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Supernatural Machinery in "The Rape of the Lock"

The Rape of the Lock is replete with the element of supernatural machinery. Alexander pope explains that
"machinery" is a term invented by the critics to signify the part which deities, angels, or demons play in a poem.
He goes on to say that the machinery in his poem is based on the Rosicrucian doctrine of spirits. According
to this doctrine the four elements are inhabited by sylphs, nymphs, gnomes, and salamanders. The sylphs,
whose habitation is in the air, are supposed to be the best-conditioned creatures imaginable.

Pope tells us in the poem that beautiful women return, after their death, to the elements from which they
were derived. Violent tempered women become salamanders or spirits of the fire. Women of gentle and
pleasing disposition pass into nymphs or water-spirits. Prudish women become gnomes or earth-spirits. Light-
hearted coquettes are changed into sylphs or spirits of the air. Pope attributes to the mischievous influence of
the gnomes many unguarded follies of the female sex which he holds up to ridicule.

The first and perhaps the foremost occupation of the sylphs is the protection of fair and chaste ladies
who reject the male sex. It is they who guard and save the chastity of maidens who are on the point of yielding
to their lovers. They save these maidens from falling victims to the allurements of "treacherous friends" and
dashing young men whose music softens their minds and dancing inflames their passions. The gnomes or
earth-spirits fill the minds of proud maidens with foolish ideas which make them indulge in vain dreams of being
married to lords and peers. These gnomes teach young coquettes to ogle and pretend blushing at the sight
of fashionable young men who cause their hearts to flutter. It is the sylphs, however, who safely guide the
maidens through all dangers. It is most amusing to note how these sylphs do this. Whenever a maiden is about
to yield to the seduction of a particular young man, another who is more attractive and tempting appears on the
scene and the fashionable maiden at once transfers her favour to the new comer. This may be called levity or
fickleness in women but it is all contrived by the sylphs.

In most of the famous epics "machinery" consists in supernatural beings like gods and angels who play a
vital role in the action of the poems thus showing that the human world is not independent or even adequate
and those supernatural powers have an important bearing on this world. Pope thought that his mock-epic would
be incomplete without a parody of this established practice of epic poets in introducing machinery. The
machinery of his poem comprises the sylphs led by Ariel (named after Shakespeare's immortal creation in The
Tempest). In lines of great poetic beauty Pope describes wittily the occupations and tasks of the sylphs in
general. The machinery of sylphs in this poem is vastly helpful to the mock-epic effect.

Ariel tells us in the poem that to him and his followers has been assigned the humble but pleasant duty of
serving fashionable young ladies. The functions of these sylphs are described humorously and include saving
the powder from being blown off from the cheeks of ladies, preventing scents from evaporating, preparing
cosmetics, teaching the ladies to blush and to put on enchanting airs, suggesting new ideas about dress. The
sylphs show a delightful down-scaling of the epic machines. They are "light" by any heroic standards. They feel
scared when a crisis approaches. Yet they are in every detail Belinda's intimates and counsellors. They explain
the various complicated conventions and anxieties that make up Belinda's day.

The Rape of the Lock may be described as a satirical comedy of manners. The sylphs in this poem are
both a mirror and mock-apotheosis of customs and conventions of the society of the time. Belinda is told in a
dream that sylphs guide and protect her through the dangers of life. Ariel's account of the predicament of the
"tender mind" in a circle of rakes reduces his use of noble words such as "innocent", "honour", and "purity" to
the level of a muddle and a sham. He is there, he tells her, to protect her purity according to sylphic theology.
Defended by sylphs, the "melting maids" are safe, for what we call "honour" is really no more than Providence.
Reassuring Belinda in this way, Ariel is in effect undermining her moral position, taking away with one hand the
credit he gives with the other. He explains how a woman's defence is achieved. A maid would fall to Florio if

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Damon were not at hand to divert her attention, and if, an old folly were not expelled by a new. A maid "shifts
the moving toy-shop of her heart" with her varying vanities. It is the sylphs that make her do that.

What we called "levity" in women, says Ariel, is the effect of the same divine guidance as determined their
"honour". The concealed implication, that the two qualities are roughly on a par, is very cruel. But Ariel merrily
goes on to warn Belinda in epic style of the danger that threatens her. He concludes with a plea for caution, and
the words of caution come from the lips that have just encouraged flirtatiousness.

The machines are present at every crucial situation in the play. The sylphs are present in the course of
Belindas journey by boat to Hampton Court. They have been warned by Ariel to remain alert and vigilant, fifty of
them having been deputed to take charge of Belinda's petticoat. They are in attendance on Belinda when she
plays ombre. They hover around her when she sips coffee. And they withdraw only when Ariel sees "an earthly
lover lurking at her heart". A gnome, called Umbriel, goes to the Cave of Spleen and returns with a bag full of
sighs, sobs, screams, and outbursts of anger, and a phial filled with fainting fits, gentle sorrows, soft griefs,
etc.all of which are released over Belinda. And the sylphs are present to witness the flight of Belinda's lock of
hair to the sky. In short, the machinery of the poem is constantly kept in the reader's view, to the very last.

Thus Pope has provided the myth of the sylphs in order to symbolise the polite conventions which govern
the conduct of maidens. We miss the whole point if we regard the sylphs as merely supernatural machinery. In
general, we may say that Pope's use of this myth represents his attempt to do justice to the intricacies of the
feminine mind. His treatment of the sylphs allows him to develop his whole attitude toward Belinda and the
special world which she graces.

The sylphs are added to the poem to give flavour to the whole. They improve the literary mockery, and
they also improve the human mockery. The machinery of sylphs is the principal symbol of the triviality of
Belinda's world. "The light militia of the lower sky" are a travesty of both Homeric deities and Miltonic guardian
angels. Like these originals they have an ambiguous status: they exist within and without the characters. The
sylphs who protect Belinda are also her acceptance of the rules of social convention, which presume that a
coquette's life is a pure game.

The use of this machinery serves various other purposes in the poem. The machinery imparts qualities of
splendour and wonder to the actors and the actions in the story. Like Homer's gods, Pope's sylphs move easily
in and out of the lower world; they surprise without offending our sense of the probable; and they give to
ordinary human impulses a sensuous or concrete form. What they really stand forfeminine honour, flirtation,
courtship, the necessary rivalry of man and womanis seen in its essence, and a human impulse seen in its
essence is always beautiful.

These "light militia of the lower sky" increase dramatic suspense, and therefore story depth, since they
foreknow and warn of the central disaster. They help to universalize semi-humorously the whole action as they
are the binding symbolism of the little drama. They reflect the implied belief that humanity and its sensible world
do not exhaust the total of a comprehensive statement. They are also spirits of the dead, acting as guardian
angels to the living.

The sylphan machinery is exquisite, but it must also be recognized as demonic. In tempting Belinda to
transcend the flesh-and-blood world by life long chastity, Ariel offers her a Satanic substitute for Christianity.
Pope succeeded eminently in his design of .introducing this element of the "marvellous". Pope has recovered
something. Of Homer's vision of a human drama played in relation to a divine order.

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