"Formal realism is defined as truth discovered by the individual through his or her senses." This definition can be applied to the marriage plot between Elizabeth and Darcy.
Early in the novel, Elizabeth rejects Mr. Darcy's proposal. She says:
"From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.'' (Ch 34)
As Elizabeth proceeds in the normal course of her life, visiting with family, touring the country, etc. She encounters Mr. Darcy both at Rosings and while she is on his estate at Pemberley.
After she has had time to understand who he really is, to learn the truth of his fine character, as evidenced by the servants at his estate and by his assistance to her family in the dire situation of finding Lydia and Mr. Wickham, she comes to love and admire him and wishes that he would propose again.
By the end of the novel, she is of a different mind: she says to him:
"Oh! do not repeat what I then said. These recollections will not do at all. I assure you that I have long been most heartily ashamed of it.''(Ch. 58)
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