Pride and Prejudice Chapters 35-50

So Mr. Darcy isn't the bad guy after all.

After Elizabeth and Darcy's heated argument, he gives her a letter explaining his side of the story for all of the awful things he for which he was accused. The charming Wickham isn't everything he seemed to be. Elizabeth is appaled to find out that he was involved in a scam with Darcy's younger sister and he misused the kindness of Darcy's father's inheritance. Elizabeth is so shocked that she doesn't know how to feel towards Darcy. However, she is really guilty for everything she thought without any solid proof.

Elizabeth and the Gardiners go on a vacation to see the lakes, but make a stop at Pemberly, Darcy's home. She doesn't expect to see him, but of course, she does. She is shocked by how he acts towards her. He is so civil and admiring of her. Elizabeth isn't sure how to react and she has no idea what she wants, like so many women, myself included. She enjoys meeting his family and friends at dinners and such, but their trip comes to an abrupt halt by a family crisis.

Lydia runs off with Wickham. It comes as a total shock to the whole family except Kitty, of course. Jane informs Elizabeth with a letter requesting that their uncle come home at once to help their father in the search for her. They are thought to have gone to Scotland to get married, but other evidence suggested they were in London and not intending on marrying at all. Such a scandal was unheard of in those days. The whole family is grieved, especially Mrs. Bennet. Lydia and Wickham are finally discovered by Mr. Gardiner. He bribed Wickham with astronomical amounts of money to marry Lydia. They are obviously not in love, but Wickham could not pass up the money to pay his massive gambling debts. Elizabeth believes any hopes of getting Darcy are ruined by this scandal, and she is upset at the loss of him. Mrs. Bennet is miraculously better after the news of the engagement and gets to making extravagent wedding plans. Lydia and Wickham plan to visit Longbourn once more before they must move to Northern England.

While they were at Pemberly, I found myself wanting Elizabeth to be more direct with Darcy. She liked him the whole time, but she held herself back. I wanted her to be bold and go after what she wanted. I know she regretted it in the end.

I find the Lydia situation hilarious though. She's such a little skank. I would have never expected this though. It's funny how they all think that them having an affair before marriage is such an unthinkinable scandal, when it's such a normal occurence today. I guess that shows how low our morals have gotten in our society. I'm starting to like Mr. Bennet now. He has such a dry and sarcastic humor that his time period really couldn't understand. Mrs. Bennet, however, I hate even more than I did. Marriage is literally the only thing she cares about. The fact that she completely ignores Lydia running away when she is engaged to Wickham blows my mind. It shows how much she really doesn't care about her daughters. I also find it funny how all the daughters think they will not marry well now because of Lydia's actions. Society should have looked past their family and looked to individual character, but I guess having a good reputation is all that mattered back then.

I found this part of the book easier to read and more interesting, and I'm anxious to see how it ends.