Manoj Prajapati's video: The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Hindi

The Rape of the Lock is a narrative poem by English poet Alexander Pope. Written in the style of a mock-heroic epic, it was first published anonymously in Lintot’s Miscellaneous Poems and Translations in 1712 and republished in an expanded version in 1714 and a final version in 1717. The poem takes a minor incident and treats it as a major event in the epic world of the gods. Based on an actual incident, friend, it is set at a time where all religions except Anglicanism were discriminated against in England; according to a friend of Pope’s, when a man cut a lock of hair from the woman he was courting, he started a nasty feud between their respective families. Using the traditional high drama of classical epics to emphasize how trivial the event was, Pope creates parallels to the abduction of Helen of Troy and the events that led to the Trojan War. Although the poem is often humorous, it explores themes such as the fragility of beauty, the role of women in 18th-century English society, and the way minor incidents can create lasting damage. The poem is dedicated to Arabella Fermor, the woman whose hair was cut by her lover. It has been translated into numerous languages and has inspired multiple retellings and parodies. The Rape of the Lock was adapted into a modern opera-ballet which premiered in New York in June 2016. Three of Uranus’twenty-seven moons are named after the poem’s characters Umbriel, Ariel, and Belinda. At the beginning of The Rape of the Lock, Pope states that a “dire offence”has been committed, as a lord has assaulted a “gentle belle”, which caused her to reject him. While the young Belinda is sleeping, her guardian Sylph (a spirit of the air), Ariel, warns her that a dire event awaits her. She wakes and gets ready for the day with the assistance of her maid, Betty. The Sylphs describe her hair as her maid dresses her, and they take special care to describe these two locks of hair which gracefully hang behind her head. The Baron, one of the men courting Belinda, admires these beautiful locks and schemes to steal one. He builds an altar, placing on it all the items he’s taken from his former lovers, and then sets them on fire while praying he will soon possess a lock of Belinda’s hair. Ariel, meanwhile, is fearful of this impending event, despite not knowing exactly what it is. She summons a group of sylphs to her and assigns them to protect Belinda from any possible misfortune, whether it is forgetting her prayers, or missing a masquerade ball. Ariel warns them to protect her heart in particular. Protected by an army of sylphs, Belinda arrives at Hampton Court and is invited to join her friends in a card game named ombre. The Baron, meanwhile, sees her and conspires to use a pair of scissors he borrows from Belinda’s friendly rival, Clarissa, to snip off one of the locks. He is prevented from approaching her by one of the watching sylphs. He tries and is foiled three times, but eventually, he manages to cut one of the locks of hair, cutting a sylph in half in the process. However, Pope reassures the reader that anything made of air will soon unite again, and the sylph will recover. Belinda’s hair, however, will not, and as soon as she discovers that her lock is gone she falls into an angry tantrum. The Baron celebrates his victory, but his joy is not to last. The story then takes a strange detour as it focuses on a gnome named Umbriel, who journeys to the Cave of Spleen and visits the Queen. He receives a bag filled with what is said to be “sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues”, as well as a vial filled with “Fainting fears, soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears”. He brings these bags to Belinda, and finding her in the arms of a woman named Thalestris, dumps them over the women. Belinda is determined to get revenge on the Baron, and many people join her in her rage. The Baron, however, is unmoved and refuses to return the lock of hair. Although Clarissa tries to calm both sides, neither is willing to back down and a court battle ensues between their two noble families. A battle of song and wits ensues. Belinda fights with the Baron, throwing snuff up his nose. She demands one more time that he restore the lock, but when he goes to look for it, it cannot be found. It has become a constellation, part of the cosmos itself, and will outlast all involved, to serve as a monument to their feud for all time. Source: http://www.supersummary.com/the-rape-of-the-lock/summary/