Misogyny and the Social World

One of the critical thematic elements in the poem is misogyny. Pope expresses an ambivalent relationship with women, in both his poetry and (as his diaries and letters show) in his life. He had a number of passionate and intimate friendships with women, like Mrs. Arabella Fermor, to whom this poem is dedicated. However, he never enjoyed physical intimacy or marriage, although he sought both of those things throughout his life. He blamed his disabilities for making him unable to obtain or maintain a romantic relationship, and much of his writing reveals some resentment against his own physical limitations, but also against women as a group.

This poem depicts a type of social world, and particularly a type of woman, from whom Pope particularly believed himself to be permanently excluded. He and Fermor, on whom the character of Belinda is based, had...