In the "Epistle: To a Lady of the Characteristics of Women", the Pope condemns the "wretched wise man" of a woman who is not only too wise, but has "too much spirit", "too much speed ” and “thinks too much.” He bitterly exposes what "Nature hides" (Pope ln 190) in women by purposely selecting "the most exact traits of the body or mind" (Pope ln 191) and finding defects in specimens such as Narcissa, Flavia, Atossa and Cloe alone to make clear the high standards achieved by his model of perfection, the woman for whom he is writing the epistle. Yet the Lady's reputation is also falsely inflated, for it is only after hearing his rant about women that she is honored by the Pope. The Lady states that "women have no character" (Pope ln 2) in an attempt to console him for being the "nothing so true" that a woman has "dropped once" (Pope ln 1). It convinces him that the rejection he has faced is unworthy of the despondency he experiences, observable through his bitter and angry tone throughout the poem. His rejection is a "matter too tender, a lasting sign to bear" (Pope ln 3) and yet in the first fifteen lines he is not an emotional participant but a cold and jealous observer of the very environment he has created, a situation in which wishes to exist. “I have to paint it,” (Pope ln 16) he says, intentionally isolating himself from the scene. He allows his “madness to become romantic” (Pope ln 16) by capturing an image of his ideal, yet here in the very first lines of the poem he also eschews any kind of fictitious sexual affirmation and instead places himself in physical isolation. . When he asks for the ground to be prepared (ln 17) he is metaphorically referring to the preparation of one's "colorful" emotions on the literal canvas that is the text of this poem. Pope could care less about what he believes to be good and bad characteristics in women, because in this poem there is an internal power struggle within Pope between his own fears and insecurities and his generalized conception of the role of women. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Wanting to be contained by a woman, Pope fears that this is impossible due to a woman's seemingly ever-changing emotions. “It is to [women's] changes [that] half their charm [he] owes,” yet this instability and ephemeral nature of female passions is what frightens him most. It is the Cinzias that constantly change and the Papillies that fly out of his reach that frustrate Pope, pushing him to write a somewhat misogynistic work, because the reality of reaching a woman is in itself so impossible, that the possibility of finding a person always accepting, lasting love is beyond his scope of conception. He wants to be loved and yet hides from the pain that he is certain will be inflicted upon him further. A woman's lover "acquires the pain with all the joy it can give" (Pope ln 99) and yet "he will die of nothing but the anger of living" (Pope ln 100). This is Pope's ultimate fear: not living fully, and yet without a woman he is not even able to live fully. He is the "nothing" referred to here, as in the first line of the poem, for his purpose is to do nothing but live. His existence is entirely in the verbal entity of "nothing but the rage to live" and yet it is from this force that Flavia's lover dies. The man is killing himself in pursuit of Flavia's love, because Pope literally dies of his own accord, but instead blames Flavia's ingenuity as the culprit. Pope condemns a woman's humor, but goes on to use Simo's companion as an example of vulgarity in humor. She "laughs at Hell" (Pope ln 107)he exclaims and compares her to a fool, yet his awe and jealousy at the "charm" of sin (Pope ln 15) are ignored. The Pope wants a woman to count him as a woman who is "beautiful by default and delicately weak" (Pope ln 44) can never be as desirable as the "good man" (Pope ln 9). something that Fannia looks at lasciviously , but he does not care "if the enchanter sins him, or sanctifies him" (Pope ln 15), because he simply wants to be the one who enchants. Parallels can be drawn here with Genesis, for like the serpent luring Eve to eat the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge, the sinner's charm is at work. Likewise the saint is seductive with the allure of moral rectitude, God being an implied force here, and Zeus is also referred to as the Swan who seduces Leda (note 2). Evil and good act in the same way, simply as a process of gaining love and, above all, respect. Although Pope paints a scene of light with purity composed of "naked Leda" (Pope ln 10) and "feeling angels, palms and divine harps" (Pope ln 14), he ignores both of these processes of conquering women and focuses instead on the physical appearance. achievement of women. In numerous accounts, the Pope expresses how he is "afraid of offending" (Pope ln 29) women, and yet, by charming women with the false pretense of being rebellious, evil, or extremely good, he is no longer at the mercy of women but gains power and therefore control through the seduction of the mind. However this is only a reality in Pope's fantasy scene, in reality it is women who have gained power over men through the same methods of seduction mentioned by Pope and, unlike Pope, have managed to control the opposite sex. Pope writes this poem in response to his failed attempt to love, but with the bitter realization that love's welcome is forever abandoned, "Love, if it makes her yield, must make her hate it" (Pope ln 134) , recognizes that the power of love is feminine and therefore the power of love that craves will always be under a woman's control. With poisonous jealousy, Pope tells the story of Calypso who "without virtue, without beauty, enchanted" (Pope ln 46) Ulysses and his men. Calypso "touched the edge of all that we [men] hate" (Pope ln 52), yet what is truly hated is simply the subordination of man to woman. Pope's insecurities are exposed when he exclaims that Philomedes with "sweet passion and refined taste" (Pope ln 84) "prepares his hearty meal on a donkey" (Pope ln 85). He is afraid of being made fun of for love, because by loving a woman he will submit to her. By submitting to her, he naturally resents her. This explains why Narcissa is immediately applauded for her "fairly gentle" nature (Pope ln 53), and why many lines like these tend to glorify domestic and submissive women in this poem. Pope, like Papilla, is also "married to [his] amorous spark" (Pope ln 37) and yet finds it easier to blame women for what can only be labeled as his failure in personal fulfillment, because he lacks power over her. women that women on the contrary have on him. Offend her, and she will know not to forgive; Oblige her, and she will hate you while you live: But die, and she will worship you - Then the bust And the temple rise again and then fall into the dust again. The Pope can only obtain love in death, and yet even that is only for an ephemeral moment. Falling to dust, it becomes nothing again, for it is the forgotten memory of someone who was never loved. It is nothing but dust, worthless. Pope remains bitter toward the loveless women who abandoned him and let him become "nothing" in their metaphysical presence, and still creates a fantasy in which he imagines that they "get..