Lydia: A romance don't

"The 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 is beautiful,--and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behavior towards the undeserving of the other sex" (p.275, Volume III ch. V)

Mary offers us this piece of wisdom and, if ill-timed and slightly awkward, it accurately reflects the virtue necessary in a woman for courtship to be successful. In running away together, Lydia and Wickham have not only ignored the traditional fourteen steps of courtship, they have also violated society's expectations of marriage before a couple shacks up together. Lydia, with such an annoying disposition, is truly more "brittle" in the eyes of a suitor than Mary might suggest, which makes the loss of her virtue all the more important, as she becomes a complete social screwup. Lydia's dire violation of courtship requirements presents itself, along with the nature Miss Lucas and Collins' marriage, as another of Austen's tactics to distinguish the bad relationships from the good, in order to further emphasize the goodness of the eldest Bennet daughters' partners in romance. Austen, in all her traditional splendor, continues to prove the importance of a structured, proper courtship as a conduit to marital happiness.