Fate
On the night that Sophie and Benedict meet, it is as though fate intended for them to fall in love. However, the two are ripped apart from each other when Sophie is forced to run away, and later, kicked out of her family home. Nonetheless, fate comes into play again, when the two are reunited years later when Benedict saves Sophie from being raped. It is clear that fate brought them back together again, this time for permanent.
Parental Love
Love is shown through various mediums throughout this novel, most interestingly through maternal and paternal love. Though the Earl clearly loves Sophie and expresses this by providing the same lifestyle as a lady, he never verbally expresses this to her. In addition, Araminta never expresses any form of maternal love to Sophie. Alternatively, Violet, though not Sophie’s mother, immediately expresses a maternal love to Sophie when she is still her employee.
Social status
Though Sophie is the daughter of an Earl, she is illegitimate, and so feels the burden of this her entire life. Indeed, once the Earl passes away, she is treated like a house slave by her stepmother, such low is her rank in the social hierarchy. Even Benedict acknowledges he cannot take a housemaid for a wife, instead propositioning her as his mistress.