Use it with humor. The nature of his subject leads to an immense difference between his mock epic and those of Homer and Virgil. Also the poem Rape of the Lock, written in pomp and luster of the idom. And the opening lines is evidence of it. So at last she try to say that pope's epic is quite complex, which is satirizing the society and mocking on it. But in different tone, in different form. And in different way of writing.
Thus to conclud we can able to say that Rape of the lock is the most popular poem, based on the true incidents of Lord Petre and Arabella Fermor.
Words :- 1092
References :-
3] https://www.apexuniversity.co.in/LMS/2020/09/03/inner-beauty-is-more-important-than-outer-beauty/
