When people are around her, she feels important and, likewise, so do they. Most important to Belinda is her hair, a symbol of her lasting beauty. "This nymph, to the destruction of mankind/nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind/in equal curls, and well conspired to deck/With shining ringlets her smooth ivory neck" (II. 19-22). When she loses a lock of her hair, she thus feels a great deal of shame and public humiliation (and fear op losing some of her beauty). She exclaims, "Oh, had I rather unadmired remained / in some love isle, or distant northern land... There kept my charms concealed from mortal eye, / Like roses that in deserts bloom and die" (IV.153-158). She wants to be hidden from society and all those who look upon her, for she is no longer the complete woman of beauty.

What happens to women, and Belinda in particular, if they do not have this extra...

"Oh! If to dance all night, and dress all day/Charmed the small-pox, or chased old age away/Who would not scorn what housewife's cares produce,
or who would learn one earthly thing of use?" (V. 19-22).

Pope is not only mocking the situation with women, who have no choice but to see themselves as others see them -- as dolls and playthings. He is also mocking men who base their importance and power on "raping the lock" of a woman. More so, he is being critical of the society as a whole that is shallow and more interested in the trivialities of beauty, money and prestige than the more important and "heroic" things in life. This society is only concerned about the objects that money can buy and not those things that are essential and unique as the sun.