Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock
How is Alexander Pope satirizing the common manners of 18th century British society and how is “the lock” symbolic of that society’s hypocrisy?
Beauty is a common theme in Rape of the Lock. What does it come to mean and represent? How is its power limited? Consider the calm reasoning quality of Clarissa compared to the hasty, destructive behavior of Belinda?
Samuel Johnson: Rasselas, The Prince of Abyssinia
Consider the role of the astronomer in Rasselas. Explain how isolation from the world leads the imagination to prey upon the mind. How is it that we can only have a productive, meaningful life by being directly involved in the living world?
In Rasselas, Johnson asserts that: “Marriage is evidently the dictate of nature; men and women were made to be companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of happiness.” How do these attitudes about marriage compare to Rape of the Lock?
