Gender Dialectic and Myth of Passive Womanhood in Rape of the Lock
The Interplay of the Gender Dialectic:
“Dialectic”: According to the oxford dictionary the word Dialectic stands for the meaning; “The way in which two aspects of a situation affect each other.”
The poem Rape of the Lock discusses the relationship between men and women and how they affect each other. Pope examines the oppressed position of women infringement on a woman's personal space, her person and pride by an aggressive male (the Baron) are certainly problems not to be taken lightly.
In today's society these things translate to sexual harassment. Pope also raises the issue of conflicting love, the opposition between spiritual and secular love. The poem portrays men and women as more concerned with social status, material values and physical beauty than the development of the spirit or of the character, Pope suggests former is the morally wrong part and criticises(through satire) his character for the vanity and lack of morality. The significance of a woman’s outward beauty (especially Belinda's) has direct consequence for her role in the society. The place of a woman is shaped by social and economic forces. Women are routinely sub-ordinate in the “public” sphere, partly because of their confinement to role associated with being wives.
Belinda is an unmarried upper class woman, maintaining her position in high society will depend on marriage; though not one necessarily of her choosing, her marriage will not ultimately depend on her intelligence or her personality, as women were not valued as objects of individuality but as beautiful objects to possess. “The adventurous Baron the bright locks admired, He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired”
Therefore Belinda’s strength is her physical appearance as he compares a hero’s donning of armour to Belinda’s being made up w a her dressing table; here files of pins extend their shining rows, puffs, powders, patches, Bible, billets doux .
“Dialectic”: According to the oxford dictionary the word Dialectic stands for the meaning; “The way in which two aspects of a situation affect each other.”
The poem Rape of the Lock discusses the relationship between men and women and how they affect each other. Pope examines the oppressed position of women infringement on a woman's personal space, her person and pride by an aggressive male (the Baron) are certainly problems not to be taken lightly.
In today's society these things translate to sexual harassment. Pope also raises the issue of conflicting love, the opposition between spiritual and secular love. The poem portrays men and women as more concerned with social status, material values and physical beauty than the development of the spirit or of the character, Pope suggests former is the morally wrong part and criticises(through satire) his character for the vanity and lack of morality. The significance of a woman’s outward beauty (especially Belinda's) has direct consequence for her role in the society. The place of a woman is shaped by social and economic forces. Women are routinely sub-ordinate in the “public” sphere, partly because of their confinement to role associated with being wives.
Belinda is an unmarried upper class woman, maintaining her position in high society will depend on marriage; though not one necessarily of her choosing, her marriage will not ultimately depend on her intelligence or her personality, as women were not valued as objects of individuality but as beautiful objects to possess. “The adventurous Baron the bright locks admired, He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired”
Therefore Belinda’s strength is her physical appearance as he compares a hero’s donning of armour to Belinda’s being made up w a her dressing table; here files of pins extend their shining rows, puffs, powders, patches, Bible, billets doux .