When you first take a look at The Rape of the Lock, and A Modest Proposal, they seem like wildly different pieces of writing. In one, a person presents a proposal to fix the poverty issue in Ireland by eating children. The other tells a story of a superficial woman who makes a big fit about getting her hair stolen. But while Rape of the Lock and A Modest Proposal are two very different pieces of writing thematically, they share a lot of the same propaganda and humor techniques that were a hallmark of satirical writing during the Enlightenment. These techniques occur everywhere in both pieces of writing, and there are several that they share in common. The first techniques that both pieces of literature use are Humor techniques. These are used
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One common propaganda technique between the two is Name Calling and Stereotyping. In which a person is dehumanized or insulted by being given a pejorative name that is easy to remember, so that people reject them without giving them a second chance. We can see a clear example of this propaganda technique in a Modest proposal, where it is used when the author is talking about the details of his plans, specifically assigning some women to produce more children, “Of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand Couple whose Wives are breeders.” (Paragraph 6, Line 1) By using the term “Breeders” to describe these women, Pope is dehumanizing them and treating them as if they were machines whose sole task was to produce children, making the proposition to consume the children of the poor seem less immoral. In Rape of the Lock Pope also insults a character in a similar way, but uses a phrase instead of a single word. When Belinda gets on the boat to go to Hampton Court, the author describes her beauty while criticising her at the same time, “If to her share some Female Errors fall, Look on her Face, and you 'll forget 'em all.” (Canto II, Lines 17-18) In this quote Pope is saying that even if Belinda makes mistakes, people forgive her because of her looks. While this is praising her beauty. it is also calling Belinda a superficial person, who isn’t the brightest, but gets by because of her
One common propaganda technique between the two is Name Calling and Stereotyping. In which a person is dehumanized or insulted by being given a pejorative name that is easy to remember, so that people reject them without giving them a second chance. We can see a clear example of this propaganda technique in a Modest proposal, where it is used when the author is talking about the details of his plans, specifically assigning some women to produce more children, “Of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand Couple whose Wives are breeders.” (Paragraph 6, Line 1) By using the term “Breeders” to describe these women, Pope is dehumanizing them and treating them as if they were machines whose sole task was to produce children, making the proposition to consume the children of the poor seem less immoral. In Rape of the Lock Pope also insults a character in a similar way, but uses a phrase instead of a single word. When Belinda gets on the boat to go to Hampton Court, the author describes her beauty while criticising her at the same time, “If to her share some Female Errors fall, Look on her Face, and you 'll forget 'em all.” (Canto II, Lines 17-18) In this quote Pope is saying that even if Belinda makes mistakes, people forgive her because of her looks. While this is praising her beauty. it is also calling Belinda a superficial person, who isn’t the brightest, but gets by because of her