"How many pictures of one nymph we view,
All how unlike each other, all how true!
Arcadia's countess, here, in ermined pride.
Is, there, Pastora by a fountain side.
Here Fannia, leering on her own good man,
And there, a naked Leda with a swan.
Let then the fair one beautifully cry,
In Magdalen's loose hair and lifted eye,
Or dressed in smiles of sweet Cecilia shine,
With simpering angels, palms, and harps divine;
Whether the charmer sinner it, or saint it,
If folly grow romantic, I must paint it."
In Pope's "Of the Characters of Women", he explains once again his misogynistic ideal through literary reference, using this to convey what he believes women to be. In this excerpt, Pope explains his distasteful opinion on how a women seduces so therefore, a man is entitled to say what he wants and do as he pleases. He convey's this through his use of comparing women to several different stories. First, Arcadia's countess, which is included in a prose pastoral romance poem by Sir Phillip Sidney. Pope then goes on to compare women to Pastora and Fannia. He includes Leda, who was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan. He goes on to include Magdalen, and concludes with Cecilia. All of this women were to be involved with men, in some type of way. When Pope compares all women to these few in a mocking manner, he is not only blaming these women for their fate, but he is mocking women as a whole. Pope concludes this excerpt with saying that he must call it as he sees it, which is being so matter-of-fact, meaning he is not to be blamed for his opinion. In conclusion, Pope uses literary referencing to justify his misogyny, again.
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