Pride and Prejudice York Notes

The two characters of Lady Catherine and Elizabeth are very different. The scene starts when Lady Catherine arrives and Mrs Bennet offers Lady Catherine some refreshments, which she refuses. Lady Catherine tells Elizabeth that she is not to be trifled with. This shows that she regards herself as powerful. When she goes on to say that it has been rumoured that Elizabeth and Darcy are to marry, Elizabeth is astonished, but refuses to deny the story. Jane Austen shows us that Elizabeth stands up to Lady Catherine and skilfully avoids answering her directly.

Lady Catherine becomes more and more angry and says, ‘I will not be interrupted hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other.’ She accuses Elizabeth of having ‘upstart pretentions’. This means a person who doesn’t match up to someone more important, but Elizabeth replies that she has every right to marry Darcy because she is the daughter of a gentleman.

When Lady Catherine asks if she is engaged to Darcy, Elizabeth truthfully says she is not but will not promise not to become engaged to him and then openly says she will not be intimidated. Lady Catherine is still angry but Elizabeth says she will make her own decisions. All this shows that Elizabeth is a tough, proud young woman who is not frightened of Lady Catherine. Lady Catherine leaves without sending any compliments to Mrs Bennet, who thinks she was a ‘fine looking woman’.

The scene is important because Austen shows the reader the characters of Lady Catherine and Elizabeth and also shows that Elizabeth has hopes of marrying Darcy because she refuses to say she won’t. It is also important to our understanding of the novel as a whole because we learn later that Lady Catherine’s attempt to separate them made Darcy more determined. This is ironic.