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character

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Catherine · Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings · Darcy's aunt

Lady Catherine denounces Darcy's marriage, then reluctantly restores contact when affection and curiosity overcome injured pride.

Story so far

Lady Catherine de Bourgh answers Darcy's engagement letter with abusive language, especially against Elizabeth Bennet, and for a time all intercourse ends. Her rage fulfils the opposition she threatened at Longbourn, but it cannot alter Darcy's choice or his marriage.

At Elizabeth's persuasion, Darcy later seeks reconciliation. Lady Catherine resists a little longer, then yields either to affection for her nephew or curiosity about the wife she had called a pollution of Pemberley, and condescends to visit. Her return does not erase her pride; it shows the limits of an authority she had assumed was absolute.

Appearance

She is a tall, large, handsome English aristocratic woman with strongly marked features, a commanding air, and a richly authoritative manner. Her hair, complexion, age, and dress are not specifically described.

Role

She is the defeated family autocrat who eventually accepts contact with the marriage she could not prevent.

Relationships

Mr. Darcy — Mr. Darcy ends contact after Lady Catherine's abusive response, then later seeks a reconciliation she reluctantly allows.
Elizabeth Bennet — Elizabeth Bennet is the wife Lady Catherine sought to exclude, yet urges the reconciliation that brings her aunt-in-law back to Pemberley.
Pemberley — Pemberley is the estate Lady Catherine said would be polluted by Elizabeth, then visits despite that declared outrage.
Sources — 6 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 13
  • A powerful titled widow whose patronage has installed Mr. Collins at Hunsford and commands his extravagant deference.
Chapter 14
  • An unseen but powerful patroness whose approval has taught Collins to make deference his whole social language.
Chapter 27
  • Lady Catherine proves exactly as commanding as Collins promised: a large, authoritarian hostess who turns rank into a right to question and direct everyone.
Chapter 29
  • Lady Catherine treats a Rosings evening as an opportunity to supervise conversation, music, taste, and even Elizabeth's education.
Chapter 54
  • Lady Catherine travels to Longbourn to command Elizabeth never to marry Darcy, and leaves defeated by a refusal she cannot control.
Chapter 59
  • Lady Catherine denounces Darcy's marriage, then reluctantly restores contact when affection and curiosity overcome injured pride.
Character portrait