RESTORE THE LOCK!!!

Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is considered one of the best mock-epic ever published and I guess the reason is pretty obvious. Based on the event that occurred to Arabella Fermer, it is about the trivial event of a Baron cutting the young woman Belinda’s one little lock of hair. To satirize the vanity of high society and how people make a big deal out of nothing important, Pope coats the story with epic characteristics – Belinda is equivalent to the epic hero, the scissors and hairpins are the weapons of the hero, the card game, the actual cutting of the hair, and the fight at the end are depicted as the epic battles. The title of this mock-epic also has its significance, not only does it catches the readers’ attention immediately, the use of the strong, violent word “rape” is such an overstatement for a cut of the hair, which once again serves the purpose to satirize the high society’s idleness and sole emphasis on appearance. 

When we think about it, the problem of emphasizing on physical appearance actually still remains in today’s society, especially with the media’s portrayal of a certain standardized beauty of many models and celebrities getting more and more accessible to the general public. Pope makes Belinda’s reaction really exaggerated to a ridiculous extent in order to make his point, which reminds me of some of the crying girls in the makeover episodes of the reality show “America’s Next Top Model” when they are given a haircut. But just to be fair, I would probably be pretty mad too if someone just cut my hair for no reason. Not letting this happen!!