Introduction:
Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic epic. It observes all the qualities of a classical epic. In a classical epic, the poet narrates strange experiences. He tells about visits to strange places. In this epic, Pope introduces the cave of Spleen as a strange place. According to Pope’s philosophy four basic elements are the source of four kinds of super natural spirits. When a woman dies with her pride, her soul returns to its basic element: fire, water, earth, and air; according to its nature. Women of violent nature have interest in quarrels. After death their souls return to the element of fire. Spirits of fire are called Salamander.
When women of polite nature die, their souls return to the element of water. The spirits of water are called Nymphs. They sip tea with beautiful ladies. The serious-minded women who pretend extreme modesty in sex-matters take interest in making mischief. After death their spirits return to the element of earth and move in search of mischief. The flirts who take interest in playing with and breaking young men’s hearts have a different fate.
After death their souls return to the element of air and they take the name of Sylph. They sport and flutter in merriment in the open sky. In this epic only sylphs and gnomes play an active part. In the first half of the poem sylphs dominates but in the second half gnomes become important. Pope shows how sylphs act with positive motives and attempt at preserving happiness among beautiful ladies. Just opposite to them gnomes act with negative attitude and take interest in creating mischief, dispute and quarrel.
Cause to Visit the Cave of Spleen:
When the Baron cuts off the beautiful lock of Belinda’s hair, she feels greatly shocked. Sad Belinda is worried, sorrowful and hopeless. Her inner feelings upset her mind. For her lock of hair taken away by force she is more angry, bitter and hopeless than a young king arrested in the battle field, an elder unmarried woman hating all men, a passionate lover deprived of his beloved, an aged unmarried girl refused to be kissed, an unjust king dying without repenting for his sins, or an ordinary girl like Cynthia whose loose gown gets hung wrongly. Ariel decides to leave Belinda when he sees the image of an earthly lover in her heart, with a heavy heart he departs. Umbriel is a gnome a spirit of the earth. It is sad, dark and gloomy. It pollutes the light of day. It visits underground to the centre of the earth which is its favourite place. It is in search of the cave of Spleen. Spleen is the goddess of melancholy. A gnome takes interest in spreading bad temper or ill-nature everywhere.
Umbriel’s Visit to the Cave of Spleen:
The gnome flutters fast on its black wings and reaches the cave of Spleen in the form of a cloud. The cave is devoid of fresh air and day light. The goddess of Spleen always laments on her sad bed. She is attended by pain and headache. The goddess of Spleen is attended by two maids. They are of equal rank but there is a great difference in their appearance or personality.
Two Attending Maids of Different Nature:
The Goddess of Spleen is attended by two maids of different nature. One of them is called Ill-nature. She is like an aged unmarried woman. Her face is full of wrinkles. She puts on a black and white dress. Her hands are always full of prayer-books: separate volumes for morning, night and noon. Her heart is full of satires. The other maid attending the goddess of Spleen is Affectation. She has the appearance of a sick person. She pretends blushing like an innocent girl and speaks with imperfect pronunciation like a child. She faints to pretend tenderness and pretends feebleness. Besides, she takes pride in it.
There Affentation, with a sickly Mien
Shows in her Cheek the Roses of Eighteen
Practis’d to lisp, and hang the Head aside,
Faints into Airs, and languishes with Pride,
The poet points out how women suffer from affectation. They pretend illness and cover their bodies in the costly blanket to display it. Sometimes, by pretending sickness they show their new night gown. These beautiful women pretend sickness when they wish to show a costly thing used inside home.
The Cave of Spleen:
The cave of Spleen is covered with thick mist all the time. From this mist are raised strange figures of horrible ghosts and bright handsome images. Aged unmarried women dream them at the time of dying. Sometimes horrible images appear. Devils, coiled snakes, breaking graves and hellish flames appear but sometimes rivers of melting gold, majestic buildings and scenes of heavenly beauty appear or the illusion is created that a machine is working under the blessing of angels. Umbriel, the gnome sees numberless people who suffer from melancholy. Under effect of melancholy people imagine strangely that their bodies are changed to different shapes. One man imagines that his body is changed into a tea pot. He extends one arm and bends the other arm. He claims the bent arm is the handle of the teapot and the extended arm is the spout to pour out tea.
Unnumber’d Throngs on ev’ry side are seen,
Of Bodies changed to various Forms by Spleen,
Here living Tea-pots stand, one Arm help out,
One bent; the handle this, and that the spout:
Patients of Spleen:
Under effect of melancholy people imagine strangely that their bodies are changed to different shapes. One person claims to be an earthen pot while the other claims to be a stool with three legs and walks strangely. Homer, the great epic poet refers to such things in ‘Iliad’. A person imagines to be a jar and takes a long sigh of grief. One imagines to be a roasted bird and talks like that. It is super that men imagine that they are pregnant. It all happens under illusion based on strong imagination. There are girls who claim to be bottles. They shout to be corked.
A Pipkin there, like Homer’s Tripad, Walks;
Here sighs a Jar, and there a Goose-pye talks;
Men prove with Child, as powerful Fancy works,
And Maids, turn’d Bottles, call aloud for Corks.
Umbriel passes through this strange crowd safely that means without being affected by their abnormal imagination. It happens for the gnome has a branch of Spleen-curing plant in its hand. The gnome addresses the goddess of Spleen in proper manner. She is welcomed as a wrong, unjust goddess who dominates women from their immature a
fifteen to the mature age of fifty. She is inspiring source of those gases age of that cause depression. She is guardian of women’s wit that generally proves to be cunning or foolishness. She she inspires romantic imagination that makes the person either a madman or a poet.
Umbriel’s Meeting with the Goddess of Spleen:
Umbriel admires the goddess of Spleen. According to him there are people of different nature and she treats them differently by inspiring some to take medicine and by inspiring others to write plays. She inspires pride in beautiful women and suggests them to reach late to show importance. She sends religious people to church in an uncontrollable excitement Umbriel refers to Belinda’s good nature. He blames her being disobedient to the goddess of Spleen. Besides she makes so many other people also greatly happy.
Umbriel’s Report of his Own Past Ill-doings:
To impress the Goddess of Spleen, Umbriel has to account for his past ill-doings. The goddess asks if Umbriel has ever got success in doing a mischief by spoiling the beauty of a young face or raising a pimple on a beautiful face. Umbriel reminds how lemon produces blush on the face of a young girl or spreads paleness on the face when she loses the game. Umbriel makes a husband suspicious of his wife’s character by disarranging the lady’s petticoat or bed; though neither of the husband and wife is faithless. Besides, Umbriel deshapes the scarf of a woman, having or affecting an attitude of extreme propriety or modesty, esp. in sexual matters. When Umbriel makes a lady’s beloved small, slow dog sick it causes tears in the eyes of a happy lady.
Umbriel’s Prayer:
Umbriel requests the goddess of Spleen to pay attention to his prayer. She should provoke Belinda with anger. No doubt her anger would fill a number of people with melancholy. The goddess of Spleen with the appearance of dissatisfaction pretends to reject the prayer but grants his wish. She binds a wonderful bag to give to her like that bag in which Aeolus, the god of Winds had given foul winds to Ulysses, the King of Ithaca. In this bag the goddess of Spleen collects the quarrelling force of women, the force of their lungs, sighs, laments and anger. Then she fills a bottle with fears that faint, soft sorrows that melt the heart and grief that flow tears from eyes. The gnome accepts these gifts with great joy. Spreading its black wings, Umbriel flies away to the regions of day-light.
Umbriel’s Use of Gifts Given by the Goddess of Spleen:
Umbriel finds beautiful Belinda too much depressed in the arms of her friend, Thalestris. Her eyes are hopeless and her uncared hair is lying open. Umbriel breaks the bag of winds over their heads. Now, all furies come out of the bag. Belinda’s heart burns with the fire of revenge. Her friend Thalestris fans her face but it only increases the fire. Thalestris cries extending her arms that now she has become the unfortunate Belinda. Hampton Court echoes with her cry that Belinda is unfortunate. She asks if Belinda has ever been caring for the hair so greatly by using soft combs and fragrant oils for this cursed fate. If she has been keeping her hair in papers to make them curly for this. She has kept the hair in iron clips. She has been loading her head with strips and ribbons not for this. Besides this all, now this thought also frightens if the Baron would show the lock with pride to others.
Conclusion:
This type of super natural machinery fills the epic with the element of high imagination. Pope points out how these strange creatures called sylphs perform wonderful activities. Likewise, evil activities are performed by gnomes. In this epic Ariel is the head of Sylphs and Umbriel is the head of Gnomes. When Ariel departs, Umbriel becomes active. He visits the cave of Spleen to bring those super natural powers that may provoke human beings to violent activities. Umbriel’s visit to the cave of spleen reminds Milton’s description of Hell in Paradies Lost.