Though I think the rights and wrongs of straight-out prostitution compared to marrying for money are so far away from the topic matter of JA's novels that this should be argued out by email. I think you and I have very different moral standards that are not going to be resolved here.

However, I will say while I think that Charlotte's decision was wrong, I don't think it was an unforgivable wrong. There are certainly far worst things people have done. Charlotte did have severe pressures on her, as people have listed again and again and again in this thread, (and as do many people who enter prostitution). I do argue her choice was wrong, but then I've done a number of things in my past that I now believe to be wrong from a moral stance. I don't think she deserves terrible suffering for her choice, and nor do I think prostitutes deserve it.