The Rape of the Lock

The poem attempts to dissuade society from placing excessive value on external appearances, especially since such things fade over time. Clarissa’s lecture in particular questions the value that society places on appearances. She notes that men worship female beauty without assessing moral character. Pope demonstrates that this is essentially a house without foundation: because “frail beauty must decay,” women must have other qualities to sustain them (V.25). Though Clarissa is complicit in the general frivolity and pettiness that Pope censures in the poem, her articulated scruples with regard to appearances serve his social critique.