Class and Priviledge

Sarah Vaughan’s overarching theme in Anatomy of a Scandal is all about the enduring implications of the politics and economics of the ancient British class system in the lives of a narrow cross-section of contemporary English people. Vaughan intends the novel as an indictment of the arrogance, immorality and hypocrisy of the men whose power and privilege elevates them to elite and almost untouchable status in order to raise questions about the legitimacy of the ruling class to their authority and entitlement. Vaughan traces the theme over the course of the main characters’ lives, from Oxford to married and professional life in London, and examines it through a number of perspectives in various British institutions such as academia, the courts, and government.

As a staunch Liberal, Holly’s/Kate’s narration provides much of the class-conscious observation of the Conservative upper class members...