Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- The world of Belinda and the Baron and their friends is incredibly formal, with all of its social rules and structures governing how young men and women were supposed to dress, talk, walk, eat, play, and interact with one another. Imagine living your prom every day. And The Rape of the Lock itself is an almost-insanely formal poem, with its strict rhyme scheme, exact use of heroic couplets, and careful metaphors, similes, and allusions. In choosing to write such a formal poem about such a formal society, what do you think Pope is saying about rules, regulations, and formalities? What kinds of social rules, formalities, and restraints govern your life? And what do you think of those rules? Why do you think they exist?
- People who like satire often say that its purpose is to reform society by getting us to laugh at our faults. People who don't like satire say that it is simply a mean and cruel way for an author to attack his or her enemies. Where would you say The Rape of the Lock fits into either of those categories? Can you think of any other satires that you've read or seen that might have changed your behavior for the better, or at least made you think a bit more about why you act the way that you do?
- What is the role of things—items you can buy and own—in the poem? Did it strike you that this society might be a little too obsessed with its stuff, from the makeup and jewelry on Belinda's dressing table to the Baron's fixation on her lock of hair?
- Would you call this society materialistic? How about our own society? What is your relation to your stuff, to other people's stuff? Does having or wanting certain things define who you are?
- While the women in the poem—Belinda, Clarissa, Thalestris, the Queen of Spleen, etc.—all get elaborate compliments from the male characters and from the narrator and the poet himself, do you think that the poem's overall depiction of the female character is an admiring or a good one? What are some of the ostensible reasons that women seem to be considered lesser than men, in the poem? Do you think that our attitudes towards women have changed significantly since this poem was written, or can you still see some echoes of its critique in the way women are considered today?
- If you were Belinda, or if you were the Baron, would you have been satisfied with the way the poem ends—with the lock up in the sky and belonging to eternal literary fame, rather than firmly in the possession of either its original owner or of its ravisher?