Pride and Prejudice Post #3

The book that I'm reading is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Last time I left off at chapter 42 and I've read through chapter 61, the final chapter of the book.

So, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, take a tour of Mr. Darcy's house, Pemberley, because they think he's gone. The servants at the house are all telling her how Mr. Darcy's so nice and generous. Mr. Darcy arrives, which is awkward considering she rejected him. He still behaves kindly and politely to both Elizabeth and her relatives who are of a lower social status and whom Darcy would have normally scorned if Elizabeth had not rejected him. Elizabeth also meets Darcy's sister, Georgiana. A letter from home arrives saying Lydia had eloped with Wickham and that they had run away. Since the two were not legally married, this would disgrace their family and Elizabeth hurries home. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet went to look for Lydia and Mr. Gardiner eventually finds her. Wickham agrees to marry Lydia legally if he recieves an income. They think Mr. Gardiner paid him, but really it was Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy return to Netherfield after Mr. Darcy's encouragement and Mr. Bingley proposes to Jane, which she accepts. Lady Catherine somehow found out that Mr. Darcy wants to marry Elizabeth, but she wants him to marry her daughter. She asks Elizabeth to promise she won't marry Mr. Darcy, but Elizabeth refuses. On a walk Darcy said his feelings had not changed. Elizabeth accepts the proposal and both Jane and she are married.

I still think that this book is very good! I'm really happy that Elizabeth finally fell in love with Darcy and I think it's so sweet that Mr. Darcy would do everything that he did for Elizabeth including being polite and nice to her lower class relatives when he would have normally not even wanted to talk to them, bringing Bingley and Jane back together, and paying Wickham to marry Lydia. This one was of the most importance so her family wouldn't be disgraced and he could marry Elizabeth. Some of the themes of this book are pride and prejudice, both of which Darcy and Elizabeth possess. After Elizabeth rejected Darcy and he realized how he must have looked to her, he became aware of his pride and was inspired to do the kind things for Elizabeth and her family. We also see that Mr. Darcy fights through his pride and his prejudice against lower class people and treats the Gardiners with respect. Elizabeth also changes after she receives Mr. Darcy's letter and realizes that the pride she took in her own judgment allowed her to overlook Mr. Wickham's true character and underestimate Darcy's. The best two characters are Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth because Mr. Darcy is so kind and generous and Elizabeth is so clever and thoughtful. A quote from chapter 56 says: "You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?" This was said by Lady Catherine de Bourgh when she was trying to get Elizabeth to promise not to marry Mr. Darcy. I find this quote interesting because Lady de Bourgh is only concerned with Mr. Darcy's "honour and credit" and not with his true feelings. I feel like this is very ironic... why would she want him to sacrifice true love in order to save his reputation when he would obviously be happier marrying Elizabeth, whom he actually loves (and it probably isn't even going to disgrace him)?

A question I have is: why did Wickham want to elope with Lydia when she had no money? Maybe he was just desperate...? Or he knew Darcy would pay him income...?