Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

the present circumstances" will cost the family "little
expense or inconvenience" (189). Elizabeth immediately
reminds him that Lydia's "present circumstances" are
ruinous to Elizabeth and her sisters and any future they
may hope to have (189). If Lydia should fall a tainted
woman outside marriage, her sisters will fall, too.
Lydia's self-centered needs do not take into account
money, family, or future. George Wickham is all she sees
and wants. At the same time, Mr. Bennet sees little
implication beyond the monetary and the momentary. He
does not consider the possibility of having to care for
his daughters for the rest of his life because of the
silliness of the youngest.
Coupled with already straitened circumstances, the
rest of the Bennet sisters could lose what little chance
they have to "marry up. " Lady Catherine de Bourgh,
walking in the Bennet garden, tells Elizabeth she is "no
stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister's
infamous elopement," appalled at the prospect that "such
a girl [is] to be my nephew's sister? Is her husband, is
the son of his late father's steward, to be his brother?"
(288).
A woman's lack of financial power is often
accompanied by a lack of knowledge of the real world.