The Rape of the Lock 夺发记 赏析

The Rape of the Lock

夺发记

By Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

1. Introduction: The Mock-Epic

At the beginning of

The Rape of the Lock

-comical

poem.” Today, the

poem–

and others like it

–

is

referred

to as a

mock-epic and sometimes as a

mock-heroic.

Such

a

work

parodies

仿作

the

serious,

elevated

style

of

the

classical

epic

poem

–

such

as

The

Iliad

or

The

Odyssey

,

by

Homer

–

to

poke

fun

at

human

follies.

Thus,

a

mock-epic

is

a

type

of

satire;

it

treats

petty

humans

or

insignificant

occurrences

as

if

they

were extraordinary or

heroic, like the great heroes and events of Homer's two great epics. In

writing

The Rape of the Lock

later epics such as

The Aeneid

(Vergil),

The Divine

Comedy

(Dante), and

Paradise Lost

(Milton).

Many of these characteristics are listed below

, under

2. Setting

The action takes place in London and

its environs in the early 1700's on a single day. The

story

begins

at

noon

(Canto

I)

at

the

London

residence

of

Belinda

as

she

carefully

prepares

herself

for

a

gala

盛会

social

gathering.

The

scene

then

shifts

(Canto

II)

to

a

boat

carrying

Belinda

up the Thames. To onlookers she is as magnificent as Queen Cleopatra

was when she

traveled in

her barge. The rest of the story (Cantos III-V) takes place where Belinda

debarks

下船

Hampton

Court

Palace,

a

former

residence

of

King

Henry

VIII

on

the

outskirts

of

London

–

except

for

a

brief

scene

in

Canto

IV

that

takes

place

in

the

cave

of

the

Queen

of

Spleen.

3. Characters

Belinda:

Beautiful

young

lady

with

wondrous

hair

,

two

locks

of

which

hang

gracefully

in

curls.

The Baron: Y

oung admirer of Belinda who plots to cut off one of her locks.

Ariel: Belinda's guardian sylph (supernatural creature).

Clarissa: Y

oung lady who gives the Baron scissors.

Umbriel: Sprite who enters the cave of the Queen of Spleen to seek help for Belinda.

Queen of Spleen: Underworld goddess who gives Umbriel gifts for Belinda.

Thalestris: Friend of Belinda. Thalestris urges Sir Plume to defend Belinda's honor

.

Sir Plume: Beau of Thalestris. He scolds the Baron.

Sylphs, Fairies, Genies, Demons, Phantoms and Other Supernatural Creatures

4. Source: A Real-Life Incident

Pope based

The Rape of the Lock

on an actual incident in which a British nobleman, Lord

Petre, cut off a lock of

hair

dangling

tantalizingly

令人着急地

from the head of the beautiful

Arabella Fermor

.

Petre’s daring

theft of the lock set off a

battle royal

between the Petre and

Fermor

families.

John

Caryll

–

a

friend

of

Pope

and

of

the

warring

families

–

persuaded

the

great

writer

to

pen a literary

work satirizing the absurdity

荒谬

and silliness of the dispute.

The

result

was

one

of

the

greatest

satirical

poems

in

all

of

literature.

In

writing

the

poem,

Pope also drew upon ancient classical sources

–notably Homer’s great epics,

The Iliad

and

The

Odyssey

–

as

models

to

imitate

in

style

and

tone.

He

also

consulted

the

texts

of

medieval

and

Renaissance epics.

5. Plot Summary

Pope opens

with a statement announcing the topic of

his poem:

A gentleman

–

a lord,

in

fact

–

has committed a terrible outrage against a gentlewoman, causing her to reject him. What

was this offense? Why did it incite

刺激

such anger in the lady?

The

woman

in

question

is

named

Belinda.

She

is

sleeping

late

one

day

in

her

London

home

when a sylph

–

a dainty

精巧的

spirit that inhabits the air

–warns her that “I saw

, alas!

some

dread

Event

impend.”

The

sylph,

named

Ariel,

does

not

know

what

this

event

is

or

where

or

how

it

will

manifest

itself.

But

he

does

tell

Belinda

to

be

on

guard

against

the

machinations of men.

Belinda

rises

and

prepares

herself

for

a

social

gathering,

sitting

before

a

mirror

and

prettying herself with “puffs and powders” and scenting herself with “all Arabia.” Afterward,

she travels up the Thames River to the site of the social festivities, Hampton Court, the great

palace on the north

bank of the river that

in earlier times was home to

King

Henry VIII.

As

she sits in the

boat, “Fair Nymphs, and

well

-drest

Y

ouths around

her shone, / But ev'ry

Eye

was

fix'd

on

her

alone.”

In

other

words,

she

was

beautiful

beyond

measure.

She

smiled

at

everyone equally, and her eyes

–

bright suns

–

radiated goodwill. Especially endearing to anyone

who looked upon her were her wondrous tresses:

一束头发

This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind,

Nourish'd two Locks which graceful hung behind

In equal Curls, and well conspir'd to deck

With shining Ringlets the smooth Iv'ry Neck.

Among Belinda’s admirers is a young

baron at Hampton

Court awaiting

he

r arrival.

He

has resolved to snip off a lock of her

hair as the trophy of trophies. Before dawn,

before even

the sun god Phoebus Apollo arose, the Baron had been planning the theft of a lock of Belinda's

hair

. To

win the favor of the gods, he had

lighted an altar fire and,

lying face down

before it,

prayed for success.

After Belinda arrives at Hampton Court with her company of friends, the partygoers play

Ombre, a popular card game in which only 40 of the 52 cards are dealt-- the eights, nines, and

tens are held back. It appears that the Baron

will

win

the game after his knave of

diamonds

captures

her

queen

of

hearts.

However

,

Belinda

yet

has

hope,

even

after

the

Baron

plays

an

ace of hearts:

The King unseen

Lurk'd in her Hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen.

He springs to Vengeance with an eager Pace,

And falls like Thunder on the prostrate Ace

The Nymph exulting fills with Shouts the Sky;

The W

alls, the W

oods, and long Canals reply.

Belinda wins! Coffee is served, the vapors of which go to the Baron

’s brain and embolden

him

to

carry

out

his

assault

on

Belinda’s

hair

.

Clarissa,

a

lady

who

fancies

the

Baron,

withdraws

scissors

from

a

case

and

arms

him

with

the

weapon.

When

he

closes

in

behind

Belinda, she bends over her coffee, exposing a

magnificent lock. But a thousand sprites come

to her aid,

using

their

wings to

blow

hair over

the lock. They also tug at one of her

diamond

earrings

to

alert

her

to

the

danger

.

Three

times

they

warn

her

and

three

times

she

looks

around. But all is for naught. The Baron opens wide his weapon, closes it around the lock, and

cuts. The rape of her lock enrages Belinda:

Then flash'd the living Lightnings from her Eyes,

And Screams of Horror rend th' affrighted Skies.

Not louder Shrieks to pitying Heav'n are cast,

When Husbands, or when Lapdogs breathe their last,

Or when rich China Vessels, fal'n from high,

In glitt'ring Dust and painted Fragments lie!

A gnome

named

Umbriel

descends to

the Underworld on Belinda’s behalf and obtains a

bag of sighs and a vial of

tears from

the Queen of Spleen. With these magical gifts, he

means

to

comfort

poor

Belinda.

First,

he

empties

the

bag

on

her

.

A

gentleman

named

Sir

Plume--prompted

by

his belle, Thalestris, a friend of Belinda--then

roundly scolds the Baron

for his grave offense. But the Baron is unrepentant. Umbriel then empties the vial on Belinda.

Grief

overcomes

her

as

her

eyes

half- drown

in

tears

and

her

head

droops

upon

her

bosom.

She says:

For ever curs'd be this detested Day,

Which snatch'd my best, my fav'rite Curl away!

Happy! ah ten times happy had I been,

If Hampton-Court these Eyes had never seen!

Clarissa tries to mollify Belinda in a long speech, but fails. A bit of a

melee ensues when

Belinda

attempts

to

retrieve

her

lost

lock.

“Fans

clap,

Silks

russle,

and

tou

gh

Whalebones

crack.”

Belinda

proves

a

fierce

combatant.

She

attacks

the

Baron

“with

more

than

usual

Lightning in

her Eyes” and

throws a

handful of snuff from Sir Plume's box up

his nose. But,

alas, when the battle ends, the lock is nowhere to be found.

However

,

the

poem

ends

on

a

happy

note

for

Belinda,

Pope

says,

because

the

trimmed

lock of her golden hair has risen to the heavens, there to become a shining star

.

6. Theme

The central theme of

The Rape of the Lock

is the fuss that high society makes over trifling

matters, such as breaches

破坏

of decorum

礼仪

. In the poem, a feud

争执

of epic proportions

erupts after the Baron steals a lock of Belinda’s hair

. In the

real

-life incident on

which

Pope

based his poem, the Petre and the Fermor families had a falling-out after Lord Petre snipped

off

one

of

Arabella

Fermor’s

locks.

Other

themes

that

Pope

develops

in

the

poem

include

human

vanity

and

the

importance

of

being

able

to

laugh

at

life’s

little

reversals

.

The

latter

motif

is

a

kind

of

“moral

to

the

story.”

Clarissa

touches

upon

both

of

these

theme

s

when

addressing tearful Belinda, shorn of her lock:

But since, alas! frail Beauty must decay,

Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey;

Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,

And she who scorns a Man, must die a Maid,

What then remains but well our Pow'r to use,

And keep good Humour still whate'er we lose?