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Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, / Or some frail China jar receive a flaw; / Or stain her honour or her new brocade; / Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade; / Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball.
This quotation comes from Canto 2, as Ariel organizes the other sylphs in a bid to protect Belinda from calamity. Because none of them know quite what danger Belinda is in, they must prepare for anything. In this list, Pope uses bathos, the contrast of the consequential and the trivial, to demonstrate the shallowness of upper-class British values. As all these misfortunes are part of the same list, Ariel considers them all equally dangerous. Under this value system, Belinda losing her virginity (breaking Diana’s law) would be as terrible as breaking a jar.
In various talk th' instructive hours they past, / Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; / One speaks the glory of the British Queen, / And one describes a charming Indian screen; / A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; / At ev'ry word a reputation dies.
This description of the social scene at Hampton Court comes from Canto 3. Of all the topics of conversation, only the British Queen, by virtue of being the head of state, could be said to have real consequences. The rest involve trivial gossip about balls, decor, or trying fruitlessly to engage in body language analysis. Nevertheless, any of these conversations could ruin a person’s reputation. The combination of frivolous and cutthroat here portrays a Court focused on polite façade.
Thus far both armies to Belinda yield; / Now to the Baron fate inclines the field. / His warlike Amazon her host invades, / Th' imperial consort of the crown of Spades…
This quotation comes from Canto 3, as Belinda engages the Baron and another nobleman at the card game of Ombre. These lines typify the language used to describe the events of the card game, transforming a simple game to a battle from epic, complete with Amazons. The serious attention given to this card game, with the cards personified as fallen soldiers, paradoxically emphasizes how trivial it is. The results of this card game affect no one, and yet, everyone at the party treats it as an important pastime.
Methinks already I your tears survey, / Already hear the horrid things they say, / Already see you a degraded toast, / And all your honour in a whisper lost!
Thalestris says these words to Belinda in Canto 4, commiserating with her fears while further provoking her. In a society less focused on superficial appearance and gossip, Belinda would not have to worry so much about her honor because the Baron took her hair in an ungentlemanly fashion. However, because at court a single word could ruin one’s reputation, Belinda must worry about the social consequences of an attack she didn’t invite.
Say why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most, / The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast? / … /How vain are all these glories, all our pains, / Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains…
Clarissa gives this speech in Canto 5, reminding the crowd that beauty is temporary, but character is forever. Here she asks aloud one of the implicit questions of the poem, that is, why society puts so much stock in beauty when everyone knows it will fade. The closest thing the poem has to a voice of reason, Clarissa’s speech criticizes everyone’s behavior as silly and overvaluing the shallowest of virtues. As no one listens to her speech, the poem suggests that no one present is interested in pursuing deeper virtues.
