As the name indicates, the Mock-Epic is a literary form that ridicules the "classical epics." It does so by using characteristics of the classical epic; the invocation of a deity, a regular statement of theme, the division of the work into books and cantos, ostentatious speeches, battles and supernatural machinery; to reveal the absurdity of a certain subject. The main consequence of utilizing the style of an epic is, however, not so much to have fun with the epic, but to deflate a subject or characters that by contrast appear exceptionally insignificant. .
One of the best examples of a Mock Epic is Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. Pope uses highly refined verses, pungent satirical heroic couplets, and intelligence to satirize not only the irrepressible intricacy and solemnity of subject matters found within epic poems, but the commotion that results when a young lord cuts a small lock of hair from the head of an young beauty. .
In The Rape of the Lock, Pope exhausts much energy preparing the audience for a "battle" (card game) that will shortly take place, that of English intrigue at Hampton Court. Pope treats the subject with gravity, portraying the story as a true epic. Pope's intent was perhaps to weaken, with pleasantry, the adverse feelings aroused by the trial of the episode. Pope is asking the reader to laugh, to see how an event of little significance has been filled with importance. Though its manner may be light, its purpose is completely earnest; it keeps the public conscience mindful, it exhibits absurdity for what it is, and makes those prone to embrace senseless or garish customs conscious that they are ludicrous. .
Thus, his work is ranked more accurately as a bemused satire. In other words, Pope aimed to show to society the absurdity of the subject, rather than to abhor them as wrong. .
The main subject that Pope mocks is beauty. Pope addresses beauty in a multitude of ways.
