In each case, anxiety about social connections, or the dream for better social connections, interfered with the beginning of their love. Darcy and Elizabeth's realisation of a mutual and tender love for one another can be seen to imply that Austen views love as something independent of these social forces. Austen uses the character of Charlotte Lucas, who marries Mr. Collins for his money, to demonstrate that the heart does not always dictate marriage. With the central characters, Austen suggests that true love is a force sperate from society, and Love can conquer all' in the most difficult of times. .
Reputation .
Pride and Prejudice shows a society where a woman's reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms' makes her vulnerable to exclusion within the social class in which she belongs. For instance, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst (Mr Bingley's married sister). Another re-occurring example is, the ridiculous behaviour of Mrs. Bennet, which gives her a bad reputation with the more refined Darcy and Bingley's. Austen pokes fun at snobs in these examples, but later in, when Lydia elopes with Wickham and lives with him out of wedlock, the author treats reputation as a very serious matter. By becoming Wickham's lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia places herself outside the social norms' and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family. The fact that Lydia's terrible judgment would have condemned the other Bennet sisters to marriage-less lives seems unfair by today's standards, but in those days, everything was taken very seriously. Darcy's intervention on the Bennets' behalf saves Elizabeth's reputation, which also helps to win her heart. The happy ending of Pride & Prejudice is certainly satisfying, as both Elizabeth, Darcy and Jane, Bingley become married, but it leaves the theme of reputation, and the importance placed on reputation, unexplored.
