Smalling 1
Shanta Smalling
Modern Literary Masterpieces
Professor Fung-Ross
July 26, 2021
Outline: Final essay
Introduction
Attention getter: England in the 18th century maintained an Aristocratic society that held in high esteem the most frivolous and vain matters despite holding hereditary titles and ranks that came with responsibilities
Background information: The poem The Rape of Lock by Alexander Pope uses satire to attack the upper class in London in the 18th century. It depicts the position of women then and the social life of a woman from the upper class. It gives insight into a variety of elements of the English culture of the 18th century. Pope mocks the misplacedness of the priorities and the insignificance of the value system of this time. Women portray their pettiness through their excessive attention to their appearance, spending ridiculous amounts of time grooming themselves.
Thesis: The wealthy play a prominent role in high society in England in the 1800s. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is a satire that mocks people in high society, revealing their pettiness and access to material goods.
Body paragraph #1
Topic sentence: The women in the upper class of the 18th century in England were extremely frivolous.
Supporting details: Belinda portrays the extent of misplaced priorities by solely focusing on her outward appearance and lacking in kindness, seriousness and grandeur, and virtue, which should be held in high esteem.
Supporting details: The fashionable women are inwardly frivolous but represent an outward charm that hides that they have reversed the signs of things, so that little to them is great, and vice versa is true.
Supporting details: The women display emptiness and vanity and a pervading lack of purpose in their lives.
Body paragraph #2
Topic sentence: The emptiness of the men was parallel to the frivolity of women in high society.
Supporting details: The men’s main focus was flirting with the fashionable ladies and chasing sexual favors when they were not engaging in vain talks in the coffee houses and clubs (Pope).
Supporting details: Lord Petre, coupled with his fellows, paints a picture of the high society of the time to be empty-minded and idle.
Supporting details: The men lacked in manners and portrayed a serious confusion in values and attached significance to dance and masquerades than religion.
Body paragraph #3
Topic sentence: Belinda is materialistic as her possessions define her world.
Supporting details: Belinda portrays the obsession with things that the high-class members embrace. She has a dressing table full of her makeup items and is obsessed with her locks of hair.
Supporting details: Her focus on her appearance solely creates a worldly goal.
Body paragraph #4
Topic sentence: Materialism in the poem leads to objectifying women.
Supporting details: The lock of hair from Belinda’s hair represented Baron’s sexual conquest. Men obtaining trophies from their sexual conquests align sex to a material goal.
Supporting details: Baron insisting on using force to win his so-called prize- who is Belinda-emphasizes the objectifying of women.
Conclusion:
Restate thesis: The high class of England in the 18Th century bred men and women who held no regard for the significant things in life but instead emphasized frivolous and vain matters.
Closing thoughts: Pope has brilliantly described the emptiness of fashionable lives. There should be more depth and seriousness in the activities they participate in and in their lives in general. In the conventional society, everyone must ensure that their priorities are not misplaced and that the areas of their lives they lay significance on are not vain.
Work cited
Pope, Alexander. The Rape of Lock. London: Vintage Classic, 2007. Print.
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