Question

Which line in this excerpt from "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope suggests that women in eighteenth-century England were expected to readily accept proposals from rich gentlemen without much opposition?

[What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,]

What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:

[Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,]

If She inspire, and He approve my lays.

[Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?]

[O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?]

[In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?]

The lines in the brackets are the options. There is only one answer

Answer 1

[O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?]
What could make a girl reject a lord, a wealthy man, in a marriage proposal?

Answer 2

The correct answer is:
[O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?]

The poet is wondering why a girl would ever reject a man who is hitting on her and wants to marry her. It is implied that women had no say in this - that their marriage depended solely on the man and that they couldn't choose at all. The entire poem is quite satirical and meant to mock these kinds of ideas and behaviors.