Love as a Social Revolution in 'Maurice' vs 'Pride and Prejudice' Anonymous 11th Grade

Both Maurice by E.M Forster and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen are the stories of revolutionary love, capable of inspiring moral improvement and moral compromise within relationships. Specifically, it is the stories of Maurice and Alec and Lizzy and Darcy that are able to inhabit such a revolutionary space because they are so deeply rooted against the hegemonies of their time. Maurice was a character originally written at a time when homosexuality still had not been decriminalized in Britain, the novel itself was published posthumously because Forster feared for his life. Lizzie utilized her agency and choice in order to find love at a time in British society when women were expected to be completely and absolutely subservient to the men around them. According to literary critic Northrop Frye successful romance at the end of the novel signals a “movement from one kind of society to another” where “the new society crystallize[s] around the hero.” However, it is imperative to note that to Frye, “romance” is defined as “works concerned primarily with an idealized world,” and Maurice was not written into this ‘idealized world’ because he was gay, and Forster, despite giving him a happy ending, was careful not to idealize his...