In order to make light of the situation, Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock. Ever since the incident, the families had been feuding. Caryll explained that his friend, Lord Petre, had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair. Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in response to a request made my his friend John Caryll, a prominent Roman Catholic of the time. The poem follows the events of the night, leading up to Belinda’s “horrific” loss.
In the Rape of the Lock, Pope uses Belinda and the Baron to mock two of his acquaintances, Arabella Fermor, and Lord Petre. Although trivial to most, Belinda is outraged that her lock of hair has been cut by the Baron. The poem is a mock-epic that satirizes the upper-class in London at the time.The story focuses on the central character, Belinda, whose lock of hair is cut off at a social gathering. The Rape of the Lock was written by Alexander Pope and first published in 1712, then reworked and published again in 1714.