What are the downsides to eloping in Pride and Prejudice?

Answer 1

For Lydia, eloping brought disgrace on herself (though she was too stupid to realize it) and her family. It also set her family into a turmoil of worry and confusion, as they searched for her in London. Lydia has run off with a man who does not care much for her, and who is completely uninterested in marrying her because he knows he can get a lot of money by marrying an heiress. We do not see it in Pride and Prejudice, but Lydia is on track to the same end as Eliza Williams in Sense and Sensibility, who is abandoned, or her mother, who was passed from man to man until she died as a young mother in a poor house (sounds more like Dickens than Austen).

In any event, Lydia's marriage is a fun project for her that she will pay for over the long haul, living with an unreliable man who disrespects and dislikes her.