Presentation:102 From Belinda's Hair to Draupadi's Disrobing_ Comparing ‘the Rape Motif in The Rape of the Lock and the Mahabharata’.pptx

From Belinda's Hair to Draupadi's Disrobing_ Comparing ‘the Rape Motif in The Rape of the Lock and the Mahabharata’

1. From Belinda's Hair to Draupadi's Disrobing: Comparing ‘the Rape Motif in The Rape of the Lock and the Mahabharata’

2. NAME:- HARDI VHORA SEM:- 1 BATCH:- 2023-2025 ENROLLMENT NO. :- 5108230050 PAPER NO. :- 102 ROLL NO. :- 14 PAPER CODE:- 22393 PAPER NAME:- Literature of the Neo-classical Period SUBMITTED TO:- Smt. S.B. Gardi, Department Of English MKBU e-mail:- [email protected]

3. # PO INTS TO PONDER:- > Introduction > Historical and Cultural Context > The Rape Motif in The Rape of The Lock > The Rape Motif in The Mahabharata > Comparing Both The Motifs > Conclusion

4. # INTRODUCTION:- The Rape of the Lock, mock-epic poem in heroic couplets by Alexander Pope. The first version, published in 1712, consisted of two cantos; the final version, published in 1714, was expanded to five cantos. Based on an actual incident and written to reconcile the families that had been estranged by it, The Rape of the Lock recounts the story of a young woman who has a lock of hair stolen by an ardent young man. Pope couches the trivial event in terms usually reserved for incidents of great moment—such as the quarrel between the Greeks and the Trojans. The poem marries a rich range of literary allusions and an ironic commentary on the contemporary social world with a sense of suppressed energy threatening to break through the veneer of civilization.

5. Mahabharata, (Sanskrit: “Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”) one of the two Sanskrit epic poems of ancient India (the other being the Ramayana). The Mahabharata is an important source of information on the development of Hinduism between 400 BCE and 200 CE and is regarded by Hindus as both a text about dharma (Hindu moral law) and a history (itihasa, literally “that’s what happened”). Appearing in its present form about 400 CE, the Mahabharata consists of a mass of mythological and didactic material arranged around a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for sovereignty between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendant of Kuru) and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu). The poem is made up of almost 100,000couplets—about seven times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined—divided into 18 parvans, or sections , plus a supplement titled Harivamsha (“Genealogy of the God Hari”; i.e., of Vishnu). Although it is unlikely that any single person wrote the poem, its authorship is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa , who appears in the work as the grandfather of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The date and even the historical occurrence of the war that is the central event of the Mahabharata are much debated.

6. # HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT OF B OTH THE WORKS,.. Pope has presented a true and faithful picture of the eighteenth century life in its manifold aspects in The Rape of the Lock. It is the real source of his strength. In no other poet do we find such a forceful and true reflection of the life of his age, as in Pope. His want of originality means the extreme and even morbid sensibility, which enables him to give the fullest utterance to the ideas of his class, and of the nation, so far as the nation was really represented by the class.

7. The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic where the main story revolves around two branches of a family - the Pandavas and Kauravas - who, in the Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of Hastinapura. Interwoven into this narrative are several smaller stories about people dead or living, and philosophical discourses. Krishna-Dwaipayan Vyasa, himself a character in the epic, composed it; as, according to tradition, he dictated the verses and Ganesha wrote them down. At 100,000 verses, it is the longest epic poem ever written, generally thought to have been composed in the 4th century BCE or earlier. The events in the epic play out in the Indian subcontinent and surrounding areas. It was first narrated by a student of Vyasa at a snake-sacrifice of the great-grandson of one of the major characters of the story. Including within it the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata is one of the most important texts of ancient Indian, indeed world, literature.

8. # THE RAPE MOTIF IN ‘THE RAPE OF THE LOCK’,... The lock of Belinda's hair referred to in the title is also a powerful symbol both of vanity and of the power of female beauty over men. According to the poem, Belinda has nourished her locks, meaning she has trained them to be at their most fabulous, hanging temptingly down her neck. As such, they are portrayed as "Chains" or even "Sprindges," or snares, to entrap an unsuspecting young beau. When Pope initially introduces the locks, he says they have been nourished "to the destruction of mankind," meaning they have great power and have been groomed in such a way as to have even more power. They are doing their job—in fact, they do it too well, causing the Baron to fall so completely in love (as it turns out later) with Belinda that he simply has to have her locks, or one of them, as a souvenir. This results in the entire battl and, indeed, the resentment between the two tha comes as a result of it.

9. #THE RAPE MOTIF IN THE MAHAB HARATA,... From the transcendental perspective, this whole past-time is enacted to demonstrate the truth that no matter how protected we may be in this world, the outside events can turn in such an unpredictable and unfortunate way that despite having many protectors, one may be rendered defenceless and it reveals that ultimately we have only one protector, that is Krishna. This is the transcendental purpose of this whole past-time and everything, right from Yudhishthira losing his self-mastery and gambling to such a terrible extent, was ultimately part of the Lord’s plan for demonstrating that a woman who had, not one, but five powerful husbands, was yet ravished by a brutish person. She was in a public assembly, in the presence of her five husbands who were her protectors, in front of her elders who were supposed to defend her and yet in such a situation she was reduced to a position of defencelessness and helplessness where finally Krishna protected her and saved her honour.

10. # COMPARING B OTH THE RAPE MOTIFS:- According to me we can argue that both the work's rape motifs are similar but in contracts; The rape motif in "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope and Draupadi's disrobing in the Indian epic Mahabharata both involve violations of a woman's modesty, but they are quite different in context and consequences. In "The Rape of the Lock," the term "rape" is used metaphorically to describe the trivial theft of a lock of a woman's hair, highlighting the satire of superficiality in society. In contrast, Draupadi's disrobing is a tragic and violent event in which she is publicly humiliated, illustrating themes of honor, justice, and gender inequality in ancient India. The two motifs serve distinct literary and cultural purposes in their respective works .

11. # CON CLUSION:- In the conclusion we can say that the comparative analysis of the rape motif in "The Rape of the Lock" and the Mahabharata, as seen through the contrasting lenses of 18th-century English satire and ancient Indian epic, provides a thought-provoking examination of the cultural, social, and literary contexts in which these narratives were crafted. While both texts address the violation of a woman's modesty, they do so with stark differences in tone, purpose, and the treatment of the victims. Through this comparative study, we gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of these narratives and the ways in which literature can reflect and challenge the values and beliefs of its time, ultimately inviting us to question and reflect upon the evolution of societal attitudes and the portrayal of women in the two distinct cultures and eras under scrutiny.

12. # REFERENC ES:- Basu, Anindita, et al. “Mahabharata.” World History Encyclopedia , https://www.worldhistory.org/Mahabharata/ . Accessed 31 October 2023. Charan, Chaitanya. “Why did Bhishma and other elders stay silent when Draupadi was being disrobed?” The Spiritual Scientist , 2 January 2020, https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/2020/01/why-did-bhishma-and-other-elders-stay-silent-when-draupadi-was-being-disrobed/ . Accessed 31 October 2023. Doniger, Wendy. “Mahabharata | Definition, Story, History, & Facts.” Britannica , 20 October 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mahabharata . Accessed 31 October 2023. “The Rape of the Lock | Mock Epic, Satire, Caricature.” Britannica , 22 September 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Rape-of-the-Lock . Accessed 31 October 2023. “The Rape of the Lock Symbols.” Course Hero , 17 May 2019, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Rape-of-the-Lock/symbols/ . Accessed 31 October 2023.