Affectation Becomes Her...

I want to take a closer look at these lines from Canto 4 of Pope’s Rape of the Lock:

There Affectation, with a sickly mien,
Shows in her cheeks the roses of eighteen,
Practis’d to lisp, and hang the head aside,
Faints into airs and languishes with pride,
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe,
Wrapt in a gown, for sickness, and for show,
The fair-ones feel such maladies as these,
When each new night-dress gives a new disease.

For the last week, these lines have captivated me more than any others from this poem.  Take a look at the first line. The word “affectation” means a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display, while the word “mien” means dignified manner or conduct. Pushing off of this, my re-wording of this line is something like, “There, exaggerated display, with a sickly dignified conduct.”  Though pretense and display are seen over and over in Pope’s poem, this is the most powerful example of “show” from all of the Cantos (in my opinion), because Belinda is not merely described as exhibiting these qualities.  Rather, she is show, and her name is “Affectation.” Through her ritual of grief, she has become the embodiment of her name. She is no longer Belinda, but Affectation, anthropomorphized.  

As her name purports, and her “sickly” dignified conduct conveys, she is well-acquainted with with the ritual of grief.  We see the manifestations of this as she practices the movements and motions of grief, hanging her head, fainting, and languishing. Notice that she sinks with “becoming woe.” This is such an interesting word choice here, because though “becoming” in this instance could mean increasing/swelling woe, or woe that keeps getting worse, it could also mean suiting, or enhancing the appearance of, so that the woe suits Belinda, or enhances her appearance as “Affectation.” Notice that she “wrapts” herself in a gown (not unlike her “becoming woe” that she wears) for “sickness and for show.” She is going through the rituals of grief simply for the sake of the ritual itself.  In other words, all this showiness works toward no other avail than to create her “sickly mien,” or dignified conduct. 

At first glance, it may seem that through her ritualistic behavior Belinda is merely resigned to living up to her new name.  However, that her “practis’d” actions only serve themselves, and therefore do not serve Belinda, we can conclude that her actions are not entirely of her own volition. Consider the last two lines of the above selection: “The fair-ones feel such maladies as these, when each new night-dress gives a new disease.” With each new night-dress put on by the fair-ones, a new “disease” will present itself, which will bring upon a malady, or desperate condition. Notice there isn’t an “if” in these lines, but only “when,” suggesting an inescapable fate. The fair-ones will inevitably fall. This is why the grief ritual is rehearsed over and over by Belinda.  She is one of the “fair-ones,” and she cannot escape her need for grief. She knows she will fall, like all fair-ones do. 

That Belinda goes through the motions of grief not for healing but for show reveals that she has resigned to defeat, and has become numb to the cause of it, so that woe is not something she feels, but merely adorns.