Question

Why does Alexander Pope use the style and narrative form of epics to describe a relatively insignificant incident in “The Rape of the Lock”?

to mock the epic form, which was popular among the upper class

to mock society for attaching too much importance to trivial things
to mock the foolish acts committed by young gentlemen in love
to mock the vanity and pride of upper-class young women like Belinda

Answer 1

Alexander Pope used the style and narrative form of epics in The Rape of the Lock to mock society for attaching too much importance to trivial things.

He wanted to make light of the matter and cool hot tempers based on a real life incident that happened amongst his acquaintances.

Answer 2

The correct answer is - to mock society for attaching too much importance to trivial things .

Alexander Pope wanted to show that the society during the era of Classicism (when he lived and wrote) gave too much importance to irrelevant things when they could have been focusing on more pressing issues. This is why he wrote his poem using the heroic epic form, which was used to talk about heroes and their great deeds, to write about a simple event as someone stealing a lock of woman's hair and causing chaos as a result.