cult of beauty rape of the lock. say, why are beauties prais'd and honour'd most, the wise...
TRANSCRIPT
Say, why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most, The Wise Man's Passion, and the Vain Man's Toast? (Pope ln. 9-10)
Cult: zealous obsession directed at a particular
figure or object; fetishized ideology;
irrational reverence
Pope asks, what is the cult of beauty doing to our world?
THE CULT OF BEAUTY
The cult of beauty is a social paradox because it simultaneously bestows and undermines the
power of people
THESIS
“Arming” Scene rife with ritual:
“The inferior priestess, at her altar’s side, / Trembling begins the sacred rites of
Pride.” (ln. 127-128)“Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms.”
(ln. 139)“Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-
doux.” (ln. 138)
BEAUTY BESTOWS POWER
“Fair nymphs and well-dressed youths around her shone, / But every eye was
fixed on her alone. / On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, / Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.” (Pope
Canto 2, ln. 5-8)
BEAUTY BESTOWS POWER
Cult:
“Methinks already I your tears survey, / Already hear the horrid things they
say, / Already see you a degraded toast, / And all your honor in a
whisper lost!” (Pope Canto 4, ln. 107-110)
Baron cutting lock undermines Belinda’s power:
Oh, had I rather unadmired remained / In some lone isle, or distant northern land; / Where
the gilt chariot never marks the way, / Where none learn ombre, none e’er taste bohea! /
There kept my charms concealed from mortal eye, / Like roses that in deserts bloom and die.
(Pope Canto 4, ln. 153-158)
BEAUTY UNDERMINES POWER
“Oh, hadst thou, cruel! Been content to seize / Hairs less in sight, or any
hairs but these!” (Pope Canto 5, 175-176)
Because beauty was what had defined her, she easily fell from her pedestal - her altar
- into devastation.
BEAUTY UNDERMINES POWER
• Not chronological (empower, then undermine)
• In “Arming scene,” Belinda empowers herself and undermines herself
simultaneously• Getting beautiful, but wasting time
• Power doesn’t come from self, but from outside
BEAUTY BESTOWS AND UNDERMINES AT THE SAME TIME