Download Free Audio of An earthly gnome who delights in wreaking havoc. H... - Woord

Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.


Text Content or SSML code:

An earthly gnome who delights in wreaking havoc. He descends to the Cave of Spleen to collect a bag of “Sighs, sobs and passions,” which he dumps over Belinda and Thalestris, and vial of “fainting fears, / Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears,” which he pours over Belinda, spurring them on to confront the Baron for snipping off Belinda’s lock. A more tangibly malicious figure than Ariel, Umbriel’s name recalls the Latin umbra, meaning “shadow,” suggesting to the reader that there is a real darkness to his character. But, like that of Ariel, Umbriel’s interference in the mortals’ actions also allows Pope to return to the question of how people create moral judgements. Instead of presenting a straightforward situation where Belinda and Thalestris behave aggressively of their own accord, Pope creates one where they are almost being played with like puppets and clearly cannot be held accountable for the things that they say and do.