It's not just one or two specific quotes, but the whole atmosphere of the narrative in "The Rape of the Lock" that portrays the upper class as petty. Pope does so in a subtle enough way, however, that the impression is a light-hearted one. It's not the kind of slashing, bitter satire in which Pope's contemporary Swift specialized. I would select the opening lines of Canto 3 as representative of the general attitude of Pope toward the men and women he deals with:
Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,
Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs,
There stands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign tyrants and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.
It's typical of the heroic couplet to present ideas that function both as opposites and likenesses. Britain's statesmen seem equally interested in the "fall" of young women on the one hand and foreign tyrants on the other. The effect is to ridicule or trivialize matters of state. Similarly, Queen Anne takes counsel and tea, and which of the two does Pope imply is more important to her?
Remember that Pope's literary talent had granted him an entry into the highest levels of society, but he was an outsider still for two main reasons: his Roman Catholic religion and his unattractive appearance. One can imagine that, understandably, he is somewhat motivated by envy in his put-downs of the British gentry. These people do not seem to embody the height of intellectualism or profound emotion:
In various talk th' instructive hours they pass'd,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
The one moment in which this crowd seems to come to its senses and to get serious is when Clarissa asks "Say, why are beauties praised and honoured most?"
This is the core of Pope's theme: the falseness and inadequacy of "appearances" in life, especially in relations between men and women. Despite Clarissa, both the comic tone and the overall mock-heroic approach are a facade that prevents us from seeing just how deep Pope's criticism is of the pettiness and superficiality of these people. His final message seems to be that it is only his own art that redeems them, especially Belinda. The theme of art immortalizing temporal beauty is one that extends far back in literary history. Spenser in Amoretti wrote his beloved's name in the sand on the beach, and Pope writes Belinda's in the sky:
This lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame,
And midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name!
This satirical poem is a pastiche of the traditional heroic epic, focusing on the upper class of London at the time it was written. In criticizing contemporary society, the poet's general attitude is that the upper class behaves in petty ways as a matter of course. We might point specifically to comments such as "At ev'ry word a Reputation dies" as indication of how focused were Pope's upper echelons of society on the sport of tearing down each other's reputations. This comment suggests that a great deal of time was spent on gossiping about others for the entertainment of those assembled. Their conversation revolves around such facile subjects as "who gave the Ball, or paid the Visit last." Canto 3 in particular presents the so-called high society of the land as vacuous in their conversation and habits. Pope depicts these people as having little to do other than sing, laugh, "ogle," and pass comment upon the behavior of others.
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