Rape of the Lock Satirical Devices Essay

From the excerpts studied in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope skilfully uses the scoff epic genre to satirize the trifling nature of his ball club through exaggeration, parody and juxtaposition in rhyming couplets.The epic casting makes everything larger than life which Pope uses to reveal the absurdity of the society he lives in. A simple card game is turned into a obscure combat on a velvet plain, which exaggerates the little action that actually takes built in bed in the Canto. In the card game called Ombre, hands are not just hands. They represent armies of different suites. Face cards are quad kings in majesty revered, with hoary whiskers and a forky beard , intravenous feeding fair queens whose hands sustain a flower, the expressive type of their softer power and four knaves in garb succinct, a trusty band, caps on their heads and halberds in their hand.Pope also parodies the epic form in coif to depict questionable set in his time. A feast is a scene common in ep ics like Beowulf and is mirrored by the coffee scene in this mock epic. The board with cups and spoons is crowned shows the great expense placed on China and utensils. Instead of vessels to hold beverages, Pope portrays them as Chinas earth that receives the smoking tide. Coffee is almost disposed(p) supernatural powers since it makes the politician wise, and see through all things with his half-shut eye. The coffee is the fuming hard drink that sent up in vapors to the barons brain, swelled him the idea to plan to cut off a lock of Belindas hair.Pope combines the nondescript with the unusual with simplicity to suggest the triviality of the values of his time through the juxtaposition in rhyming couplets. Canto III describes Hampton appeal where Queen lives whom three realms obey, dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea, which sets the line for the events to follow in the court. He suggests that One speaks the glory of British Queen, and single describes a charming I ndian screen a third interprets motions, looks, eyes at every word a reputation dies through the chat of the ladies and gentlemen in court, describing societys twisted value system.Pope uses aspects of the mock epic to satirize his societys irresponsibility. He uses exaggeration to mock misplaced importance. He takes specific scenes and uses parody to illustrate the irrelevance of rituals such(prenominal) as coffee drinking. He uses the structure of rhyming couplets to contrast the ordinary with the extraordinary to reveal how important things are considered.