Aphra Behn and Alexander Pope both present various situations of crisis and uprising in their works, Oroonoko and The Rape of the Lock, respectively. Although the nature and intensity of the crisis situations are very different, both authors use them to make political statements about the culture of their times. The Oroonoko uprising and crisis condemn a certain form of slavery, while the Rape of the Lock crisis mocks the excessive attention given to the trivialities of society. These authors use revolution, political tensions and crisis situations as a means of commenting on their own society and criticizing its negative characteristics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Behn's Oroonoko, the main character, Oroonoko, is a strong and courageous general who is often at war in his home country. origin (190-191). War is physical conflict aimed at resolving a larger conflict or suppressing uprisings. Nations at war must make sacrifices to get something. Oroonoko is physically involved in the war in his home country, which foreshadows the psychological warfare he will have to wage later in his life. Behn compares him to Mars, the god of war, while comparing Imoinda to Venus (190). When Oroonoko hears the false information that Imoinda, his wife, is dead, he becomes so depressed that he no longer wants to fight (201). He feels partly responsible for her death, because it was their love for each other that led to his punishment. This also foreshadows a later part of the story where Oroonoko actually kills Imoinda, but for love. In Pope's mock epic The Rape of the Lock, the main female character, Belinda, receives a warning about "a dreadful [imminent] event" (1.109). She benefits from the protection of the Sylphs, but they cannot prevent what will happen. The only thing her personal guardian, Sylph, Ariel, can say is "Beware of all, but above all, beware of men!" » (1.114). This strange warning sets the stage for the conflict to come. However, Belinda gets caught up in a love letter and forgets the entire warning, but not the reader. “Wounds, charms, and ardors were no sooner read, than all vision vanished from thy head” (1.119-120). The fact that the reader still remembers the warning accentuates Belinda's frivolity and diminishes the situation. It is a device that Pope uses to lighten the real situation that occurs in the context of the novel. The main event actually took place in a small, close-knit Roman Catholic society, and the pope recognized the toxicity of division between people. He was asked to write this poem in an attempt to reconcile the situation and dissipate hostility and resentment. Pope took this opportunity to write the poem as a mock epic in order to impress upon his subjects how insignificant the affair was in the broader sense. In Oroonoko, the main conflict is between Oroonoko and his fellow slaves and the people in charge of them. This is not a traditional anti-slavery narrative, as Oroonoko had slaves in his homeland. The first time he visits Imoinda is in part to “present to him the slaves taken in the last battle, as trophies of his father’s victories” (191). What Aphra Behn condemns in her text is royal slavery. She portrays Oroonoko, who is a royal slave, in a very different light than the other slaves. His description almost makes him sound European. The only differencesare his religion and the color of his skin. There are differences between Oroonoko's personality and that of the other slaves. During the battle between the slaves and their owners, Oroonoko, Imoinda and Toscan are the only slaves who do not give up (223). Oroonoko sees himself as a noble warrior, not a slave, and it shows in his actions. The slaves give up even though they had initially anticipated that "if they died in the attempt, it would be more serious...more courageous than living in perpetual slavery" (222). It is Oroonoko who suggests that the slaves rebel and Oroonoko who leads the rebellion. The other slaves are not capable of conceiving such an idea for themselves. Not only do the other slaves all give up, but they also betray Oroonoko. “He saw each of those slaves, who a few days before had worshiped him as something more than mortal, now had a whip with which to lash him” (225). The inconstancy of the slaves contrasts with Oroonoko's loyalty, particularly to Imoinda. The multiple differences between Oroonoko and the other slaves show Aphra Behn's position on slavery. She believes that there are certain types of people who are meant to be slaves but Oroonoko is not one of them. He is part of the nobility and nobility is not supposed to be enslaved, regardless of nationality. Before the battle, Oroonoko gives a very moving anti-slavery speech which, had the rebellion succeeded, would have made it more of an anti-slavery novel. The rebellion fails, however, and in the end, only the royal slaves do not give up the fight. On this point, we could understand that the anti-slavery discourse only applied to noble slaves. Aphra Behn's political position may have influenced her views on royal slaves. In her description of Oroonoko she says that "he had heard of the late civil wars in England and of the deplorable death of our great monarch, and spoke of them with all the sense and horror of injustice imaginable” (189-190). ). This refers to the beheading of King Charles I during the civil war between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. in England. This would have signaled Behn's ardent support for James II, the last of the Stuart kings. The fact that she presents Oroonoko as a hero, and then gives him her own royalist opinion, shows the high regard she has for him. Pope's The Rape of the Lock is an epic simulation following the structure of the Iliad, satirizing a society's attention to meaningless events. It's a sophisticated way of criticizing people's stupidity. The main event occurs when the Baron cuts a lock of Belinda's hair for himself. Cutting your hair is something that cannot be undone. The hair is symbolic because it is a part of Belinda and linked to her sexuality. Hair loss somehow devalues ​​her, and is therefore extremely upsetting. A battle between the sexes ensues, with each trying to get their hands on Belinda's stolen lock of hair. Pope describes this scene using warlike terms. The card game is described in terms of battle, the cards are "partisan troops" (3.44) and "adventurous knights" (3.26) who "prepare to fight on the velvet plain". (3.45). Pope describes the scene in these terms to draw a parallel with the battle scenes in the Iliad. The epic form and the comparison with the great battles of the Iliad reinforce the effect of Pope's satire. “Men, monkeys, pet dogs, parrots, all perish!” (4.120), Belinda exclaims as she loses her lock. She compares the grief caused by losing her lock to death and, in doing so, draws attention to the triviality of.