bt Belinda is a materialistic creature, it is confirmed when the Sylphs read her thoughts (presumably where any source of inner worth might be found) and discovers The close recesses of the virgin's thought;As on the nosegay in her breast reclined,He watched the ideas rising in her mind,Sudden he viewed, in spite of all her art,An earthly lover lurking in her heart. (IV, 140-144)Belinda's mind is distinctly dwells material and secular matters, not those spiritual and holy. The Sylph suggests that her virginal, beautiful appearance is only an image she portrays, not a truth. Indeed, Belinda is likened to a painted ship, if not literally called a "painted vessel" (II, 47) without the metaphor. Pope, through the Baron's unseemly behaviour, suggests that society has granted men the right to do what they want; women are expected to support, or tolerate, men's aggressiveness because they have no socially-sanctioned right to protest whatever men choose to do. The rape of Belinda's honour is sanctioned because women are valued only as objects of beauty. In the same turn, Belinda, the Baron and the society they represent are obsessed with material things (such as the lock) and self-worship. Pope suggests that attention to spiritual matters, the strengthening of character, and the development or value of inner beauty are matters to which society does not properly attend. This lack of attention to the immaterial and tendency to give in to worldly temptations indicates a frivolous aristocracy, who lack virtue and morality. This is Pope's concern and criticism. _______________________________________-1. Held, Virginia; Rights and Goods-Justifying Social Action; The University of Chicago Press, 1984Works CitedPope, Alexander; The Rape of the Lock; The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th Edition; W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1996Held, Virginia; Rights and Goods-Justifying Social Action; The University of Chicago Press, 1984...
