“All of Meryton seemed striving to blacken the man, who, but there months before, had been almost an angel of light” (Austen 223).

The thing that amazes me in this chapter was the fact that what happened to Lydia could have been prevented by so many people. Sure, Elizabeth and Jane were not allowed to tell what Mr. Darcy had told them but there were warning sign. From the very beginning, Elizabeth warns her father and tell him that it was not proper you Lydia to go around flirting with military men. That reflect bad on Lydia and also that is going to tarnish the family’s name. Secondly the people in the town had some knowledge of who he was but totally disregard. One reason for the people to disregard it was they did not think that he was capable of such a thing and only thing they had to support their belief was that he was an agreeable man. Nonetheless, when they heard of what happened to Lydia; everyone had something bad to say about him even if they were hypnotized his good looks and his charm. They were all blinded to the truth but when something bad was mentioned about him everyone had an input. He owned some money others claim that they could see right through him but no one ever said anything but none ever said anything.


“Loss off virtue in a female is irretrievable that one false step involves endless ruins” (219).

For a young woman to run off with a man does not look good in any situation. First of all she completely lower her standard and bring a bad name to her family. There is absolutely no reason for her to run off with Mr. Wickham. First if he really wanted to marry Lydia no one would have stopped them. The only thing Mrs. Bennet wants is to have her daughters married. This also reflects on Lydia’s reasoning skills she knows her parents would probably agree to the marriage why then would she run off with this man. He really cannot give anything but a last name. The worst thing in this situation is the fact that she does not understand what she is doing and wrong it is. At that time it brings shame to women for doing things of the sort and once a women good name is lost it is nearly impossible to retrieve it. That why the family want them to get married because that would bring elevation to the problem.