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Chapter 46
'Dearest Lizzy, I hardly know what I would write, but I have bad news for you, and it cannot be delayed. Imprudent as a marriage between Mr. Wickham and our poor Lydia would be, we are now anxious to be assured it has taken place, for there is but too much reason to fear they are not gone to Scotland.'
This quote comes from Jane’s second letter to Elizabeth in Chapter 46. In the first, she informed Elizabeth that Lydia had run away to marry Wickham; the second relates that they may have no intention of marrying after all, which would destroy the Bennet family’s reputation. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Symbol: Marriage (the third quote).
‘…even if he could form such a design against a young woman of Lydia's connections, which is not likely, can I suppose her so lost to everything?’
This quote, also from Jane’s second letter to Elizabeth in Chapter 46, captures her goodness and refusal to see the bad in anyone. Jane’s view of the situation is that it’s unlikely Wickham could be capable of such evil as spiriting a young woman like Lydia away with him. Elizabeth, on the other hand, knows the truth of Wickham’s character, and both she and Darcy feel responsible for having not made that known.
‘She has no money, no connections, nothing that can tempt him to—she is lost for ever.’
Elizabeth, in shock from what she has read in Jane’s letters, tells Darcy the situation in the above quote from Chapter 46. She knows that Wickham has attempted to do this type of thing previously with Darcy’s sister Georgiana, and because Lydia has none of Georgiana’s money or connections, he has no reason to marry her and save her from the scandal of having run off with a man. As a result, her reputation will be tarnished forever.
Chapter 47
‘perhaps she meant well, but, under such a misfortune as this, one cannot see too little of one's neighbours.’
In Chapter 47, after Lydia has run away with Wickham and cast the Bennet family into despair, Lady Lucas visits, ostensibly to console Mrs. Bennet. However, after being informed of this by Jane, Elizabeth says it would be better if Lady Lucas stayed away; in times of misfortune, she insists, it’s better to suffer privately, away from prying eyes and potential gossips who should content themselves with gloating from afar.
Chapter 49
‘Yes, yes, they must marry. There is nothing else to be done. But there are two things that I want very much to know; one is, how much money your uncle has laid down to bring it about; and the other, how am I ever to pay him.’
Mr. Bennet expresses the above to Elizabeth and Jane in Chapter 49, after they have gotten word from Mr. Gardiner that Wickham will marry Lydia after all. He assumes Mr. Gardiner has paid an exorbitant sum to Wickham to get him to agree to the marriage.
To know that her daughter would be married was enough. She was disturbed by no fear for her felicity, nor humbled by any remembrance of her misconduct.
In Chapter 49, having confined herself to her bed for days due to Lydia and Wickham’s scandalous departure, Mrs. Bennet changes her tune the second she hears they are to be married. She chooses to celebrate Lydia’s impending marriage, appearing to forget the foolishness that led to it.
