LADY CATHERINE
Lady Catherine, the widow of Sir Lewis de
Bourgh, was a petty autocrat with undisputed sway over her estate at Rosings
Park in Kent. She was Darcy's aunt and prided herself that they were
both "descended on the maternal side from the same noble line, and on the
father's from respectable, honourable, and ancient, though untitled families".
Her great desire was to unite the family property in Kent and Derbyshire
by the marriage of the daughter Anne with Darcy, the son of the sister.
She was an elderly woman, tall, large, and with strongly marked features.
She was arrogant, conceited, dictatorial, and insolent to a ridiculous
degree. She constituted herself magistrate of her parish and regulated
the manner of living of every one under her more than she attended to their
needs. She expected subservience everywhere, never allowed her guests
to forget their inferiority, and condescendingly inquired into the details
of Mrs. Collins' home management and Elizabeth' s family, their ages, and
their education. She instructed Collins to marry, but graciously
allowed him to make his own selection, provided his choice would first
meet with her approval. She claimed that there were few people in
England who had a better natural taste in music than herself, and if she
had ever taken the trouble to learn it, She would have been proficient.
She delighted in praise and homage to herself and her belongings and found
gratification in pointing out the defects of others.
Her interfering insolence finally led to her humiliation. On learning
through the Collins a rumor of the possible marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth,
she at once drove to the Bennets to put a stop to it. Her encounter
with Elizabeth supplies one of the most humourous incidents of the story
and reveals the latter's cleverness, dignity, and self-control and the
discomfiture, defeat, and discourtesy of Lady Catherine. Her resolve
than to direct her attack against Darcy led to the revelation of Elizabeth'
s change of attitude towards him and defeated the aunt's plan by sending
him at once to Longbourn to renew his suit to her.
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