Beginning of Essay
Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" engages the reader by telling the tale of a beauteous young woman who has been terribly wronged when an amorous suitor purloins a lock of hair. He begins his tale with an introduction, an apology of sorts, to one Arabella Fe ....

Middle of Essay
.... of an epic to depict a tale of a great injustice, the unforgivable theft of a single lock of hair. "The Rape of the Lock" burlesques elements of the epic in a variety of manners. The first elements encountered by the reader are the dream and the presence of supernatural beings. " . . . but Zeus could not sleep. For he was pondering how he could destroy crowds of men on the battlefield and cover Achilles with glory," Homer writes, "It seemed to be the best plan to send a bad dream to King Agamemnon" (trans. in W.H. D Rouse 23). Just as Homer chose to invoke thepower of the gods, Alexander Pope chose to illuminate his tale with the presence of the ....