Denouement: “falling action” or “unknotting” of plot—explanation or outcome: “implies an ingenious untying of the knot of an intrigue, involving not only a satisfactory outcome of the main situation but an explanation of all the secrets and misunderstandings connected with the plot completion”
From Nancy Armstrong, Desire and Domestic Fiction:
Novels by women repeatedly show sexual relations as translation of social or political differences, where women actually take control of own destiny to overcome social obstacles they faced in real life.
During the 18th century, one author after another discovered that the customary way of understanding social experience actually misrepresented human value. In place of the intricate status system that had long dominated British thinking, these authors began to represent an individual's value in terms of his, but more often in terms of her, essential qualities of mind. Literature devoted to producing the domestic woman thus appeared to ignore the political world run by men. Of the female alone did it presume to say that neither birth nor the accoutrements of title and status accurately represented the individual; only the more subtle nuances of behavior indicated what one was really worth. In this way, writing for and about the female introduced a whole new vocabulary for social relations, terms that attached precise moral value to certain qualities of mind.
In Pride and Prejudice, such traditional female attributes as chastity, wit, practicality, duty, manners, sympathy, generosity, beauty and kindness are pitted against each other in the competition among the Bennet sisters and their friends. Jane, the Richardsonian sister, languishes for want of a husband until the very end of the novel, but Austen does not allow Lydia, who acts the part of the adventuress, to do very much better. What is more, in capturing a husband, Lydia jeopardizes the family's reputation and thus limits her sisters' possibilities for marriage. In this way, the novel makes the reader consider what enables the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, to attract a man who not only saves her family's estate but also elevates their social position. While excelling in none of the traditionally feminine qualities represented by her competitors, Elizabeth surpasses them on an entirely different plane. Her particular assets are the traditionally masculine qualities of rational intelligence, honesty, self-possession, and especially a command of the language, all of which at first seem to impede a good marriage.
In the end, the most eligible male in the novel confirms this alternative basis for desirability. Although she wins Darcy's heart on the basis of what amounts to a direct violation of the female ideal, Elizabeth renounces all her pertness the instant she agrees to marry him. From then on she will exert a softening influence in the world projected at the end of the novel. But what might appear to be a discontinuity within her character in fact demonstrates this novel's reliance on the figure of sexual exchange. As this figure takes over, the novel redistributes authority between Darcy and Elizabeth in a manner that clearly demonstrates its ability to translate political conflict into psychological terms. Their union miraculously transforms all social differences into gender differences and gender differences into qualities of mind. It is important to notice exactly how such a representation creates personal fulfillment where there had been internal conflict and social unity where there had been competing class interests. By attributing political and emotional authority to the male and female respectively, the figure inscribes the political within the male character and then contains both within heart and home.