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Ombre
Theft or plundering. To the modern reader this word might appear to refer to a non-consensual sex act, but Pope is actually using this word in a slightly older sense, primarily to mean to steal or to plunder, so a more modern title might read something like “The Theft of the Lock.” Pope is still trying to emphasize that the Baron’s action is an immoral one, and it is true that their might still be a kind of violent sexual connotation to the word, but it is important to understand that Pope’s primary goal is not to equate the loss of the lock with a non-consensual sex act.
Rape Quotes in The Rape of the Lock
The The Rape of the Lock quotes below are all either spoken by Rape or refer to Rape. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Canto III
Quotes
Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought
The close recesses of the virgin’s thought;
As, on the nosegay in her breast reclined,
He watched the ideas rising in her mind,
Sudden he viewed, in spite of all her art,
An earthly lover lurking at her heart.
Amazed, confused, he found his power expired,
Resigned to fate, and with a sigh retired.
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