This response is for Nikki, in a Comfort & Consequence thread from the message board. I think I'm replying too much there so I thought I'd move it over here, and I suspect this one may spark a long discussion. :-)
First, let me apologize for my unclearness. I meant that Darcy would naturally want Bingley to marry into Darcy's own sphere, not Bingley's own. I think without the fortune Jane and Bingley are more or less equals, although there seems to have been a dearth of men at the time (Napoleonic wars, maybe?) and the deck was stacked against women in that they were expected to marry in a few years while men could take as long as they liked, etc. Those things make him a catch, but not an unequal catch.
I won't go again into my arguments about the standing of the Bingley family. What I see in P&P is that their background in trade torpedoes the aristocratic pretensions of the Miss Bingleys, but not that it makes them any less than ordinary, respectable gentility. Others may disagree and of course there's flex room for FF writing. The relevant point here is that I don't see Jane as a catch for Bingley apart from her money; he seems to me to have respectability but lack connections, which she cannot bring him. In this story, I think her inheritance is good enough to make up for her low relations and make her a good match for him socially, but his sisters are hoping for much more (specifically Miss Darcy, who has half as much again in money and much better connections, with no bad ones).
So now about higher and lower social spheres pertaining to Darcy and Elizabeth. I think the only possible answer is that they are equals, and they aren't, both at once. Darcy has a lot more money and a higher position in society. He expects to go to London every year for the Season, and maybe the little season; travel is no obstacle to him, and seaside holidays are reasonable and expected; there are, plain and simple, lifestyle differences between himself and the Bennets, with Bingley probably somewhere in between. In that sense, Lizzy will be marrying up, and Bingley, if he married Miss Darcy, would be doing so as well. However.
Elizabeth is well bred for all her mother's vulgarity and although she will be coming up in the world in some senses, she will cope just fine with that; she is impressed by the taste in which Pemberley is furnished, but not overwhelmed by its expensiveness or grandeur. And the fact that she and he are equally well bred and elegant represents the other side of that coin: she and he are essentially equals where it matters.
First, let me apologize for my unclearness. I meant that Darcy would naturally want Bingley to marry into Darcy's own sphere, not Bingley's own. I think without the fortune Jane and Bingley are more or less equals, although there seems to have been a dearth of men at the time (Napoleonic wars, maybe?) and the deck was stacked against women in that they were expected to marry in a few years while men could take as long as they liked, etc. Those things make him a catch, but not an unequal catch.
I won't go again into my arguments about the standing of the Bingley family. What I see in P&P is that their background in trade torpedoes the aristocratic pretensions of the Miss Bingleys, but not that it makes them any less than ordinary, respectable gentility. Others may disagree and of course there's flex room for FF writing. The relevant point here is that I don't see Jane as a catch for Bingley apart from her money; he seems to me to have respectability but lack connections, which she cannot bring him. In this story, I think her inheritance is good enough to make up for her low relations and make her a good match for him socially, but his sisters are hoping for much more (specifically Miss Darcy, who has half as much again in money and much better connections, with no bad ones).
So now about higher and lower social spheres pertaining to Darcy and Elizabeth. I think the only possible answer is that they are equals, and they aren't, both at once. Darcy has a lot more money and a higher position in society. He expects to go to London every year for the Season, and maybe the little season; travel is no obstacle to him, and seaside holidays are reasonable and expected; there are, plain and simple, lifestyle differences between himself and the Bennets, with Bingley probably somewhere in between. In that sense, Lizzy will be marrying up, and Bingley, if he married Miss Darcy, would be doing so as well. However.
Elizabeth is well bred for all her mother's vulgarity and although she will be coming up in the world in some senses, she will cope just fine with that; she is impressed by the taste in which Pemberley is furnished, but not overwhelmed by its expensiveness or grandeur. And the fact that she and he are equally well bred and elegant represents the other side of that coin: she and he are essentially equals where it matters.