Explain the following lines from The Rape of the Lock: "But since, alas! frail Beauty must decay, Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey,"

The following lines appear in "The Rape of the Lock" Canto
Five, lines 25-26:

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But since, alas! frail Beauty must
decay,
Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to
grey,

In Canto Five, the
action of the poem turns to the consideration regarding the beauty of women and how
society looks at the beauty of women.

This being said, at
the end of the poem and Canto Five the recognition regarding ones ability to sustain
immortality comes into question. The lines above refer to the fact that only in Heaven
can a person and , or more importantly, the locks sustain their glory. The lines,
therefore, refer to the fact that on earth beauty diminishes (including the golden color
of the locks changing to grey). Only in Heaven, in the stars, can Belinda and her locks
remain beautiful and admired for their beauty in a timeless
way.

Simply, the lines refer to the fact that both beauty
and all things associated with the beauty will decay.