Vanity in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the works of Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson and Thomas Gray, works seek to teach how to dispel vanity. It explains that Pope and Gray use women as a primary focus of how vanity is defined though riches and external beauty and Johnson steers away from this gender view to emulate the vanity of government and leadership in England. It contends that the morality and religious overtones of these poems reflect a form of teaching to guard against desire and wealth, which may ultimately destroy the person seeking these vain objects of fortune.

From the Paper:

"In this literary study, the theme of vanity will be explored in the works of Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson and Thomas Gray. By understanding the role of vanity and external beauty within these works, one can find the necessary catalysts to deadly desire and tragedy that underlie the poems analyzed here. The poems "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes" by Thomas Gray, and "The Vanity of Human Wishes" by Samuel Johnson will be brought forth to understand how morality and religion define vanity. In essence, vanity is a moral and religious problem that ultimately will be examined within the context of the 18th century poet. Alexander Pope defines vanity in a number of ways within his central ..."

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