Unlike modern-day literature, in which sexuality is portrayed with overt directness (hello, “50 Shades of Grey”!), writers like Austen, who almost certainly died a virgin, veiled sexual references such that audiences were forced to read between the lines. But the prim-and-proper “Pride and Prejudice” is, in fact, replete with sexual references, including the arrival of army officers, whose tight-fitting costumes were almost synonymous with sexual appeal and dalliance. When Darcy tells Elizabeth “my feelings will not be repressed,” the depth of his emotions were understood by readers of the time.
