It's fairly obvious to us that if you put a bunch of attractive, well-off, and bored young men and women together, sparks are bound to fly in one way or another. They'll get attracted to one another, feel desire for one another, have dreams about one another, maybe even fall in love. That's the trouble with the society Pope depicts in The Rape of the Lock: there's absolutely no way for anyone in it to safely express or act on his or her sexuality, desire, lust, or love. The rules forbid it. And so, instead, sexuality gets warped and twisted into materiality and narcissism: Belinda's love of her own face; the Baron's desire for her locks; Sir Plume's love of his cane and snuffbox. Even when Ariel finds "an Earthly Lover" in Belinda's heart, that fact only serves to put her more in danger of losing her hair to the Baron.
Questions About Sexuality and Sexual Identity
- If you could trace the lines of desire of characters for one another in the poem, how would you do it?
- Why do you think Ariel must withdraw and stop protecting Belinda when he finds "an Earthly Lover" in her heart?
- In what ways does society say it is okay for these men and women to express their feelings for each other? Why or how?
Chew on This
The Sylphs can only protect young women who are superficial, immature, and without desire for the male sex.
The entire society in The Rape of the Lock seems constructed to deny people their real feelings for one another.