Commodification of Beauty and Identity in Alexander Pope's “The Rape of the Lock”

This paper explores Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock (1717) as a materialism and consumer culture satire of the early eighteenth century in Britain. By means of formal parody, Pope attacks the commercialization of beauty, sexuality, and identity within a society that is obsessed with the purchase of luxury commodities. Such a transactional aspect of sexual and social politics is manifested in the poem by the objectification of Belinda, an ideal of female beauty, and by the Baron, who embarks on a quest to claim possession of her hair. The application of amatory tropes and the use of mock-epic form by Pope reveals the growing definition of personal and social value in terms of material goods. The paper also looks at the effect of the increasing importance of global trade and finance capitalism on British society and how it has shaped their consumer culture. Finally Pope is critiquing the cultural addiction to materialism and shallowness and the ethical and personal price of a materialistic world.