The Rape of the Lock as a Social Document

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Introduction

The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic epic written by Alexander Pope. The epic made its final debut in 1717 after the inclusion of three more Cantos and the speech of Clarissa. Pope exclaimed that he had sold more than three thousand copies of this epic in the first four days of its release. Later, it became the defining work of Pope. The Rape of the Lock is a social document because it gives us a satirical insight of life in England in the 18th century. Alexander Pope ridicules the young boys, girls, married couples and business class of the 18th century. He depicts their 'useless' activities of the fashionable youth whose free-time is dominated by the make-up. Belinda is the central figure of Pope's ridicule who spends her life in seeking cosmetic beauty, sleeping and dreaming of a handsome prince. 

Gallants after Beauty

Pope satirizes Man's biggest weakness, his want of the beauty[ful woman]. Pope gives us an example of the aristocratic gallants who are ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of a beautiful woman. Says Pope, 

With tender Billet-doux he lights the pyre,

And breathes three am’rous

Sighs to raise the Fire,

Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent

Eyes soon to obtain, and long process the prize.

It is often noticed that men cannot withhold their senses when they eye a properly statured woman and keep staring at her. 

The Supernatural Satire

To make his satire reach to the next level, Pope adds supernatural machinery in his mock-epic. The main object of his supernatural satires is fashionable women who can go beyond any limits to fulfil their needs of retaining their artificial beauty. For instance, numerous nymphs and other supernatural creatures are appointed to protect the lock of Belinda. 

When something strange happens, everyone blames the other person is the most grotesque way that, 

A beau and witling perished in the throng,

One died in metaphor, and one in song

Husband-Wife Relations

Alexander Pope also makes fun of husbands' cold assumption about their wife, making love with other person but in reality, their wives are deeply enamoured of their lapdogs. Their wives shed more attention to their lapdog than their husbands who are meant to be attentioned by their wives. In fact, the death of their lapdog or the breakage of a china pot would "prove" more disastrous to their wives than the death of their husbands. 

Not louder shrieks to pitying Heaven are cast,

When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last.

Pope wants to be a Reformer

All above-mentioned points suggest the dissatisfaction of Pope with the society in which he lives in. He presents satire in this mock-epic as a didactic medicine to cure the follies and absurdities of the 18th-century society. Pope's satire in The Rape of the Lock is not limited to the aristocratic class of the particular century, he pokes fun at the judge who makes a decision without enough thinking, 

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,

And wretches hang that jurymen may dine

Similarly, Pope shows his detest for the friendship that is observed merely for lust and the politicians who only serve for themselves. 

Conclusion

Manifestly, The Rape of the Lock is a social document. Pope presents his society through a satirical frame, not to ridicule but to reform. A critic aptly notes, 

As an intellectual observer and describer of personal weakness, Pope stands by himself in English verse.

Sources and Suggested Readings

1. https://englishliterature24.blogspot.com/2017/09/consider-rape-of-lock-as-social-satire.html?m=0
2. http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-v/english-literature/10321-rotl-social-satire.html
3. https://englishstudyhub.blogspot.com/2015/04/justify-popes-rape-of-lock-as-social.html