How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
[Mrs. Price] might have made just as good a woman of consequence as Lady Bertram, but Mrs. Norris would have been a more respectable mother of nine children on a small income (39.5).
The nature vs. nurture debate emerges again here. Mrs. Price and Lady Bertram are a great deal alike, but wildly different marriages and life circumstances altered the two. Life circumstances thus have the power to impact a person's personality, and this novel often asks "what if" questions about people's lives, questioning how characters would be different if their life paths had gone in different directions.
Quote #11
She had not eloped with any worse feelings than those of selfish alarm. It had appeared to her the only thing to be done. Maria's guilt had induced Julia's folly (48.17).
We see a lot of motives for getting married in this book: love, money, anger, pride, and in Julia's case, panic. Julia is so worried about returning home after Maria's scandalous behavior that she impulsively elopes instead.
Quote #12
[Maria] hoped to marry [Henry], and they continued together till she was obliged to be convinced that such hope was vain, and till the disappointment and wretchedness arising from the conviction rendered her temper so bad, and her feelings for him so like hatred, as to make them for a while each other's punishment, and then induce a voluntary separation (48.10).
Maria and Henry's messy and complicated relationship comes to an equally messy and complicated end. Rather than make it down the aisle, the two live together and end up hating each other and breaking up. It's notable that Maria had little to no power here – she could "hope to marry" Henry, but she lacks the ability to convince him.