Alexander Pope's The Rape of The Lock

The Rape of The Lock is a satirical poem that was written about an actual event. The version that we read in our text rewritten after the original was published. The second version incorporates mythical creatures that serve as primary players in the poem. They are described as being from the elements. They are as much a part of an individual as their physical aspects and cannot be separated except in death. These characters are integral to the plot because they serve to help demonstrate characteristics of  the human personality and demeanor.


For when the Fair in all their Pride expire,
To their first Elements the Souls retire:


Different creatures are determined by, or the cause of, what  the person is in life.


The Sprights of fiery Termagants in Flame
Mount up, and take a Salamander's Name.
Soft yielding Minds to Water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their Elemental Tea.

The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of Mischief still on Earth to roam.
The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,
And sport and flutter in the Fields of Air.

 Know farther yet; Whoever fair and chaste
Rejects Mankind, is by some Sylph embrac'd:
For Spirits, freed from mortal Laws, with ease
Assume what Sexes and what Shapes they please.

The sylphs are used to illustrate a component of an epic by being deigned guardian of the main character Belinda. The poem suggests that she is the innocent that would require intervention from a superior or supernatural being to be kept from harm, something she is incapable of alone. On her own, she would be influenced too easily and lead astray.


 Oft when the World imagine Women stray,
The Sylphs thro' mystick Mazes guide thier Way,
Thro' all the giddy Circle they pursue,
And old Impertinence expel by new.
What tender Maid but must a Victim fall
To one Man's Treat, but for another's Ball?
When Florio speaks, what Virgin could withstand,
If gentle Damon did not squeeze her Hand?

With varying Vanities, from ev'ry Part,
They shift the moving Toyshop of their Heart;
Where Wigs with Wigs, with Sword-knots Sword-knots strive,
Beaus banish Beaus, and Coaches Coaches drive.
This erring Mortals Levity may call,
Oh blind to Truth! the Sylphs contrive it all.

The poem presents the lost lock being attributed to not only the man who took it, but only at the demise of her protector.


Ev'n then, before the fatal Engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the Sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain,

It is from this point forward that all is lost and the "war" is waged between the human characters and the immortal ones.