The Motif of Mercantilism in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock

Poet Alexander Pope's scathingly ironic tone throughout The Rape of the Lock shows that when he wrote this poem as an intermediary for two upper class English families he chose not to distance himself from the absurdity of the families' egotism. The poem's main character, Belinda, is both a metaphorical representation of beauty and a vehicle for jestingly criticizing economical mores.

If Pope truly recognized the magnitude of the [mock-epic] poem he was writing then surely he would not hesitate to reflect a sign of the times; not only would it be a historical marking, it would also be a timeless piece of social satire in regards to beauty's association with wealth-and the subsequent ugliness that arises from the association.
Upon the entrance of Belinda, readers are treated to a witty execration to those of materialistic persuasion:

Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive,

And love of ombre, after death survive.

For when the Fair in all their pride expire,

To their first elements their souls retire: (I, ll. 55-59).

Pope has taken the quintessential image of the pampered beauty and utilized allegorical contrast to reduce it to a grim ugliness. From joyous rides in carriages to a meaningless legacy of card-playing, Belinda is spiritually void of value. Her proud life upon a pedestal has done more than simply conjured justification for her downfall; it has doomed her to an afterlife of cheapened repetition because Belinda is considered just another member of the nymphs (young ladies) whose "Soft yielding minds to water glide away,/ And sip, with Nymphs, their elemental tea." (I, ll. 61-62). Just as shrews must forever scald the earth with their fiery spirits, or prudes must wither into gnomes, Belinda is consigned to a permanent tea party where she must entertain her fellow constituents-pompous young belles.
Pope draws a parallel in a later entry:

"Oft, when the world imagine women stray,

The Sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way,

Through all the giddy circle they pursue,

And old impertinence expel by new. (I, ll. 91-94)

Here we have young women and their spirits interacting to maintain the status quo, with little real mysticism about it. Rather, it is simply a reiteration of the circle of fashionable consumption-- embracing the doom of social circles for all eternity. Yet they're obtuse to the condemnation at hand; in fact, they're "giddy" about it (l. 93). There's some duality here behind the meaning: giddy being dizzying for the sylphs in both an inebriating fashion and a sickening fashion dealing with the aforementioned cycle. To maintain equilibrium: it's out with the old and in with the new amongst these young English socialites.

"Impertinence" also signifies binary meanings: where a trifle might be replaced by something new, Pope reminds the reader that it is almost always done in an impertinent manner.
Indeed, it is the essence of these "varying vanitites" that build momentum for the poem, specifically its implications of British mercantilism (I, l. 99). "They shift the moving toyshop of their heart;/ Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive,/ Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive" writes Pope (I, ll. 100-103).

Landa's interpretation speaks of a materialism that is very much alive today; the mention of the boats sailing across the world carrying goods parallels that of today's importation of goods.
A few verses in "Rape of the Lock" reminded me of this:

Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain,
The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,
Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams (ii, ll. 1-3)

Here, Belinda is on her way to the court. Pope refers to her as the rival of the sun--with the rising sun being (in my mind) the driving force behind the working man's day. Whereas people have to wake up early to work hard for their meager possessions, Belinda simply must wake up early to prepare for a hard day of showing off her beauty and wealth. This could go for sailors as well. If Belinda is the rival of the sun perhaps we may interpret that as the [opposite].

Sailors, being hard workers who bring people like Belinda material goods from throughout the world, are often lost upon the seas at night. That may be a factor (probably not) but I'd like to tie it in to the reference of the seas as the "purpled main;" perhaps the color purple signifies royalty. In that case, the seas have been made royal by mercantilism--something Belinda is all about.

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned,
The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;
On shining altars of Japan they raise
The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze:
From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the smoking tide. (iii, ll. 105-109)

More references to royalty, importation, and the struggle of the working class here, as well. Upon the initial setting of the table for tea-time the table is "crowned," as if the table were actually made royalty by the things that adorn it--something definitely significant regarding the setting (court) and those who occupy it. The "mill turns round" can be a signifier of those who actually have harvested the coffee beans. "On shining altars of Japan"--the coffee is poured into the imported Japanese cups, which are disproportionate to their actual physical presence; they're almost shadowed by their reputation.

From here there are two references to silver, accompanied by a reference to "fiery spirits." Although the spirits are simply coffee in the narration, Pope may be alluding to the spirits in hell that take great pleasure in watching these doomed souls pride themselves. Finally, there is a reference to China's earth smoking. I think this may be attributed to the warfare that often accompanies the issues surrounding international trade--something the occupants of the Court are surely not preoccupied with.