Keeping Reputation of Good Standing: The Role Reputation Has on Character Motive by Grace

Grace Smith

ENG 255F

8 March 2022

Keeping Reputation of Good Standing: The Role Reputation Has on Character Motive

Mary continues to voice her opinions to Elizabeth, knowing that Elizabeth didn't have much to add to the conversation. Elizabeth went silent. Continuing, Mary goes on; "Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.” Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement but was too much oppressed to make any reply.” (Austen, 200). 

One of the most interesting and complex moments in Jane Austen's, Pride and Prejudice is when rebellious, intelligent, quick witted, Elizabeth goes silent in conversation about her younger sister’s careless mistake in eloping with George Wickham. Was it because she felt guilt in not exposing Wickham sooner? Was it because her pride was shaken? Is it because she, for once, agreed with Mary and Collins, two characters that we as an audience shouldn’t agree with? Or is it because she was overly worried about her own reputation and the effect it would have with her potential future with a man, she thinks she might be in love with? Reputation, by definition from Merriam-Webster, is the overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general. People care about their reputation and will do anything it takes in order to keep their reputation in good standing. Due to the fact that it’s not apparent, the reader may not notice through first reading that the characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice care so much about their reputation that it affects their own motives.

Jane and Bingley were originally “broken-up” by Darcy. Darcy openly admits to a very angry Elizabeth his motive because he felt that the Bennet family was of low reputation due to their social economic status. Darcy and Bingley are very close friends and if something were to occur to Bingley’s reputation, Darcy may no longer be associated with Bingley any longer. This infers that Darcy not only did this to save his friend’s reputation, but potentially his own resulting in his motive to break them up.

Even Lady Catherine takes measures in attempting to keep her reputation of good standing. Later in the plot, Darcy begins to spread his intentions of proposing to Elizabeth for a second time. Lady Catherine, a rich, bossy, powerful woman, is not okay with the idea of her very wealthy, intelligent nephew being with a daughter of the Bennet family.  “My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told that not only your sister was on the point of being most advantageously married, but that you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likelihood, be soon afterwards united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy” (Austen, 247). Elizabeth is of a lower social class and is raised by a woman with a low reputation. Lady Catherine sees this potential marriage as detrimental to not only Darcy’s reputation but also of her own. Elizabeth turns down Lady Catherine, which then also makes Lady Catherine look bad because Elizabeth ignores Lady Catherine’s attempt to order middle-class Elizabeth away from her rich nephew while also ignoring “the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude” (Austen, 247). 

We also see that the Bennet family also takes drastic measures in an attempt to save the reputation of their family name. The reputation of the whole Bennet family is at risk because of young Lydia running away from home, eloping with Wickham. It’s interesting that it’s not just the reputation of Lydia that is at stake, more so it is actually of the entire Bennet family. Mr. Bennet is terrified of his reputation being spoiled so in result he searches across the country to find his daughter. The entire family is in outright panic by the fact that Lydia is alone with a man that is not her husband: “Our distress, my dear Lizzy, is very great. My father and mother believe the worst, but I cannot think soil of him” (Austen, 190). The family does everything in their power to save their reputation. They beg to get Wickham to marry Lydia, and by doing so they pay him a fortune, ““No,” said her father; “Wickham’s a fool if he takes her with a farthing less than ten thousand pounds” (Austen, 211).  The motive for Mr. Bennet is to not only save the reputation of Lydia but of his own and of his family name. This goes back to the opening statement of this paper. A rebellious, intelligent, quick witted, Elizabeth goes silent in conversation about her younger sister’s careless mistake. Why was someone with typically so much to say, suddenly silent? An answer to this is because she was afraid that her reputation was going to be spoiled, therefore affecting the change of her being able to fall in love with Darcy. Sure, she may act that she’s afraid for her sister, but if we as an audience take a closer look, we can see that her motives are centered based on the possible effect of her own reputation. 

            Not only does Elizabeth take measures in saving her reputation, but Darcy also acts in ways to help save his reputation; “ ...He had found out where your sister and Mr. Wickham were, and that he had seen and talked with them both...and came to town with the resolution of hunting for them” (Austen, 223-224). Darcy is in love with Elizabeth, and at this point, has full intentions of marrying her. However, what the audience may not realize, is that he knows he cannot marry her if her reputation is spoiled because of Lydia’s actions. Originally, we as an audience, think that he pays Wickham off because he is genuine and wants to help Elizabeth because he loves her. However, his reputation was also at stake, so he had a motive of protecting his by making sure that Elizabeth’s reputation was saved. 

            The characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice care so much about their reputation that it affects their own motives however, some may counterclaim that there are other underlying factors that affect the characters actions and motives. Some argue that the characters are driven by their social class rather than by their future reputations. The characters only fall in love with those who fall into the same social class as them. It can even be frowned upon when they marry someone of lower social class. For example, Mr. Collins operates his motives strictly based on social class. One of his main goals in the novel is trying to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property. He also takes measures to make sure everyone knows that Lady Catherine serves as his patroness. However, to counteract this naysayer, social class is not the sole purpose for the character’s actions and motives. The reason the characters even care about their social class status is because they are so consumed in their reputation. Reputation is the reason as to why social class even matters to begin with. 

               Overall, the reader at first may not see that the entire plot is developed based on the character's motives to keep their reputation in good standings. Reputation of the characters impacts who is allowed to be with who. We can see that reputation can easily be spoiled based on who one affiliates with. So, as we can see from the novel, the characters were all trying to control their own reputations. Whether it’s Darcy trying to protect Bingley’s reputation and his own reputation, Lady Catherine trying to protect Darcy’s reputation and potentially her own, or whether it’s Darcy trying to protect his own reputation by intervening in Lydia and Wickham’s situation so that he can continue his motive of marrying Elizabeth. Austen didn’t make this the main theme of her novel however, if the reader looks deeper at the plot one can see that the motives of the characters are determined by trying to keep their own reputation of high standards. 

Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Modern Library, 1995. Print.