The Rape of the Lock: Canto II Summary & Analysis

Most epic poems include a sea voyage, so Belinda’s travelling by boat emphasizes her role as a parody of an epic hero. Her bejeweled cross, which is so beautiful that even “Jews” and “infidels” would be attracted by it, suggests Belinda’s lack of religious conviction—the cross is a beautiful ornament rather than a symbol of her faith, a point Pope underscores by noting its appeal to non-Christians. But Pope does suggest that perhaps her vanity is not all bad. The phrase “female errors” suggests that, as a woman, Belinda’s behavior is criticized more harshly than a man’s. So, if her beauty means that these “errors” are instantly forgotten when gazing on her face, it seems only fair and wise that she cultivate her beauty to escape unfair moral scrutiny.

Here Pope once again appears to suggest that there might be something liberating about Belinda’s vanity. Her hair has the power to make “slaves” of the men who would treat her as an inferior person for being a woman, so depicting her curls as prisons for suitors who are dazzled by love suggests that her beauty evens the playing field a bit at the patriarchal court.

The pyre is a reference to both pagan religious tradition and the epic tradition. Pyres were normally built for funerary purposes, but here the Baron is using his pyre to burn trivial items like “garters” and “gloves” in order to pray to the god Love. In this way, Pope continues his parody of court life. This moment also recalls the female vanity of Belinda’s own pagan altar, fashioned from her dressing table. In Pope’s time, men were expected to be morally and intellectually superior to women, but the parallel between the Baron’s frivolous pyre and Belinda’s dressing table altar paints the two as being morally equivalent in their frivolity.

Here Pope complicates the sylphs’ influence even further. He has previously created echoes between Ariel and Satan in “Paradise Lost” to imply that the sylphs may be more devilish than they appear. Here, Pope echoes Milton again, but this time mimicking the voice of God himself, who calls out to the angels, “Hear all ye Angels, Progenie of Light, / Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Vertues, Powers, / Hear my Decree.” The effect is to suggest that Ariel’s motivation is somewhere between angelic and devilish, but Pope keeps this mysterious.

Here, Ariel lists ostensibly important things (the loss of Belinda’s virginity or heart) alongside trivial ones (a stain on a dress or the loss of a necklace), which once again emphasizes the absurd fixation on appearances in the world of the court. This also calls into question again how much Ariel really cares for Belinda’s virtue.

The sylphs’ names match their tasks a little too perfectly. Zephyretta’s name recalls the word “zephyr” (meaning a breeze), which matches the task of guarding Belinda’s fan. Momentilla’s name closely resembles the word “moment,” which is resonant with guarding the watch. Crispissa’s name recalls the word “crisp” (in its traditional sense) as a curl. This matching of names emphasizes the utter silliness of the whole process of guarding Belinda, their names making it seem as if they were all created specifically for these trivial tasks.

The description of Belinda’s petticoat here mirrors Pope’s own descriptions of Ajax’s “sevenfold shield” and Achilles’ “broad shield,” surrounded by “living silver.” This furthers Pope’s characterization of Belinda as a parody of an epic hero, but it also emphasizes once again the significance of chastity in her world. While the shields of heroes exist to protect their lives, Belinda’s petticoat serves to restrict access to her sexually, and so the comparison of the petticoat to a shield suggests that for Belinda the loss of her virginity would be essentially fatal.