Symbol Analysis
You might have guessed we'd need to go here, based on the poem's title and its depiction of male-female relations. There's no overt lust or passion here in Belinda's and the Baron's social world (that would cause them to lose their reputations), but there's a ton of repressed sexual energy, if you know where to look.
Pope builds on that by strategically dropping double entendres (that's a fun, fancy, French phrase for words or images that can be taken in two ways: one straight, and the other sexy) like truth bombs throughout the poem. Just under the surface of their polite, tightly laced, powdered, pampered world, these aristocratic young men and women are seething with natural energy and attraction to one another, and that energy shines through in the words our poet uses to describe the goings on.
Trouble is, they cannot vent that energy in any other way than by twisted actions like stealing a lock of hair, or poking each other with hairpins, or engaging in cruel gossip.
Canto I, Lines 21-24
Belinda's dream here at the opening of the poem is one that causes her "Cheek to Glow"(I.24)—hubba hubba—but is it because the young man she sees in her dream is physically attractive, or is it because he's all dressed up in the most bling-encrusted suit you can imagine? Would Belinda even be able to tell the difference if she tried?
Canto II, Lines 29-34
The Baron's plot to get his hands on Belinda's, er, locks of hair seems pretty involved to have such a trivial end goal. Look at this language: "By Force to ravish, or by Fraud betray" (II.32)—does it sound to you like he might be after something more than a piece of hair? Or does it sound like Pope is saying he's more obsessed with Belinda's hair than he is with Belinda herself? As with Belinda and the glittering dream boy (above), can the Baron even tell the difference?
Canto II, Lines 105-109
Ariel is telling all of the assembled Sylphs on the boat about his premonitions of something absolutely terrible happening to Belinda at the party she is about to attend. But that "absolutely terrible" thing is presented as a series of juxtapositions of the sexual (Belinda might lose her honor, her chastity, her reputation) and the trivial (a jar might break, she might spill something on her dress, she might be late for a masquerade ball or lose a necklace).
Priorities, Ariel, priorities.
Canto II, Lines 117-121
In the "Classical and Epic Imagery" section, we talk about that petticoat of Belinda's being likened to Ajax's famous shield. We are revisiting it again here. What, you might be asking, might Belinda's petticoat have to shield Belinda from? Double entendre alert. We won't spell that out for you, but we think you get Pope's drift.
Canto IV
We've already pointed out how the Cave of Spleen is all about stereotypical female problems: bad tempers, emotional outbursts, self-righteousness, moodiness… wait a sec. Could we call the Cave of Spleen a place where it is perpetually "that time of the month"?
They vaguely called it "spleen" back then; they vaguely call it "hormones" now. We should not be surprised that, then as now, men remain kind of mystified about the workings of women's bodies, should we?
Canto IV, Lines 71-72
Umbriel is bragging hard to the Queen of Spleen about all of the petty, mean things he has done to society. Here he lays claim to spreading malicious rumors about the sexual activity of people who never actually did anything wrong. Classy.
The "airy Horns" he says he plants on people's heads in IV.71 refers to cuckolding, a word that in Pope's day meant cheating. A "cuckold" was a man whose wife had slept with someone else—the mocking symbol of being a cuckold was having horns on your head. But these are imaginary. Rumors only.
As for the "rumpled Petticoats, or tumbled Beds" (IV.72), that's just more rumored evidence of immoral behavior. Is it real? Pope seems to be saying that whether or not people actually cheat on each other is a moot point; in this society, it's the rumors and gossip that carry the day.
Canto IV, Lines 103-112
Yes, that's Thalestris, making Belinda feel even worse about her hair loss by making double entendres about her loss of honor (18th-century code word for female chastity) and reputation.
Just as possessing the locks of hair is where the Baron misplaces all of his attraction for Belinda, so Belinda's loss of those locks is where Thalestris places her loss of reputation. The locks might even be a stand-in for Belinda's virginity; what do you think?
Canto IV, Lines 175-176
If you answered "maybe" to that last question above, you might reconsider your answer by the time you get to the end of Canto IV. Belinda, Belinda, Belinda. You're telling the Baron you wish he had seized "Hairs less in sight" than the locks on your neck.
So, dear reader: do you think that Belinda's visible locks (i.e., her outer appearance) are more important to her than "hairs less in sight" (maybe her true chastity or her inner virtue)? Take this double entendre for everything it's worth. You know Pope wants you to.
Canto V, Lines 57-102
The battle between the beaus and the belles, recounted here, is full of energy that borders on the sexual. The combat that Pope describes is always between members of the opposite sex, and the victors seem to base their triumphs on attraction rather than physical pain (although sometimes, we think, you can love someone so much it hurts, right?).
Look at "Sir Fopling" in line V.63, who tells us that Thalestris has killed him with her beautiful eyes? Or how about Belinda and the Baron in lines 75-102, leaping on top of each other? Finally, at the end of that fight scene, the Baron confesses a strong feeling to Belinda when he tells her he's burning "in Cupid's flames" (V.102).
Don't you think this bunch might have been better off venting their feelings for one another by stepping on the dance floor, with some Daft Punk booming through their ears? What do Belinda and the Baron care more about: gettin' lucky, or getting that lock?