Clarissa\'s Speech in Pope\'s Rape of the Lock

Rape of the Lock

ay, why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most, / The wise Man's Passion, and the vain Man's Toast?" Clarissa's speech in Canto Five of Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" touches on one of the main themes of the poem: vanity. For instance, she states, "How vain are all these Glories, all our Pains, / Unless good Sense preserve what Beauty gains." Clarissa notes that looks mean nothing without a keen mind, and that "Locks will turn to gray," but "good Humour," on the other hand, "can prevail." Because of Pope's clever use of poetic devises, Clarissa's speech also points to Pope's critique of high society's overall vanity and shallowness. Clarissa's moralizing therefore addresses universal human issues that Pope deftly examines throughout "The Rape of the Lock." Pope's compellingly rhythmic heroic couplets underscore the satirical bent of Clarissa's speech, through such elements as repetition, parallelism, homonym, and irony. In spite of Clarissa's complicity in the Baron's cutting of Belinda's hair, the speaker delivers a lengthy and well-constructed speech regarding the futility of vanity, the impermanence of physical beauty, and the need to appreciate and acknowledge the more lasting virtues of womankind: wisdom and "good sense."

Clarissa begins the speech by noting that beauty is the most honored and valued attribute in a woman, and she poses the rhetorical question to her audience: "why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most ... " Society is so obsessed with beauty, claims Clarissa, that appearances are even the "wise man's Passion." In fact, women are so valued for their physical beauty that they are likened to celestial beings: they are "Angels called," and "Angel-like adored." Clarissa further states that men are so taken by women's looks that they will crane their necks, going out of their way to admire feminine physical charms.

Clarissa continues to claim that the effort poured into preserving and maintaining one's looks is all literally in vain without reason and sensibility: "How vain are all these Glories, all our Pains, / Unless good Sense preserve what Beauty gains." If men were to admire a woman's mind and morals as much as her face and body, then he would be indeed admiring a more lasting form of virtue than mere physical appearances. Therefore, Clarissa comments on the futility of vanity in the first portion of her speech in Canto Five.

The remainder of the speech pertains to the impermanence of physical beauty. Clarissa states, "alas! frail Beauty must decay, / Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey, / Since paint'd, or not paint'd, all shall fade." Here, Clarissa builds upon her preliminary assertion that vanity is futile by showing that obsession with looks is meaningless because of the natural ravages of time. A woman who paints her face might be trying to run or hide from time, but she can never truly escape the natural aging process. Rather than focus exclusively on a woman's beauty, Clarissa advises, both men and women should concentrate on female moral virtue and good sense.

Because physical beauty is fleeting and all faces eventually wither, Clarissa advises women to rely on their inner strength instead: "What then remains, but well our Pow'r to use, / And keep good Humour still whate'er we lose?" While appearances fade, the mind often remains strong and supple until the dying day. Moreover, virtue has spiritual staying power: "Charms strike the Sight, but Merit wins the Soul." In other words, an illustrious appearance my dazzle and seduce, but only moral virtue can lead a person to righteousness and spiritual truth. Therefore, Clarissa argues that a woman's innate wisdom, her good sense, her good humor, and her reason prove to be more solid and lasting virtues than her looks.

Poetic devises serve to bolster Clarissa's argument about the impermanence of physical beauty. Parallelism is one of the most common poetic devises employed by Pope in Clarissa's speech. For example: "Oh! If to dance all Night, and dress all Day, / Charm'd the Small-pox, or chas'd old Age away;" Here, the verbs "dance" and "dress" as well as "charm'd" and "chas'd" create parallel sentence construction. Moreover, the two verbs in each parallel pair form alliterations, further contributing to the impact of Clarissa's speech. Pope uses alliteration throughout the speech: for example, "Coaches crowd." Homonym also contributes to the impact of the speech: "Why round our Coaches crowd the white-glov'd Beaus, / Why bows the Side-box from its inmost Rows?" Here, the term "beaus" and "bows" parallel each other in sound but not meaning.