ABSTRACT
Alexander Pope is supposed to have nailed his sexist colours to the mast when he published his Epistle to a Lady on 8 February 1735. In the 1980s there were those that were sure Alexander Pope believed all women were contemptible. Since then, however, the idea that he was ambivalent about them has been gaining ground. In case he was not all that different from a large number of men both before and since his day. One thing that is apparent from the Epistle to a Lady is that Alexander Pope was fascinated by women, without understanding them. In To a Lady Alexander Pope depicts contradictory female nature in all its variety. Furthermore Alexander Pope dislikes very few of the women he describes. He is condescending but not misogynistic. Alexander Pope understood that women face greater problems in achieving a rounded identity in society than men do, if only because they are slaves and men are their masters.
