Why Is Lydia’s Elopement Perceived As a Disaster and How Does It Affect the Relationship of Elizabeth and Darcy?

In the novel, Jane Austen forces a massive amount of debt upon Wickham, along with previous attempts to marry Miss King and Miss Darcy for the large dowries that Austen attached to them, Austen makes it clear that she crafted Wickham as a man desperate for money. Austen motivates Wickham to marry Lydia in hopes of money. With Lydia, Austen curses her with a childish manner, Lydia is forced to misinterpret momentary infatuation for love. Comparatively, Austen crafts Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship as a much healthier one. Austen places less of a fiscal motivation on Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship than Lydia and Wickham’s relationship; at only one point during the course of the novel does Elizabeth declare her marriage to Darcy could be beneficial financially. In the scene where Elizabeth is touring Pemberley with her aunt and uncle, Austen gives readers a view inside the thoughts of Elizabeth, Austen shares how Elizabeth believes that all the elegantly furnished rooms could have been hers. With Darcy, Austen does something striking, she fabricates Darcy as infatuated with the mere thought of Elizabeth that the idea of marrying her, a person of low social and economic status, hardly seems to give him a moment of

Jane tells Elizabeth all of her feelings for Mr. Bingley. “’I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment’” (Austen 39). Elizabeth is the first that she tells when she falls sick and is the only one that Jane wishes to see. Elizabeth also tells Jane everything that she has heard about Mr. Wickham. They talk about what they should do and how they think the outcome will be. “Elizabeth related to Jane the next day what had passed between Mr. Wickham and herself. Jane listened with astonishment and concern; she knew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr. Bingley’s regard; and yet, it was not in her nature to question the veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham” (Austen 271). Later in the story, Lydia runs away with Mr. Wickham and Elizabeth and Jane share information already learned to discuss if they think Lydia will be ok. “’I must confess that he did not speak so well of Wickham as he formerly did. He believed him to be imprudent and extravagant. And since this sad affair has taken place, it is said that he left Meryton greatly in debt; but I hope this may be false.’ ‘Oh, Jane, had we been less secret, had we told what we knew of him, this could not have happened!’” (Austen 912). It is really interesting to see the girls advise each other because they always work so well together.

In Mr. Darcy’s first proposal, Elizabeth has been told by Mr. Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam that he has recently “saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage,”(Austen 159) Elizabeth quickly makes the connection that it was the marriage of Jane and Mr. Bingley. As she returns to contemplate on this privately, she is disturbed by Mr. Darcy and she greets him coldly, and eventually refuses his advances. Comparatively, as they stroll together at Netherfield, Elizabeth gratefully thanks Mr. Darcy for his help in settling the precarious marriage matters between Lydia and Mr. Wickham. Her attitude towards him here is a positive one, and she is willing to open up, and also listen to Mr. Darcy explain

By observing the interactions between characters, readers are more likely to understand the theme of the novel. One of the many troubles shown is that of Mr. Darcy and his pride, which alters the way he views others. When he first sees Elizabeth Bennet he calls her “FIND THE EXACT QUOTE AND MAKE IT LONG” . He is too prideful to think of Lizzie as anything except a poor young girl who would never be good enough to marry a man worth anything, especially a man like himself. As the story progresses, and Mr. Darcy spends more time with her, he is forced to rebuke his previous assumptions and look at Lizzie in the way that she deserves. He falls in love with her and must overcome the challenges that came with his earlier prideful remarks. This is an important moment, because it shows how love is subject to the tough trials that characters face with difficult decisions and uncomfortable interactions as they learn what is best for them. Due to the false accusations that Mr. Darcy made towards Lizzie, she was less likely to return his love. This was a challenge that the two characters had to face throughout the novel, as it was a pivotal moment in their relationship. Lizzie was too upset with Mr. Darcy to accept his marriage proposal at first. She says QUOTE THAT SHE SAYS ABOUT THIS PROPOSAL. Mr. Darcy takes this as just another of love’s obstacles, and he decides to remain considerate towards Lizzie.

As Mr Gardiner reveals in one of his letters to the Bennets, Wickham had over a thousand pounds of gambling debt in Brighton (cf. PP 282), which explains his eagerness to elope with Lydia apart from their sexual attraction. Once he is traced in London, Darcy blackmails him into marrying Lydia in exchange for the settlement of his debt (cf. PP 306). If it were not for Darcy therefore, she would be indeed “lost for ever” (PP 265) as Elizabeth bemoans her sister’s anticipated fate upon first receiving the news of her elopement. Lydia’s endangerment of her sister’s possible future with Mr Darcy eventually proves to have the opposite effect and provides Darcy with another opportunity

Beginning with Mr. Darcy's failed proposal and his later letter of explanation, Elizabeth's proud and judgemental nature is altered by the pressure placed on her to decide if she wishes to marry Mr. Darcy or not. Introspection and her eventual acceptance of her romantic feelings for Mr. Darcy demonstrate that strenuous emotional situations can lead to a change in character, by allowing her to open up her prejudiced mind and see that the opinions she has are not always correct. Prior to her relations with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth is a young woman who sees little point in marrying if she does not find a man whom will bring her happiness in life. This provides a foundation from which she can change, placing her in an ideal position to change in response to the

In the 1800s, Jane Austen, who is an accomplished author wrote the satirical novel Pride and Prejudice. One of the main character,Elizabeth Bennet, is a 20 year old girl who has five unmarried sisters, a crazy mother and a very unique look on marriage.During this novel, two of Elizabeth’s sisters: Lydia and Jane get married after they both faced an abundance of drama, which makes their eager mother every happy. After an awkward proposal, Elizabeth finds an extremely wealthy man, Mr. Darcy, who she shows hatred for, but then falls in love with him in the end. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen creates a satirical novel by exaggerating the qualities of some of her stereotypical characters to welcome the reader’s ridicule of them thereby exposing

Before the eighteenth century, marriage was far less complicated. Verbal consent and consumation constituted legal marriage: "once the knot was tied by such verbal exchanges it could not be

When Elizabeth flatly turns down his marriage proposal, it startles Darcy into realizing just how arrogant and assuming he has been. Soon, there is reconciliation between Darcy and Elizabeth where each admits how much they have changed as a result of their earlier encounters. An example of this is when Lady Catherine visits to insure the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth. She came in order to prevent it, but when Darcy hears the manner in which Elizabeth answered Lady Catherine, he realizes that Elizabeth regards him differently. He saw that her attitude of him had changed which prompted him to make his marriage proposal. Thus, we can now see that Darcy and Elizabeth both have balance in their relationship because they are able to reflect against each other and each is capable of undergoing a change. In the end, Darcy is willing to marry into a family with three silly daughters, an embarrassing mother and is willing to make Wickham his brother-in-law .It may be that he is more easygoing about other people's faults because he is now aware of his own.

Another undesirable marriage displayed in Pride and Prejudice was that of Mr. Wickham and Lydia Bennet. Rather than forming as the result of love and suitability between the two partners, their marriage was formed by Lydia’s youthful foolishness and Wickham’s desire to pay off his gambling debts. Lydia Bennet chose to elope with Wickham because she falsely believed that they were in love and that Wickham intended on marrying her. In chapter 27 of Pride and Prejudice, Lydia’s older sister ,Elizabeth, used her knowledge of her younger sibling to provide readers with an assumption as to how Lydia was eloped by Mr. Wickham: “For an attachment as this she might have had sufficient charms and though she did not suppose her to be deliberately engaging in elopement without the intention of marriage, she had no difficulty believing that neither her virtue or understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey.” Elizabeth

Jane Austen was a Georgian era author who was best known for her novels that commented on social issues and class, and Northanger Abbey is no exception. Austen’s social commentary is apparent in this novel’s plot, as the reader follows a seventeen-year-old protagonist, Catherine Morland, as she matures and forms intimate relationships with fellow characters in an England town called Bath. Marriage between characters in the novel is heavily based on wealth, and because of England’s unstable economy at the time, marrying into wealth meant maintaining a high social class and economic stability for the characters. The importance of economic prosperity and social rank heavily influenced marriage in 19th century England, and this idea bourgeoisie classism and marrying for wealth is contradicted by Austen in her novel, Northanger Abbey.

Today marriage is seen as an expression of deep love and respect for another person. In Austen’s time, a ‘good’ marriage was seen to be one where wealth and social status of the man and woman were socially suitable. There was very

Later on, we discover that he uses his wealth to his own advantage, and he is generous with his money. He becomes capable of change and is able to break down the class barrier between him and his lover, Elizabeth Bennett who are in different classes. In Chapter 46, Elizabeth receives note that her little sister Lydia has run off with Mr.Wickham, but they did not have plans to marry. Elizabeth tells Darcy of this news and immediately misreads the situation. Darcy is truly concerned for Lydia, but Elizabeth thinks that this new “shame” on her family will make him not want to marry her

Darcy realizes that his pride is keeping he and Elizabeth apart. Mr. Darcy earns Elizabeth’s love by fixing all the wrongs he has committed to her and her family. He brings Elizabeth’s sister and Mr. Bingley back together, saying, “ I told him, moreover, that I believed myself mistaken in supposing, as I had done, that your sister was indifferent to him; and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was unabated, I felt no doubt of their happiness together” (Chapter 58 ). Elizabeth is also grateful when Mr. Darcy persuades Wickham to marry Lydia as shown in this quote: “ The vague and unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had produced of what Mr. Darcy might have been doing to forward her sister’s match, which she had feared to encourage as an exertion of goodness too great to be probable, and at the same time dreaded to be just, from the pain of obligation, were proved beyond their greatest extent to be true!” Elizabeth sees that Mr. Darcy is good at heart (Chapter 52). With this new information, she accepts his second marriage

Marriage has no always been about the love and happiness two people bring eachother; instead it was concidered to be more of a business transaction. Emma by Jane Austen takes place during the early twentieth century, this time period was completly absorabed in social classes and had a much different view on marriage than today. Through the young, bold, wealthy, and beautiful character Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen exposes the protocol of marriage as well as the effects marriage held based on social standing during the early twentieth centuery.