The Rape of the Lock

by

Alexander Pope

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An earthly gnome who delights in wreaking havoc. He descends to the Cave of Spleen to collect a bag of “Sighs, sobs and passions,” which he dumps over Belinda and Thalestris, and vial of “fainting fears, / Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears,” which he pours over Belinda, spurring them on to confront the Baron for snipping off Belinda’s lock. A more tangibly malicious figure than Ariel, Umbriel’s name recalls the Latin umbra, meaning “shadow,” suggesting to the reader that there is a real darkness to his character. But, like that of Ariel, Umbriel’s interference in the mortals’ actions also allows Pope to return to the question of how people create moral judgements. Instead of presenting a straightforward situation where Belinda and Thalestris behave aggressively of their own accord, Pope creates one where they are almost being played with like puppets and clearly cannot be held accountable for the things that they say and do.

Umbriel Quotes in The Rape of the Lock

The The Rape of the Lock quotes below are all either spoken by Umbriel or refer to Umbriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Triviality of Court Life Theme Icon
).
Canto I Quotes

For when the fair in all their pride expire,
To their first elements their souls retire:
The sprites of fiery termagants in flame
Mount up, and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,
And sport and flutter in the fields of air.

Related Characters: Ariel (speaker), Belinda, Umbriel
Page Number: I.61-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Canto IV Quotes

Here stood Ill Nature like an ancient maid,
Her wrinkled form in black and white arrayed;
With store of prayers, for mornings, nights, and noons,
Her hand is filled; her bosom with lampoons.

Related Characters: Belinda, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV. 26-30
Explanation and Analysis:

There Affectation, with a sickly mien
Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen,
Practiced to lisp, and hang the head aside,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride;
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe,
Wrapped in a gown, for sickness, and for show.

Related Characters: Belinda, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV.31-6
Explanation and Analysis:

Here living teapots stand, one arm held out,
One bent; the handle this, and that the spout:
A pipkin there like Homer’s tripod walks;
Here sighs a jar, and there a goose-pie talks;
Men prove with child, as powerful fancy works,
And maids turned bottles, call aloud for corks.
Safe passed the Gnome through this fantastic band,
A branch of healing spleenwort in his hand.
Then thus addressed the power: “Hail, wayward Queen!
Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen,
Parent of vapors and of female wit,
Who give the hysteric, or poetic fit”

Related Characters: Umbriel (speaker), Belinda, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV.47-60
Explanation and Analysis:

A wondrous bag with both her hands she binds,
Like that where once Ulysses held the winds;
There she collects the force of female lungs,
Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues.
A vial next she fills with fainting fears,
Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears.
The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away,
Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to day.
Sunk in Thalestris’ arms the nymph he found,
Her eyes dejected and her hair unbound.
Full o’er their heads the swelling bag he rent,
And all the furies issued at the vent.
Belinda burns with more than mortal ire,
And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire.

Related Characters: Belinda, Thalestris, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Related Symbols: The Lock
Page Number: IV. 81-94
Explanation and Analysis:
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Umbriel Quotes in The Rape of the Lock

The The Rape of the Lock quotes below are all either spoken by Umbriel or refer to Umbriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Triviality of Court Life Theme Icon
).
Canto I Quotes

For when the fair in all their pride expire,
To their first elements their souls retire:
The sprites of fiery termagants in flame
Mount up, and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,
And sport and flutter in the fields of air.

Related Characters: Ariel (speaker), Belinda, Umbriel
Page Number: I.61-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Canto IV Quotes

Here stood Ill Nature like an ancient maid,
Her wrinkled form in black and white arrayed;
With store of prayers, for mornings, nights, and noons,
Her hand is filled; her bosom with lampoons.

Related Characters: Belinda, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV. 26-30
Explanation and Analysis:

There Affectation, with a sickly mien
Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen,
Practiced to lisp, and hang the head aside,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride;
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe,
Wrapped in a gown, for sickness, and for show.

Related Characters: Belinda, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV.31-6
Explanation and Analysis:

Here living teapots stand, one arm held out,
One bent; the handle this, and that the spout:
A pipkin there like Homer’s tripod walks;
Here sighs a jar, and there a goose-pie talks;
Men prove with child, as powerful fancy works,
And maids turned bottles, call aloud for corks.
Safe passed the Gnome through this fantastic band,
A branch of healing spleenwort in his hand.
Then thus addressed the power: “Hail, wayward Queen!
Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen,
Parent of vapors and of female wit,
Who give the hysteric, or poetic fit”

Related Characters: Umbriel (speaker), Belinda, The Queen of Spleen
Page Number: IV.47-60
Explanation and Analysis:

A wondrous bag with both her hands she binds,
Like that where once Ulysses held the winds;
There she collects the force of female lungs,
Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues.
A vial next she fills with fainting fears,
Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears.
The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away,
Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to day.
Sunk in Thalestris’ arms the nymph he found,
Her eyes dejected and her hair unbound.
Full o’er their heads the swelling bag he rent,
And all the furies issued at the vent.
Belinda burns with more than mortal ire,
And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire.

Related Characters: Belinda, Thalestris, Umbriel, The Queen of Spleen
Related Symbols: The Lock
Page Number: IV. 81-94
Explanation and Analysis: