Lady Catherine In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice-Lady Catherine Character Analysis

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine De Bourgh exposes how supercilious and domineering she is to her guests. Whenever Lady Catherine would strike up a conversation with her guests, she would never let them “forget their inferior rank” compared to her social position. Having a higher social rank means that Lady Catherine has a greater income; granting her the ability to buy items that are more extravagant and costly. This allows her to brag and exhibit pride towards her material items. Lady Catherine displays her overbearing pride by giving “her opinion on every subject”. She feels as though she is better than everyone else, and that her opinion matters the most because

of her higher rank in society. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to talk back to her, or question her opinions because her arrogant and conceited mind will not be able to comprehend what to say next. To bring her self-esteem up even more, Lady Catherine asks Elizabeth Bennet a “variety of questions”. She wants to know about her life, her income and the type of carriage her father owns so that Lady Catherine can compare their social positions. Doing this, allows Lady Catherine to recognize how much more power she has over Elizabeth granting her the ability to evaluate the difference between their classes. Lady Catherine finds pleasure in comparing herself to others, such as assuming that her piano is “probably superior to” Elizabeth’s piano. Lady Catherine does not finish her sentence, but says enough to imply that she is superior to Elizabeth because she can afford something that an average person cannot. Lady Catherine not only shows her arrogance and pride through materialistic items but as well as talking about herself to her guests. She “relat[es] anecdote[s] of herself” while everyone else sits around her and listens. This implies that she only wants the attention to be on her, so that she can boast about herself and make others feel like a lower rank compared to her.
Not only is Lady Catherine supercilious, she is also domineering. Anything Lady Catherine says, she says it in “so authoritative a tone” For her to speak in an authoritative tone allows her to indirectly
control other people’s emotions and thoughts to make them do what she thinks is right; by making her guests feel like they are doing everything wrong.

However, not only does she indirectly controls their thoughts, but directly as well. For example, she would tell her guests that household “concerns ought to be regulated”. Lady Catherine enjoys instructing others on how they should live their lives, because she thinks her opinion are more important than others, and that they should be followed. She would “strenuously” advise her guests to do what she finds is the right thing to do, as well as the most helpful thing to do. From Lady Catherine’s past actions, her strenuously giving advice, would be equivalent to her pushing and forcing others to take her advice, even though it is not what the person or family wants. Lady Catherine also indirectly controls the thoughts of others by “stating mistakes” of people’s way of life. This can cause her guests to think over what she said, and fix their mistakes, even if there were not any mistakes to begin with. Elizabeth Bennet is the only one who does not get manipulated by Lady Catherine’s opinions. She finds it odd that a young person can give their “opinion very decidedly.” She is uncomfortable with not being in control over people and becomes frustrated to the point where she goes to her other guests ad tells them “what weather they were to have” the next day, so that they would listen to her and furthermore dress the way she thinks

is apt. When Lady Catherine does this, it proves how supercilious she is to be domineering over others.