I thank the authors of the two replies which my post has received so far - but forgive me if I express the opinion that they don't quite address the issue I raised. For example, we know that Charlotte is 'content' with her lot. We expect her to be, because Lizzie tells us she is a rational person, and she undestands that marriage to Mr Collins is the best hand life is going to deal her. She understands, of course, that Lizzie is unattainable. It is significant that Charlotte is 'content' rather than 'happy'; 'content' implies that she is satisfied to have as much as she has; she is a realist.
As to whether, or how closely, Jane Austen would have dared approach the subject of lesbianism - remember that in late Georgian / early Regency times (Jane Austen's time), lesbianism barely registered on the social radar. Legal precedent had determined that there was no such thing as female homesexuality. Most people didn't believe it was a thing. Of course, everybody knew that some women preferred to share orgasms with each other. Generally, it was regarded as a dirty habit, to be discouraged; like squeezing each other's pimples. But in a society dominated by male values, "sexual intercourse" was defined in exclusively male terms; without a penis, there could be no sexual intercourse.
