Explanations:
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;The fair each moment rises in her charms.
Answer: These lines occur in the Canto 1 of the mock-heroic, “The Rape of the Lock”. The poem has been written by Alexander Pope who is one of the greatest satirists of the eighteenth century. It is a valuable document of the mode of life of the higher ranks of the society in the early eighteenth century. Pope here mocks the arming of the epic hero through the satiric narration of Belinda's dressing table.
Belinda, the central character of the poem is the representative lady of the fashionable society of the eighteenth century. In the poem, we find that she is awakened from her sleep by her lap dog, Shock. On opening her eyes, the first thing that she sees is a love letter. Later on, the poet narrates the toilet used by the heroine for dressing up. He has delineated what perfumes, cosmetics as well as ornaments have been used by Belinda. After this, he describes that Belinda opens a box containing a number of different articles. Shining hair pins, puffs, powders, patches of black plaster, Bible, and love letters are all arranged in rows. Now Belinda who is the captivating lady has put on all her charms. She has grown beautiful every moment as the toilet proceeds. She is here compared to a warrior4 collecting all his weapons to get ready for the battle. The cosmetics and the jewels which Belinda is putting on are the weapons that this beautiful woman is employing in order to murder the men who come into contact with her. The awe-inspiring Belinda is arrayed and armored to be a conqueror.
However, the mention of the Bible, placed by the side of love letters is a fine instance of anti-climax. The use of bathos or anti-climax is one of the principal means by which Pope creates the móck-heroic effect in the poem, “The Rape of the Lock”. Pope is here parodying the arming of the epic hero.
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