Subtle Resistance and Public Hysterics: Female Agency in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Pope’s The Rape of the Lock

Abstract

Subtle Resistance and Public Hysterics: Female Agency in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Pope’s The Rape of the Lock' is an essay that views the texts investigated through a political lens; more specifically, the ways in which women characters exercise their ability to take actions led by an awareness of social rules and gender roles. Eve in Paradise Lost by John Milton gives the impression of a foolish woman that ruins Adam's place in Paradise, however upon closer inspection of her dialogue, the ways in which she navigates the patriarchal society that she has been placed into reveals her intelligence and cognisance. Similarly, Belinda in The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope appears to be an overdramatic and vain woman, but she rejects and refuses men, and constructs a set of values that she follows earnestly, even when mocked and derided for it. Understanding Paradise Lost and The Rape of the Lock as political is not challenging; the positioning of female characters within society and reactions to how they resist male domination are undoubtedly clear in a feminist lens.