The Rape of the Lock is a mock-epic piece. It aims to put
a light hearted spin on the early epic classics from the likes of Homer. Pope sets the
stage of a dreaming girl, Belinda, who is guided and protected by spirits. Her guardian
spirit, Ariel, sends her a dream of a handsome youth and discloses her protection by the
army of spirits. Belinda embodies the superficial and frivilous ways of young women and
is fancied by young men. Pope explains in the first canto that it's not a young woman's
fault if she is vain and frivilous - the sprites make her this way. The spirits do
encourage young ladies to be proud and resist the offers of men. Towards the end of the
first section, Ariel tells Belinda "This to disclose is all thy guardian can. Beware of
all, but most beware of man!" He's letting her know that something dreadful will soon
happen, but he knows not the details of what, when, and where. He simply warns Belinda
to be on the look out.
Pope makes it pretty clear that
young women like Belinda are not guided by a strict moral code, but more by an obsession
with worldly things and status. However, he also wants the reader to know that these
young women are trained to think and behave this way. Belinda is intrigued by things and
men, and although she's directly warned by Ariel to beware of men (perhaps a potential
suitor or someone wishing to do her wrong - we don't know at this point) she wakes from
her dream and seems to forget about the warning right away.
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