The Rape of the Lock と古代叙事詩のモチーフ : 「力か策略か」をめぐって
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概要
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この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。The purpose of this paper is to discuss Pope's use of the epic motive : "Fraud or Force" in the Rape of the Loch. This motive occurs three times in the Rape of the Lock (2.32, 34, 103), every time in conjunction with how to get Belinda's lock. And the scene of its rape is the climax of the poem. Hence, the motive deserves more than a passing notice. The main sources of the motive are Virgil's Aeneid 2.390 (dolus an virtus) aud Dryden's Aeneid 2.62 (by fraud or force). The former takes the form of a Trojan, Coroebus, and the latter tha of a mention of the trick of the Greeks, the wooden horse. The trick of Coroebus fails, while that of the Greeks, though disapproved, succeeds. In short, in the Aeneid, tricks are never approved, and treachery (dolus) is incompatible with valor (virtus). The question now arises : which is selected, fraud or force, in The Rape of the Lock? The Baron's instrument (cf. 3.126) is a pair of scissors (3.147, 151), which is called by various' names. First, it is called "two edg'd Weapon, " likened to a knight's spear (3.128-30). In epics, to use a spear is to fight by force. Later, the same scissors are called "fatal Engine (3.149)." This phrase comes from Dryden's Aeneid (2.60 and 2.345), which refers to the trick of the wooden horse. Thus, to use the scissors is to use both fraud aud force. After the scene of the rape of Belinda's lock, the poet tells of the force of steel (3.171-8). This passage contains the fall of Troy (173-4). Since it is generally balieved that Troy was captured by means of the trick of the wooden horse, a simple mention of the sack of Troy would indicate fraud. But the word "steel, " like the Latin word "ferrum, " can mean a sword, which indicates force (cf. 3.178). After all, the method of the sack of Troy is both fraud and force, like that of the rape of the lock. In the use of the motive : "Fraud or Force" Pope's allusive technique is well displayed. He unites two entities (fraud and force), which are incompatible with each other in the Aeneid. Thus, the series motive in the ancient epic is treated in a manner suitable for the mockheroic poem.
- 1992-09-30