Download - Scandal and sensation
SCANDAL AND SENSATION
The mythologizing of a dispute: Scandal in the
Eighteenth Century
WHAT dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs,What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things,I sing -- This Verse to C---, Muse! is due;This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view:Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise,If She inspire, and He approve my Lays. Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compelA well-bred Lord t'assault a gentle Belle?Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd,Cou'd make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?And dwells such Rage in softest Bosoms then?And lodge such daring Souls in Little Men?
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (1714)
BACKGROUND
Arabella Fermor (called Belinda in the poem) and
Lord Petre (Sir Plume)
Scandal when he cut off a lock of her hair
Let to feud between the two families
John Caryll asked Pope to write about it to
reconnect the families
Had the opposite effect
ITEMS FOR THE EXHIBITION
Scandal and Sensation
Manuscript of The Rape of the Lock published in 1714
Currently at Christies
Portrait of Arabella Fermor, painted by GrantCurrently at Rufford Old Hall
Letters from Alexander Pope to John Caryll talking about the incident
THE NARRATIVE OF THE PROJECT
The whole idea behind this project is to look at the idea of what a
scandal was in the Eighteenth Century
Using The Rape of the Lock and Alexander Pope’s approach to
this scandal as a kind of ‘scandal case study’
Using the letter and manuscript as evidence of the distinction
between the ‘real’ occurrence and the heavily dramatized account
Thinking about the study of ‘scandal’ and the elite in the
Eighteenth Century and how this single event fits into this study
AREAS TO RESEARCH
Studies of Alexander Pope and The Rape of the
Lock
Studies of Scandal in the Eighteenth Century
Studies of Alexander Pope’s correspondence
Art history surrounding Eighteenth-Century
portraits
Book history and the proliferation of The Rape of
the Lock in its first full edition
INTERDISCIPLINARY
This research is interdisciplinary as it looks at a
variety of sources – paint, poetry, and a selection of
letters
Literary studies and cultural history are the main
discipline areas studied, although art history comes
into play with the painting and book history is
important when considering the original print
edition