Exactly!
Posted by Elizabeth Rose on October 31, 1997 at 13:31:52:
In response to all a matter of timing and attitude, written by Emily Anne on October 31, 1997 at 13:14:31
] ] ] ] The fact that Wickham does not impregnate Georgiana and Lydia is a matter of biology to me, because the intent was definitely so.
] ] ]
] ] ] Rita -- I think we are to understand that Georgiana has not become "fallen" by means of Wickham, as Lydia is assumed to have done...
] They are not technicallyy judged for the same act. Georgianna was discovered _before_ she ran away with Wickham (ie she was not a fallen woman). She also, we are led to believe through Darcy's words, realized the folly of what she was about to do, and was sorry for it. Lydia is in direct contrast to this. She is found out _after_ she has already run away with Wickham (she is already a fallen woman). Her words in the letter to her friend, as well as her words and actions even after marriage, show no remorse and total lack of understanding of the seriousness, and wrongness (is that a word?) of what she has done. Therefore, we sympathise with Georgianna because she was fairly innocent and guiltless throughout (we are led to believe that this is the first and only time she almost made a mistake, and that if anything, she is only guilty of believing a rather convincing con-man), while we chastise Lydia because she is stupid, careless, and oblivious to propriety. I hope this explains the distinction somewhat more clearly.
Georgianna realized the folly of her ways even before she ran away, but even at the end of the book, Lydia had not realized hers.
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