Social Deniability: One of the most important elements of the English novel is that there be some sort of clash between the class system and the ability for love to conquer all. Throughout Samuel Richardson’s "Pamela" and Henry Fielding’s "Joseph Andrews," this is extremely apparent when the lead characters are trying to develop relationships with people who are completely outside their social standings. This kind of action against the normal direction of what is deemed socially acceptable is what makes the story line so dramatic, eventful and altogether interesting. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are no exceptions to the rule of having to overcome the pride of social standing and the prejudices of the people that surround the two characters.
Jane Austen emphasizes this kind of upward mobility in volume three, chapter one, where Elizabeth is touring Pemberley House. There, Ms. Bennet is first introduced to the calm, collected, passionate and handsome side of Mr. Darcy. Up to the point at which she enters the home, the relationship between the two characters was all but nonexistent due to miscommunication and the simple actions “uniformly betrayed by herself,” Elizabeth’s mother, “your three younger sisters, and occasionally even by your father.” From the point of entering the house, the reader can observe for the first time that Elizabeth is away from her family’s lack of decorum and is allowed to interact in a world further above her rank with a demeanor to match. As she looks around and sees the splendid objects and luxurious ardors, she thinks she “might have been mistress” to it all if it had not been for her arrogance and pride.
Mr. Darcy even shows in their interaction at Pemberley, the first signs of his letting go of all social class ideals. Previously, when Mr. Darcy proposed, there was a barrier that was before him that did not allow him to let go of how much more sophistication his rank had over Elizabeth’s. His arguments against her family’s wealth, “his sense of her inferiority” and again her family's inability to control their foolish actions in public were completely thrown away upon his perceiving her presence at Pemberley. Mr. Darcy’s prideful air gives way to happiness that Elizabeth is near and civility to her companionship around the grounds. Being described by Elizabeth’s uncle as “perfectly well behaved, polite and unassuming,” Mr. Darcy turns into a man Ms. Bennet does not wholly disgust, and therefore allows for her feelings to grow to love.
A relationship that was doomed from the start because of rank and inferiority blossomed into a perfect happily-forever-after storybook ending. Pride gave way to Elizabeth’s delight in Mr. Darcy, and prejudices diminished away and allowed for Mr. Darcy to really “admire and love” Elizabeth. Feeling those emotions that could not have been otherwise accepted if the restraints of social classism had not been denied or overcome.
